There are few greater truisms than this: a company engaging in conflicts of interest will always clear itself of wrongdoing, because that is just one more form of conflict of interest. Look at the Cyber AB, for example. Now look back at ANAB.
Back in May, I filed a complaint with ANAB after I found multiple cases where their representative, Melanie Ross, was promoting the QMS consulting company Ideagen and, very specifically, a product they sell called “QualTrax.” During at least two recorded, live webinars, Ross promoted QualTrax and sung the praises of the product as a tool someone might use to manage their QMS. She said that ANAB uses the product itself.
The problem is that ISO 17011 explicitly prohibits this; accreditation bodies can’t suggest anyone use a given product because it creates a conflict of interest. Comparing the ISO 17011 clause against the literal words said by Ross during the webinars, the violation seems pretty open-and-shut. There’s not a lot of room for interpretation here, and (again) it is all recorded.
I won’t repeat them here, but the actual quotes were reported here.
Now Lori Gillespie has written back and said that ANAB cleared itself in the matter, because of course they did:
After investigating all the concerns, we have found the complaint to be without merit. We concluded that based on the stated purposes of the webinars (including the topics and agendas) as well as the conduct of both ANAB and Ideagen personnel in the full context of the webinar, that no ISO/IEC 17011 requirements have been violated.
So, presumably, ANAB’s plans to continue helping Ideagen sell products will continue. And then we are supposed to believe that ANAB will not view any of its clients who take their advice, and buy Ideagen products, with favoritism during their subsequent audits.
I can now escalate the matter to ANAB’s overseers at the IAF regional body IAAC, but we know how that ends, too. So, I’m on the fence if I want to bother doing it.
Gillespie also claimed, in her email, that I am somehow prohibited from publishing this result and telling you all about it, because she doesn’t know how emails work. If you recall, she tried that just two weeks ago, too. I have no NDA with ANAB and there is a direct public interest in knowing how ANAB routinely clears itself of wrongdoing, especially since they are a government contractor. So, no, moving your email footer into the body of the email doesn’t suddenly make it enforceable as a contract.
What is ANAB scared of? Could it be that they never uphold a complaint, and always rule on the side of their clients, ignoring the evidence? And that because of that, they are starting to get heat from the public and regulators?
Beats me.
Christopher Paris is the founder and VP Operations of Oxebridge. He has over 35 years’ experience implementing ISO 9001 and AS9100 systems, and helps establish certification and accreditation bodies with the ISO 17000 series. He is a vocal advocate for the development and use of standards from the point of view of actual users. He is the writer and artist of THE AUDITOR comic strip, and is currently writing the DR. CUBA pulp novel series. Visit www.drcuba.world
