PR: PQA SME Criteria

The Philippine Quality Award (PQA) launched the PQA Small and Medium Enterprise (SME) Criteria at the National MSME Summit on 16 July 2019 at the Philippine International Convention Center in Pasay City.

The PQA SME Criteria was developed to create a separate SME category for the Philippine Quality Award. It aims to redefine the existing PQA Criteria and make it more suitable for SMEs and to encourage more SMEs to adopt the Performance Excellence Framework.

Currently, there are five (5) Criteria for Performance Excellence for the PQA with each one having their own set of requirements suitable to each sector. These include the Performance Excellence Criteria for private sector or the Business criteria, as well as specific Criteria for Construction, Healthcare, Education, and Government.

A Technical Working Group (TWG) composed of experienced PQA Assessors and representatives from the DTI-Bureau of Small and Medium Enterprise Development (DTI-BSMED) worked from April-June 2019 to develop the new PQA Criteria for SMEs. The group worked on redefining the existing criteria and scoring guidelines for the four levels of recognition under the PQA to fit SMEs.

To better suit SMEs, the TWG modified the existing criteria through simplification and removal of irrelevant terminologies as well as making the requirements lesser for the enterprises. Terms such as “customer segmentation” and “work systems” – terms not used in SME parlance –  were simplified to “customer groupings” and “overall work processes.” Terms such as “intelligence risks,” and “leadership systems” were likewise removed.

Radical changes were also applied as requirements for specific categories and removed outright to make it SME-friendly. Some of the removed requirements include “sources of comparative and competitive data within and outside the industry” and “prepare workforce for changing capability and capacity needs.”

During the launching of the Criteria, DTI Secretary Ramon M. Lopez, Undersecretary Zenaida C. Maglaya, and Undersecretary Rafaelita M. Aldaba with other DTI officials and private business leaders present, signed to pledge their support for the pursuit to “Kapag Gawang Pilipinas, Gawang Kalidad!” through the Philippine Quality Award.  Copies of the PQA SME Criteria and Application Handbook were distributed to all who pledge their support for this advocacy.

The Philippine Quality Award is the highest level of national recognition for exemplary performance implemented by the Department of Trade and Industry. Its patron is no other than the President of the Philippines. PQA is enacted in 2001 with Republic Act no. 9013 also known as the Philippine Quality Award Act.