If your organization specifies certification requirements in a tender or supplier qualification process, the word "accredited" is doing more work than it might look like. A certification body can issue a certificate without ever being independently checked itself. Accreditation is that check. It confirms the certifier meets the requirements of the relevant ISO/IEC standard, assessed by a body that is independent of the certifier and the organization being certified. Writing accreditation into your qualification criteria, rather than certification alone, is how you make sure the credential you are relying on has actually been verified at every level.
Why accreditation belongs in your qualification criteria
A tender that asks only for "ISO 9001 certification" accepts a certificate from any body willing to issue one, accredited or not. A tender that asks for "ISO 9001 certification from an accredited certification body" narrows the field to certifiers who have themselves been independently assessed against ISO/IEC 17021-1, the international standard for bodies that certify management systems. That single word changes what you are actually able to rely on.
This matters most where the consequences of a weak certificate are real: safety-critical supply chains, regulated sectors, or any tender where certification is being used as a proxy for operational maturity. Specifying accredited certification does not eliminate risk, but it removes one specific and avoidable risk: a certificate issued without any independent check on the certifier behind it.
Suggested criteria language
The following can be adapted directly into a tender document or supplier qualification checklist.
Qualification requirement: "The bidder must hold certification to [standard] issued by a certification body accredited by an accreditation body operating to ISO/IEC 17011. Certification from a non-accredited body will not satisfy this requirement."
Evaluation criterion: "Bidders will be evaluated on whether their certification is accredited, and on the scope of that accreditation as it relates to the goods or services being procured. Accreditation status and scope must be independently verifiable."
Verification instruction for evaluators: "Evaluators should confirm accreditation status directly with the relevant accreditation body's public register rather than relying on the certificate document alone."
Adapt the standard name, the specific accreditation body reference, and the scope language to match your own procurement framework. The core distinction to preserve is between "certified" and "certified by an accredited body," since only the second is independently verifiable.
Verifying a bidder's claimed accreditation
A bidder's proposal will typically name the certification body that issued their certificate. To confirm that body is genuinely ASCB-accredited, check the accredited bodies directory, which lists every certification body ASCB has accredited along with the full scope of that accreditation. This is a different check from confirming the bidder's own certificate is current, which is done through the public register that records certificates issued by ASCB-accredited certification bodies.
Use the directory when the question is "is this certification body accredited, and for what." Use the certificate register when the question is "is this specific certificate genuine and current." Evaluators sometimes only do one of the two checks. Both matter, and they answer different questions.
Common evaluator mistakes
The most frequent gap is accepting a certificate without checking whether the issuing body is accredited at all. The second most frequent is checking accreditation in principle but not checking scope, so a certificate covering one site or one product line gets treated as covering the bidder's entire operation. Building the verification step into your evaluation process, rather than treating it as optional due diligence, closes both gaps at once.
Common questions
Should a tender ask for certification or accredited certification?
Accredited certification. It narrows the field to certifiers who have themselves been independently assessed against ISO/IEC 17021-1, the standard for bodies that certify management systems.
How do I check a bidder's claimed accreditation?
Verify the certificate on the register and confirm the issuing body's accreditation.
Does requiring accredited certification remove all risk?
No. It removes one specific, avoidable risk: a certificate issued without any independent check on the certifier behind it.