Philippine government agencies certified to ISO 9001:2015 under the Government Quality Management Program keep their certificates, valid until transitioned or until the transition period ends on 30 September 2029, and move to ISO 9001:2026 through a transition audit once their certification body’s accreditation is extended to the edition published on 16 September 2026. Executive Order No. 605, s. 2007 directs executive departments and agencies, GOCCs, GFIs and SUCs to adopt ISO 9001 quality management systems, and encourages LGUs and the other branches to do the same. Nothing in that order or in ISO 9001:2026 requires an agency to act this year; the 2026 standard requires it to plan.
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What the Government Quality Management Program requires
The Government Quality Management Program (GQMP) was institutionalised by Executive Order No. 605, signed on 23 February 2007, which amended Administrative Order No. 161, s. 2006. It directs all departments and agencies of the Executive branch, including GOCCs, GFIs and SUCs, to adopt ISO 9001 quality management systems as part of a government-wide programme, and encourages LGUs, the Judiciary, the Legislature and the constitutional offices to do the same.
The order created the Government Quality Management Committee (GQMC) as the programme’s steering and policy-making body, chaired by the Department of Budget and Management with the Department of Trade and Industry as co-chair, and with the Department of the Interior and Local Government, the Office of the President’s Internal Audit Office and the Development Academy of the Philippines as members. The GQMC approves the standards, guidelines and institutional mechanisms for implementing the programme. The order also provided for a Philippine Certification for ISO Quality Management Systems (PISO-QMS) and stated that quality management systems shall be certified. The GQMP’s own description of its components lists three: standards development, including the adaptation of relevant ISO management-system standards to build a quality culture in governance; advocacy and capability building; and certification.
Two things follow for the 2026 edition. First, EO 605 named ISO 9001:2000, the edition current in 2007, and the programme’s later guidelines (the 2018 and 2023 PBB validation guidelines are written against ISO 9001:2015) have followed the current edition without the order being rewritten, because the order’s intent is the adoption of ISO 9001 as it stands. Second, the programme’s certification component means agencies are meant to hold accredited certificates, not self-declarations, and accredited certificates follow the transition rules set by Global ACI (Global Accreditation Cooperation Incorporated, which took over the roles of IAF and ILAC on 1 January 2026) in its transition requirements for ISO 9001:2026, published on 16 September 2026, and applied by accreditation bodies and certification bodies. An agency’s transition therefore runs on the same timetable as everyone else’s: all transitions completed by 30 September 2029.
Where the Performance-Based Bonus linkage stands
ISO 9001 certification has been linked to the Performance-Based Bonus (PBB) through successive guidelines, and the linkage has been rewritten several times, so an agency should read the circular in force for the fiscal year it is being assessed for rather than rely on a summary. The history is short and the direction is consistent: the guidelines have required a valid accredited certificate to the current edition of ISO 9001.
| Issuance | What it did |
|---|---|
| GQMC Memorandum Circular No. 2018-1 (17 August 2018) | Guidelines on the validation of ISO 9001:2015 QMS certification as a requirement for the grant of the FY 2018 PBB |
| AO 25 Inter-Agency Task Force Memorandum Circular No. 2023-1, Annex 3 (FY 2023 PBB) | Only a valid ISO 9001:2015 QMS certification or recertification, “or the latest version of the ISO 9001 certification”, counted as compliance with the QMS agency accountability; certificates had to be valid as at 31 December 2023; validation through the GQMC-DBM Secretariat; AACCUP accreditation recognised as an equivalent for state universities and colleges, among other sector-specific alternatives |
| Executive Order No. 61, s. 2024 (3 June 2024) | Suspended the implementation of AO 25, s. 2011 and Executive Order No. 80 while a comprehensive review is carried out; created a Technical Working Group chaired by the DBM Secretary with the Executive Secretary as co-chair, its members including the Secretaries of Finance and of NEDA and the Director General of ARTA; directed the TWG to adopt standards similar to, and at par with, ISO quality management systems and to integrate with the government quality management systems under AO 161, s. 2006 and EO 605, s. 2007 |
| EO 61 TWG Resolution No. 2026-1 and Memorandum Circular No. 2026-1 (posted by DBM, 6 July 2026) | Guidelines on the grant of the PBB for FY 2024 under the EO 61 arrangements |
The phrase “or the latest version of the ISO 9001 certification” in the FY 2023 guidelines anticipated a new edition. ISO 9001:2026 is now that version. Whether and how a QMS accountability appears in the guidelines for FY 2024 and later years is a matter for the EO 61 TWG circulars themselves, which agencies should read directly; this page does not summarise their content. What can be said with confidence is that a valid accredited ISO 9001:2015 certificate remains a valid certificate until it is transitioned or until 30 September 2029, and that a certificate to the 2026 edition will only exist once the agency’s certification body has had its accreditation extended to the 2026 edition, which happens body by body during 2027, and has audited the agency.
