IAF ConsultancyA multi-site certificate transfers as a multi-site certificate. Every site named on it is part of the review. The sampling programme the current body has been using is part of the review too. Dropping a site, or adding one, is a scope change and is quoted as a scope change.
What does the review confirm?
It confirms that the central function and the sites are the ones on the certificate, that the sites were eligible to be sampled, and that the audits the programme required were done. Reports that only ever visit head office, on a certificate that lists plants or project sites, are a problem the accepting body will not inherit.
Say on the application whether the sites do the same work. Same work is what makes a sample legitimate. Sites that do different work need their own consideration, and the offer shows that. The form already asks for the site count and for that yes-or-no answer.
What if one site is the problem?
An open major nonconformity at one site affects the certificate, because there is one certificate. That finding has to be closed before a new certificate is issued. A site that has left the company should come off the scope in the open, with the records showing when it left. A site that was acquired and never audited stays off the transferred certificate until it is audited.
Scope changes beside a transfer are in changing scope during a transfer. Open findings are in open nonconformities.
How is this quoted?
On the application, enter the number of sites, name the locations, and choose Transfer from another body. Put the certificate's site list in the scope. IAF Consultancy uses that, plus the audit reports, to write an offer that states which sites the new certificate would cover, when the decision can be made, and what it costs.
Surveillance after the transfer keeps sampling the sites across the remaining cycle. The sample continues. It does not ignore a site until recertification. That programme is in surveillance after a transfer. SMG issues the certificate. IAF Consultancy audits.