Have you ever thought about receiving a Grant for ISO Certification?
JJK Consulting would like to call your attention to some available U.S. wide available grants to fund ISO 9001 Certification for businesses.
Currently there may be high changes of receiving a grant which pays for ISO Certification for your business. Here are several federal funded organizations who support businesses with grant resources. From the Trade Adjustment Assistance Programs (TAA) to some express support programs, up to Incumbent Worker Training program grants, it’s all out there and they actually want businesses to apply.
Trade Adjustment Assistance Program (TAA)
TAA is a relatively unknown US federal program that can provide funding for US based organizations from all industry sectors, who have experienced a recent decline of minimum 5% in sales and employment because of import price competition and certain challenges during the ongoing pandemic. (And who has not, it’s kind of easy to comply to that, right?)
Your Company or organization may qualify to get these funds too.
Trade Adjustment Assistance for Firms (TAA), is a federal program sponsored by the U.S. Department of Commerce, this federal assistance program pays half or more of the cost of an ISO implementation project or any other project to improve global competitiveness of any U.S. based business. They have even an express program for up to 75% or some projects even receive full financing up to 30K. It’s negotiable in some way.
Grants for an ISO 9001 Quality Management System implementation are available at cost sharing basis, for small businesses, who need just 10K – 20K for their ISO Certification, up to $75,000 for larger organizations. Over the last decade, many US based companies have been awarded with a matching grant to help them develop their businesses just from applying for the Trade Adjustment Assistance Grant Program.
Jim Kachidurian, President of JJK Consulting outlines “The TAA Program is a great way for any firm to get funds to strengthen their position in the market. It is very easy to get started and I encourage each firm that needs to develop additional capabilities – like implementing an ISO 9001:2015 Quality Management System and ISO Certification to find out whether they qualify for this great program. We will certainly help companies with complimentary funding opportunity investigations in their state during these challenging pandemic times.”
There is no cost to find out if you are eligible for this program. Through the TAA program, your company might receive the grant to develop and implement strategies including an ISO-based Management System (ISO 9001, or ISO 14001 EHS, ISO45001, etc.), or electronic CRM or electronic Quality Management System to improve your competitive edge in the future. The program is divided into three easy consecutive application phases:
Phase 1 – Your company gets enrolled into the program. There is no cost involved to get enrolled.
Phase 2 – This phase includes the development of the funding plan, based on a needs analysis by a qualified resource like JJK Consulting, evaluating your companies’ needs in terms of ISO implementation, with the goal to become more competitive in its market, in which a suitable implementation project is defined.
Phase 3 – is the project implementation phase, after approval, in which your company can start implementing the project with a qualified implementation partner like JJK Consulting, supporting the implementation of a ISO based Management System (Mostly a 3-6-month project) and the local TAA office. The allocated grant will be used to fund the project.
Approval for the grant is mostly done within 30 days! – if funds are available; But please note, every state has other approval year around dates.
Jim Kachidurian adds “To find out, whether your company would qualify for the TAA grant program and whether funds are currently available for a business like yours, please let us know in which state you are and we can look it up for you. But the support is definitely out there.”
Incumbent Training Grants for ISO Training
One of the other options is that usually the state wide enacted entities like Regional Development Centers, Small Business Administration offices or regional Workforce Offices provide notice of availability of Grant Programs like Incumbent Training Grants, which are available to help businesses and organizations of all sizes, small, medium or even larger businesses to either become ISO certified, or to pay for ISO Training, while the investment for ISO Certification or ISO Training of your staff will be provided by the state or federal funding organization.
The Department of Labor and Workforce Development e.g. regularly publishes on its website all notices of suitable fund availability pertaining to federal or state grant funds, which may be awarded by the Department. The notices of fund availability may be found on the Department’s website under the heading “Research & Information” and the subheading “Grant Opportunities.” The State of New Jersey e.g. is committed to addressing the needs of New Jersey businesses by enhancing the employability of New Jersey residents by building a skilled workforce through work-based learning initiatives up to 30k per program.
These so-called Incumbent Worker Training Grant funds are e.g. awarded to New Jersey employers to provide cost reimbursement assistance to train incumbent frontline employees to meet the current and future skill requirements as ISO Internal Auditor for jobs in New Jersey. These Grants are intended to achieve measurable outcomes for the employees trained, “seed” occupational skills training, and support New Jersey businesses in acquiring a skilled workforce. Grant funds are not intended for annual training or training that would otherwise be conducted without grant assistance. The projected amount of funding available for this program in fiscal year 2020(FY20) is estimated to be $6,000,000. Final determination for funding is contingent upon authorization and availability. If additional funding becomes available, it will be included in the total amount available during the course of FY20.
Funding levels for grant awards will be based on the following criteria:
-Training Applications Maximum Award
-Individual Employers May apply for a maximum of $100,000
-Industry-specific Consortiums may apply for a maximum of $250,000 (Participating businesses are capped at $25,000 each)
If training needs exceed the maximum award amounts listed above, applicants may (with additional justification) request higher funding amounts. The statewide entity will decide if requests exceeding maximum award amounts are supported by the justification provided.
The state wide authorities usually give priority to businesses that are currently under procurement or a military contract with the United States Department of Defense, the United States Department of Veteran’s Affairs or any branch of the United States Armed Forces; or businesses who will provide training to veterans; or businesses who focus on the fields of science, technology, engineering and mathematics. Applicants must explain how they meet the criteria.
The grant program is open to Individual employers, including those operating small to medium-sized businesses, eligible individual employers, employer organizations, labor organizations and even to community-based or faith-based organizations. Types of training eligible for Incumbent Worker Training Grants mostly include:
Third-Party Classroom Training: Training provided to a group of trainees in a classroom setting conducted by a qualified instructor from an external third-party training provider located in the State of New Jersey.
On-the-Job Training (OJT) or Company In-House Training: Hands-on instruction or skill acquisition provided under the constant and direct guidance of a qualified in-house company trainer in the direct production of a good or service. Classroom or one-on-one instruction performed by qualified in-house company training instructors.
All third-party training providers utilized as part of a grant must be listed as approved on the state’s Eligible Training Provider List including training services subcontracted by an applicant’s 3rd-party training provider.
A customized analysis of your ISO Certification or ISO training needs is the right first step to do. JJK Consulting can help also with developing a customized Training Plan or implementation plan for ISO based management system training.
Contact JJK Consulting to get all information on required documents to apply for any of these grants. There is no cost to find out if you are eligible for these grant programs.
Ready to Explore New Possibilities?
Please contact JJK Consulting at your convenience for an initial consultation on Grants for ISO Certification & ISO Training.
We’ll work with you one on one to determine a roadmap to success.
Call Today: 973-402-5889