What “latest version” now means for a certified agency
For an agency holding an ISO 9001:2015 certificate, “latest version” means that ISO 9001:2026 is the current edition, that the 2015 certificate stays valid until it is transitioned or until 30 September 2029, and that the certification body will convert it at a transition audit once its accreditation is extended. Under Global ACI’s transition requirements (Global ACI-TECH-3-TR 2029-09-30 (M), 16 September 2026), that extension follows the accreditation body’s assessment of the certification body against the 2026 edition.
The milestones are fixed: accreditation bodies ready to assess certification bodies by 31 March 2027; certification bodies’ transition declarations by 30 June 2027; accreditation-body decisions completed by 30 September 2027; from 31 March 2028 initial certifications only to ISO 9001:2026; all transitions completed by 30 September 2029, after which ISO 9001:2015 certificates and accreditations are no longer valid. Accredited ISO 9001:2026 certificates will therefore appear body by body during 2027. No agency should accept an offer to “re-issue” its certificate as ISO 9001:2026 without an audit; such an offer describes something that does not exist in accredited certification, and a certificate obtained that way would not survive the validation that the GQMC-DBM Secretariat has applied in the past. The transition deadline page sets out the milestones in full.
How an agency certified to ISO 9001:2015 transitions
An agency transitions in the same sequence as any certified organisation: gap assessment against the ISO 9001:2026 standard, leadership decisions, wording updates, a period of operation, an internal audit and a management review to the 2026 edition, then the certification body’s transition audit at a surveillance, recertification or special audit. The government-specific parts are the approvals, the procurement of services and the scheduling around the agency’s planning and budget calendar.
| Step | What it involves in an agency | Who owns it |
|---|---|---|
| 1. Gap assessment | Documented information and records reviewed against every 2026 change, with clause references; done by the agency’s QMS core team or by a consultant under a properly procured engagement | QMS core team; Sterling Revise™ delivers it in week 1 with the number of gaps reported in week 2 |
| 2. Leadership decisions | The head of agency and the management committee decide the 4.2 c) question (which interested-party requirements the QMS addresses), the policy under 5.2.1 e), and what the agency expects of its people under 5.1.1 i) | Head of agency; management committee |
| 3. Wording updates | Quality policy, quality manual if the agency keeps one (the standard does not require it), procedures, risk and opportunity registers, planning-of-change forms, internal audit checklists, management review agenda, every reference to “10.3” | QMS core team; document controllers |
| 4. Operation | The updated processes run and produce records: evaluated risks and opportunities, at least one change planned under the extended 6.3, awareness sessions under 7.3 e), contingency communication under 8.2.1 e) | Process owners in each office or division |
| 5. Internal audit and management review | A full internal audit programme to the 2026 edition (9.2), corrective actions (10.2), and a management review with the inputs at 9.3.2 c), g) and h) recorded under 9.3.3 | Internal quality audit team; management committee |
| 6. Transition audit | Booked with the certification body once its accreditation has been extended to the 2026 edition (during 2027 under the Global ACI milestones); conducted at a scheduled surveillance audit, at recertification or as a special transition audit, on site or remotely by ICT, covering the changed requirements, changes to the agency’s context and any other changes needed, with any additional audit time justified by the body; completed before 30 September 2029 | Certification body, under its contract with the agency |
Agencies that procure consulting or certification services do so under the New Government Procurement Act, Republic Act No. 12009, and their own procurement rules; the timing of procurement is often the longest step, so it belongs in the plan from the start. Sterling’s transition checklist is written so that a QMS core team can run steps 1 to 5 in-house where the agency prefers to; the gap analysis service covers step 1 alone for agencies that want an external view before deciding.
