GMA-SAFE COMMUNICATION TO THE INDUSTRY

The new business format for GMA-SAFE is six months into 2009 and the GMA-SAFE team wishes to share some milestones reached during that time. Below are some of our significant changes:

  • GMA-SAFE transitioned away from the SQAF (SAFE Qualified Assessment Firm) model and began contracting directly with independent auditors as well as auditing firms. AIB, NSF Cook & Thurber, Randolph & Associates, GFTC and others constitute the second group.
     
  • GMA-SAFE no longer requires the auditee to receive and pay against multiple invoices (one to the auditor and another to GMA-SAFE). Auditees now receive a single invoice and submit all payments directly to GMA-SAFE. We then make payments to the Contract Auditor for travel expenses and the hours the auditor submitted in her/his bid.
     
  • GMA-SAFE changed the way in which an Assessment is billed. We went from a lump sum total charge for an entire Assessment to an hourly fee. This permits the bidding process to be more transparent to Auditees; allowing them to see the actual hours over a specific number of days that an auditor is bidding for to perform the GMA-SAFE Assessment.
     
  • GMA-SAFE was determined to keep the cost of a GMA-SAFE Assessment inline with what clients were already paying. Therefore, the hourly fee was determined by averaging the costs of all assessments performed in 2008. Nevertheless, GMA-SAFE perpetuated the competitive aspect of the bidding process by requiring the auditors to submit the total number of hours he/she would quote and allowing the auditor to manage his/her travel expenses.
     
  • GMA-SAFE Policies & Procedures were rewritten to accommodate the new business model.
     
  • GMA-SAFE contracted with iCiX to create an entirely new look and feel for the SAFE computing platform. Beta testing is scheduled to begin near the end of August with a full rollout in the 4th quarter of 2009
     
  • Once the work on the new computing platform began, the GMA-SAFE Team focused on what is being termed as an Integrated Audit - the combination of an accredited audit (for example, BRC Global Food Safety Standard), in conjunction with a GMA-SAFE Assessment. The auditee receives two reports from one visit/audit only. Auditors must have dual competency, both in the accredited standard and in GMA-SAFE. We have identified a processing company to test the Integrated Audit concept, in six of its plants.
     
  • Our Industry Advisory Group (IAG) met at the QMI-SAI Global Corporate Offices in Toronto, Ontario. This meeting brought together the clients of and major end users of the GMA-SAFE Assessment. The purpose of the GMA-SAFE (IAG) is:
     
    1. To provide advice on the strategic direction and initiatives of the GMA-SAFE Program.
    2. To provide advice on the practical and technical aspects of GMA-SAFE to ensure that it continues to evolve and remain relevant and valuable to the users of the program.
    3. To advise on matters related to the quality, consistency, and integrity of the service delivery of the GMA-SAFE Program.
       
  • Lastly, the GMA-SAFE Team met with the QMI-SAI Global marketing division to devise the marketing plan that will be rolled out beginning sometime in July, 2009.

As you can see, the GMA-SAFE Team has been very busy bringing forward the vision that was proposed by the founders of the GMA-SAFE program; that being GMA-SAFE as the information source to the food industry. The GMA-SAFE Team has focused on the GMA-SAFE program’s core competency and has taken the proper steps of bringing the GMA-SAFE Tag line to reality “Assessed by One; Judged by All.”

If you have any questions about the program, please contact Bruce Becker at (202) 637-4808 or bruce.becker@gma-safe.com

GMA-SAFE:
1350 I Street, NW, Ste. 300, Washington, DC 20005
www.gma-safe.com