PAS 98 – Code of practice for the establishment and management of Consortia
Background
Most National Standards Bodies (NSB) look upon consortia based standards as a direct way for major vendors to put their products on the market. The development processes of consortia standards differ from those of the NSBs and therefore it has been difficult for the two sectors to engage. Shorter product life cycles in the ICT space, coupled with interoperability dependencies have been key drivers for the growth of consortia. The short turnaround time for standards in this sector may not always be met by the full consensus process. In addition, the global nature of the many sectors requires engagement with global stakeholders as opposed to the national representation offered via the formal processes. BSI believes that, with speed to market becoming ever more important, consortia based standardization will grow further and that formal NSB’s can add some value in this area. This is the first project in the industry to bring together a wide variety of stakeholders to ascertain views on the operation of consortia and produce consensus based, cross-sectoral good practice. Because of its knowledge of both formal and informal standardization practices and principles, BSI is well placed to collect these views and develop a PAS in this area. This PAS represents a codification of good practice and procedures for the establishment and operation of consortia across a wide variety of market applications, taking into account the various business needs that consortia should deal with.
PAS 98 Code of practice for the establishment and management of Consortia will be in two Parts. Part 1 will give recommendations and good practice for organizations establishing and managing consortia whilst Part 2 will give guidance to organizations seeking to join an existing consortia. The PAS will be applicable internationally and across all sectors. It will assist consortia deliver excellence across key functions such as standards development, interoperability, education and lobbying.
Scope
BSI PAS 98 provides a code of practice for the establishment and management of consortia formed for or substantially focused on, standards related purposes.
This code of practice makes recommendations in respect of:
- the management structures most appropriate to the governance of the proposed consortium activity;
- the procedures likely to prove most effective for specific activity types;
- the terms and prerequisites applicable to consortium membership;
- the selection and delivery of services that the consortium might provide.
It also identifies the legal requirements that may apply to consortium activity and recommends actions by means of which the consortium might meet those requirements.
Although intended for application in both the public and private sectors, this code of practice does not purport to provide a blueprint for the perfect consortium. It does however establish good practice for the governance of consortia in a manner commensurate with running an efficient, effective and representative organization regardless of national frontiers.
Key project dates (subject to change):
Available on BSI’s online DPC system for public comment: May 2010 (http://drafts.bsigroup.com/)
Latest developments
Much progress has been made on PAS 98 Part 1: Code of practice for the establishment and management of consortia. The current draft of the PAS has been through two rounds of Steering Group review and BSI has hosted two Steering Group meetings. The latest updates to Part 1 are currently underway and following a final review by the Steering Group, this draft will be made available for public consultation via BSI’s DPC system.
As the content of Part 2 is heavily influenced by the content of Part 1 initial drafting of Part 2 is still at an early stage. The first draft should be completed by the end of February, at which stage it will be made available to the Steering Group for review.
Once the Steering Group have indicated that they are happy for the drafts to progress to the next stage, both drafts with be made available on BSI’s DPC system for public consultation (approximately May 2010).
Contact
Tara West, Consultancy Team Manager
Tara.West@bsigroup.com
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