How the 2026 changes land in a government agency
The changes concentrate in leadership, planning and performance evaluation, and most of them describe things a well-run agency already does under other names. The table lists each change with its public-sector meaning; the complete register is on the clause-by-clause page.
| ISO 9001:2026 reference | What changed | What it means in an agency or LGU |
|---|---|---|
| 4.1 | Climate-change determination now in the base text | The agency records whether climate change is relevant to its QMS; for frontline offices in typhoon-exposed areas and for agencies with climate mandates it usually is, for others a reasoned “not relevant” is acceptable |
| 4.2 c) | New: decide which interested-party requirements the QMS addresses | A written decision covering citizens and clients, oversight bodies (COA, CSC, DBM, ARTA), the legislature, attached agencies, LGUs served, employees and suppliers |
| 5.1.1 i) and NOTE 2; 7.3 e) | New: top management promotes quality culture and ethical behaviour; all personnel aware of it | The head of agency and the management committee state what they expect on integrity, courtesy and service, say it in ways that reach every frontline officer, and act on it; auditors test it through interviews |
| 5.1.1 k) | Strengthened: promote opportunity-based thinking | Digitalisation, process simplification and shared services treated as evaluated opportunities, not only as projects |
| 5.2.1 e); 5.2.2 d) | Strengthened: policy takes context into account and supports strategic direction; policy is implemented | The quality policy connects to the agency’s mandate, its strategic plan and its commitments to clients, and decisions can be traced to it |
| 6.1.2 with NOTE 1; 6.1.3 | Strengthened and new: risks and opportunities determined, analysed and evaluated separately; disruption named | Continuity of frontline services during typhoons, power and connectivity failures, personnel turnover and budget interruptions analysed as risks; reforms analysed as opportunities |
| 6.3 c), e), f), g) | Strengthened and new: changes planned with information, communication, monitoring and review | Reorganisations, new issuances, new systems and new service delivery channels planned with who is told, how effectiveness is checked and when results are reviewed |
| 7.1.6 | Strengthened: knowledge retained, applied and shared | Institutional memory protected across personnel movements and changes of administration |
| 8.2.1 e) and NOTE | Strengthened: contingency information including disruptions; websites, social media and FAQs recognised as channels | Clients told what happens when a service is suspended or delayed, through the channels the agency actually uses |
| 9.1.3 e), f); 9.3.2 c), g), h) | Strengthened and new: effectiveness of actions on risks and on opportunities evaluated and reviewed separately; changes in interested-party needs reviewed | Management review looks at whether continuity actions worked, whether reforms delivered, and what clients and oversight bodies now expect |
| 10.1 | Merged with the former 10.3 | Improvement explicitly covers processes and future needs and expectations; no 10.3 in any procedure or checklist |
None of these adds a mandatory document. The set of documents and records the standard requires is unchanged from 2015; the wording used to require them changed, as explained in Annex A.2 e), and the documented information page lists them.
The Citizen’s Charter, ARTA and the QMS
The Citizen’s Charter required by Republic Act No. 11032, the Ease of Doing Business and Efficient Government Service Delivery Act of 2018, and the ISO 9001 QMS are separate obligations that describe the same frontline processes, and an agency should keep them consistent without confusing them. RA 11032 does not mention ISO 9001, and ISO 9001:2026 does not mention the Charter; the connection is practical.
RA 11032, approved on 28 May 2018, requires every government office and agency, LGU and GOCC providing services to set up a Citizen’s Charter: a comprehensive and uniform checklist of requirements for each type of application or request, the procedure, the person responsible for each step, the maximum processing time, the documents and fees, and the procedure for filing complaints. It sets maximum processing times of three working days for simple transactions, seven for complex ones and twenty for highly technical applications, and it created the Anti-Red Tape Authority, attached to the Office of the President, to monitor compliance. The Charter is, in ISO 9001 terms, product and service information communicated to customers (8.2.1 a)), a statement of requirements for the services (8.2.2), and a set of monitoring criteria for the processes (9.1.1). The processing times are objectives with a legal floor (6.2). The complaints procedure feeds 8.2.1 c) and, under the 2026 NOTE to 10.2.1, is a source of nonconformities.
