Overview

Looking for a Certification Body (CB) to audit your organization? Go to the CB page.

Want to submit Anonymous Post-Audit Feedback ? Go to Audit Feedback survey.

The third-party audit process

Organizations seeking certification to TL 9000 need to first follow the steps described on the TL 9000 Registration Process pages. Part of that process involves selecting a CB that will audit their organization to determine if their processes conform to the requirements of TL 9000.

Before a CB can perform any assessments of conformance to TL 9000 it must first be accredited by another organization, called an Accreditation Body (AB), to assure that the CB is competent in its assessments. The AB must also be authorized to accredit CBs by TIA QuEST Forum.

For this purpose, TIA QuEST Forum has selected ABs around the world who then select and accredit various CBs to perform assessments of conformance to TL 9000 through audits of the organization's processes.

The TIA QuEST Forum / TL 9000 model calls for the Accreditation Bodies to be accredited by TIA QuEST Forum. We assure they understand the governance we expect over their Certification Bodies. Once accredited, the AB's can certify CB's. That is, the AB's make sure that accredited CB's are following the rules TIA QuEST Forum defines, together with the global IAF rules, and the rules defined by the AB. Once accredited, the CB then certifies their auditors. TIA QuEST Forum guidance says they need to classify their auditors into one of three categories: Auditor, Lead Auditor, Telecom/ICT Industry Experienced Auditor (TIEA). TIA QuEST Forum has identified specific requirements for these classifications, but it is the CB's responsibility to follow this guidance. Records showing that the auditors are meeting the defined classifications maintained by the CB and those are periodically assessed by the AB.

To certify the Organization to TL 9000, the CB performs the audit and, if successful, recommends certification. The audit report is reviewed for compliance by the CB. Samples of audit reports are reviewed by the AB to assure the CB is following guidance. The CB certifies their auditors and issues the certificate.

TIA QuEST Forum maintains all information about ABs, CBs, and TL 9000 registrations on the Registration Management System (RMS) and much of this information is available to the public through links later on this page.

Selecting one of the links below provides a list with hyperlinks that profiles the various organizations and also provides contact information.

• List of Accreditation Bodies
• List of Certification Bodies

Auditors who perform audits for CBs must also meet rigid standards.

Below are CB Auditor requirements, qualifications and guidance:

How long should an audit take? That depends on the size of the organization, scope of registration, etc. months. TL 9000 adds 1/2 to several days to the audit days required for ISO 9001 certification. TIA QuEST Forum provides a guide for the duration of a TL 9000 audit exclusive of the ISO 9001 portion of the audit. These guidelines are revised as needed and are not tied to a particular releases of the TL 9000 Handbooks.