For the 2026 edition, the point of contact is 8.2.1 e). The Charter says what the client should expect in the normal case; 8.2.1 e) asks what the client is told when the normal case fails, including disruptions to the provision of the service. An agency that publishes its Charter on its website and its social media pages, as most now do, already uses the channels the 2026 NOTE recognises; it needs to add the contingency information to them. The internal audit programme should audit the Charter’s processing times as QMS objectives, so that a Charter that is compliant on paper and missed in practice is found by the agency before ARTA finds it.
Local government units
LGUs are encouraged rather than directed by EO 605 to adopt ISO 9001, and provinces, cities and municipalities have been among the organisations recognised by the GQMC for ISO 9001 certification of their frontline services, treasury, procurement, budget, business permitting and other processes. Their transition to ISO 9001:2026 follows the same rules and the same sequence as a national agency’s, with the certification body’s accreditation date setting the earliest possible audit.
The GQMC’s fifth recognition ceremony, covering certifications between September 2016 and September 2017, honoured 52 government entities, among them the provincial governments of Aklan, Bohol, Cavite, Laguna and La Union, the city governments of Mandaue, Cebu and Olongapo, and the municipality of Guiguinto, and provincial governments have continued to certify since, Davao del Sur among them in June 2026. Any LGU that holds a current ISO 9001:2015 certificate will need a transition audit before 30 September 2029 to keep an accredited certificate.
Two 2026 changes matter more for LGUs than for most national agencies. The disruption wording in 6.1.2 NOTE 1 and 8.2.1 e) speaks directly to local governments in typhoon, flood and earthquake-exposed areas, where continuity of civil registry, health, social welfare and permitting services during and after a disaster is the QMS’s hardest test; the climate-change determination in 4.1 is rarely “not relevant” for an LGU. And the change-planning items in 6.3 e) to g) fit the reality that a change of administration after an election changes leadership, priorities and sometimes personnel across the system at once; an LGU whose QMS plans that change, communicates it, monitors its effect and reviews the result is one whose certificate survives the transition of both kinds. Sterling’s risks and opportunities page and planning of changes page cover the method.
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Frequently asked questions
Do Philippine government agencies have to move to ISO 9001:2026? Agencies holding ISO 9001:2015 certificates will need a transition audit before 30 September 2029 to keep an accredited certificate, because ISO 9001:2026 cancels and replaces the 2015 edition and Global ACI’s transition requirements, published on 16 September 2026, end the transition period on that date. After it, ISO 9001:2015 certificates and accreditations are no longer valid.
Is our agency’s ISO 9001:2015 certificate still valid for the PBB? ISO 9001:2015 certificates remain valid until they are transitioned or until the transition period ends on 30 September 2029. The FY 2023 PBB guidelines counted a valid ISO 9001:2015 certification “or the latest version”. Whether a QMS accountability applies for FY 2024 and later is set by the EO 61 TWG circulars for those years; read the circular in force rather than a summary.
Does EO 605 require the 2026 edition specifically? EO 605, s. 2007 named ISO 9001:2000, the edition current when it was signed; the programme’s later guidelines were written against ISO 9001:2015 without the order being rewritten. The programme’s certification component means agencies are meant to hold accredited certificates, and accredited certificates follow the edition transition rules that Global ACI sets and certification bodies apply, so the 2026 edition follows in the same way.
Can our certification body re-issue our certificate as ISO 9001:2026 now? No. No certification body can be accredited for the 2026 edition before its accreditation body has completed the transition assessment, which the Global ACI milestones place during 2027, and every accredited ISO 9001:2026 certificate requires a transition audit. Any offer to convert a certificate without an audit is a warning sign; the validation that the GQMC-DBM Secretariat has applied in past PBB cycles checks the certificate with the certification body and its accreditation body.
Does ISO 9001:2026 change what goes in our Citizen’s Charter? No. The Charter is required by RA 11032, and its content is set by that law. ISO 9001:2026 adds, at 8.2.1 e), an expectation that clients are given information on contingency actions, including disruptions to the provision of services, which most agencies will add alongside the Charter on the same website and social media channels.
Do LGUs have to transition? LGUs are encouraged rather than directed by EO 605 to adopt ISO 9001, but an LGU that holds an ISO 9001:2015 certificate will need a transition audit before 30 September 2029 to keep an accredited certificate. The sequence is the same as for a national agency; the disruption and change-planning requirements of the 2026 edition fit LGU realities closely.
Does the transition need new documents or a new quality manual? No. ISO 9001:2026 requires no new mandatory documents or records, and it does not require a quality manual, documented procedures or a management representative. Existing documents need updated wording and clause references, and the new evidence (the 4.2 c) decision, evaluated risks and opportunities, planned changes, awareness of quality culture and ethical behaviour) needs to exist.
How long should an agency allow? The desk work for a maintained system is a few consultant-days or their in-house equivalent. The elapsed time is set by the culture and awareness requirements (5.1.1 i), 7.3 e)), by the need to run the updated processes long enough to generate records, by the internal audit and management review, and, in an agency, by procurement and approval cycles. Plan in quarters, not weeks.
Read next
The ISO 9001:2026 playbook for the full transition picture; the clause-by-clause register; the transition deadline page for the Global ACI milestones; quality culture and ethical behaviour; management review inputs for the new 9.3.2 items; and the government suppliers page for contractors and suppliers to agencies.
Sources
ISO 9001:2026, Quality management systems — Requirements, sixth edition, published 16 September 2026 (ISO catalogue stage 60.60): clauses 4.1, 4.2 c), 5.1.1 i) and k) with NOTE 2, 5.2.1 e), 5.2.2 d), 6.1.2 with NOTE 1, 6.1.3, 6.2, 6.3 c) to g), 7.1.6, 7.3 e), 8.2.1 a), c) and e) with NOTE, 8.2.2, 9.1.1, 9.1.3 e) and f), 9.2, 9.3.2 c), g) and h), 9.3.3, 10.1, 10.2.1 NOTE, Annex A.2 e). ISO 9001:2015 for the comparison. Global ACI-TECH-3-TR 2029-09-30 (M), Transition Requirements for ISO 9001:2026, version 1.0, issued 4 September 2026 and published by Global ACI (Global Accreditation Cooperation Incorporated) on 16 September 2026 (verified on global-aci.org and in the document on 18 September 2026): transition period ending 30 September 2029; milestones of 31 March 2027, 30 June 2027, 30 September 2027 and 31 March 2028; transition-audit provisions. Executive Order No. 605, s. 2007, “Institutionalizing the Structure, Mechanisms and Standards to Implement the Government Quality Management Program, Amending for the Purpose Administrative Order No. 161, s. 2006”, signed 23 February 2007 (LawPhil). Government Quality Management Committee, “About GQMP” (gqmc.gov.ph) for the programme’s components. GQMC Memorandum Circular No. 2018-1, 17 August 2018 (DBM). AO 25 Inter-Agency Task Force Memorandum Circular No. 2023-1, Annex 3 (RBPMS, DAP). Executive Order No. 61, s. 2024, signed 3 June 2024 (LawPhil). EO 61 TWG Resolution No. 2026-1 and Memorandum Circular No. 2026-1, posted by DBM on 6 July 2026 (content not summarised on this page). Republic Act No. 11032, the Ease of Doing Business and Efficient Government Service Delivery Act of 2018, approved 28 May 2018 (LawPhil). Republic Act No. 12009, the New Government Procurement Act (2024). Department of Budget and Management, “GQMC honors ISO-certified gov’t orgs today” (fifth GQMC recognition ceremony, 52 entities, certifications from 1 September 2016 to 22 September 2017, including the LGUs named). SunStar Davao, “Davao del Sur earns ISO 9001:2015 certification” (provincial government certified 25 June 2026).
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