Project Quality Plan Template: How to Structure a PQP to ISO 10005

The project quality plan is the document every main contractor asks for at mobilisation and the one most subcontractors write at midnight the day before. A PQP that is a copy of the company quality manual with the project name substituted will be returned. This article sets out what a project quality plan is for, how BS EN ISO 10005:2018 says it should be structured, what goes in each section, and how to write one a Tier 1 reviewer will approve in one round.

What a project quality plan is, and what it is not

Your quality management system describes how your company works everywhere. A quality plan describes how that system is applied to one contract: which procedures apply, who holds which role on this job, which standards and specification clauses govern the work, what will be inspected, and what will be handed over. ISO 9001:2015 clause 8.1 requires an organisation to plan and control the processes needed to meet the requirements for its products and services. ISO 10005:2018, Quality management - Guidelines for quality plans, is the standard that describes how that planning is set down for a specific contract, and what the resulting plan should contain.

It is not a repeat of the quality manual. A reviewer who sees fifteen pages describing your document control procedure knows you have pasted from the manual. The plan should say "document control is to PR-001; the project document register is Appendix D; the document controller on this contract is [name]" and move on.

It is also not the client's quality plan. Where the contract mandates a client format, use it. The content below still applies; the headings may simply appear in a different order.

How ISO 10005:2018 structures a quality plan

ISO 10005:2018 is a guideline rather than a requirements standard, so it is not something you get certified against. Its value is that it gives a client reviewer and a contractor a shared list of what a quality plan is expected to cover. Clause 5 deals with developing the plan: establishing its context, identifying the inputs (the contract, the specification, the applicable procedures, statutory requirements), defining its scope and preparing it. Clause 5.3 in particular expects the scope to be defined and stated so that everyone knows which activities the plan governs. Clause 6 lists the content: scope, inputs, quality objectives, responsibilities, control of documented information, resources, communication with interested parties, design and development, externally provided processes and products, production and service provision, identification and traceability, customer property, preservation, control of nonconforming outputs, monitoring and measurement, and audits. Clause 7 covers operating the plan: review and acceptance, implementation, revision and feedback.

That list is generic by design. Below is what it becomes on a construction contract.

Section by section: a construction PQP

1. Purpose and scope

The contract, the package, the physical extent, the sections or phases, and what is excluded. State the client's quality requirements document by reference and revision. If a client quality plan format is mandated, say so here and cross-reference it.

2. Contract documents and standards

A table of the documents that set the requirements: the contract form, the employer's requirements, the specification sections applicable to your package, the drawing register, and the standards that govern the work at their current edition. This table is where reviewers catch superseded editions, so check every one before issue. For an electrical package in late 2026 that means BS 7671:2018+A4:2026; for fire detection, BS 5839-1:2025; for emergency lighting, BS 5266-1:2025 and BS EN 1838:2024.

3. Quality objectives for this project

Measurable, project-specific objectives with a target and a method of measurement. "Zero Category A snags at offer of each section", "ITPs approved at revision 01 in 80 per cent of cases", "NCRs closed within 14 days". Not "to deliver a quality project".

4. Organisation, responsibilities and authorities

Named people, not job titles alone, for the project manager, quality manager, site managers by discipline, document controller, commissioning manager and the specialist subcontractors. State who can sign each type of record and who can stop work. Put the organisation chart in an appendix.

5. Design control

If any part of the package is contractor-designed, including temporary works and subcontractor design, say how design is reviewed, verified and approved, and how design changes are recorded. If there is no design responsibility, say so explicitly.

6. Procurement, subcontractors and materials

The technical submittal process and the submittal register, the approved suppliers and subcontractors for this contract with the basis of approval, procurement lead times for the long-lead items, goods receipt inspection, storage and preservation, and how traceability is maintained from certificate to installed item.

7. Construction control

The heart of the plan. The ITP register for the package (Appendix B), listing every inspection and test plan, its revision and approval status. The method statement and task briefing regime. The check sheets that record each ITP line. The hold, witness and surveillance definitions and the notice periods agreed with the client. The calibration register for the instruments that will be used on this job.

8. Nonconformity, concessions and corrective action

How a nonconformity is raised, quarantined, dispositioned and closed; who can grant a concession (only the party that set the requirement); how root cause is recorded and how corrective action is verified.

9. Commissioning

For a services package, the link to the commissioning plan: the systems to be commissioned, the commissioning ITPs and test records, witnessing arrangements and the integrated systems test.

10. Records, handover and O&M

The records this contract will produce, where they are filed, how long they are retained, and the handover deliverables agreed with the principal contractor: certificates by discipline, as-built drawings, O&M manuals, the health and safety file contribution and training.

11. Audit, review and communication

The internal audit planned for this project, the monthly review of the plan itself, the quality KPIs reported to the client, and the meetings at which quality is discussed.

Appendices

Organisation chart, ITP register, technical submittal register and project document register. These are the live documents a reviewer will check against the site months later, so keep them as registers that are updated, not as tables pasted into the plan once.

Why project quality plans are rejected

• It is the quality manual with the project name changed. The reviewer wants project-specific application, not a description of the company system.
• No ITP register, or a register with no approval status. The plan says inspections will be carried out to approved ITPs, but does not say which ITPs exist or whether they are approved.
• Job titles instead of names. "The Quality Manager will..." is meaningless if the reviewer cannot find out who that is and whether they are competent.
• Superseded standards in the references table. The easiest finding for a reviewer to spot and the most avoidable.
• Objectives that cannot be measured. A quality objective without a number and a method of measurement is a slogan.
• Handover deliverables not defined. If the plan does not say which certificates will be delivered, in what format, signed by whom, the argument about them will happen at practical completion, when it costs the most.
• No revision control on the plan itself. The plan changes as the ITP register grows and roles change. A PQP still at revision 01 nine months into a contract has not been maintained.

Writing it in a week rather than a month

The fastest route is to start from a template with guidance in every section and a completed worked example alongside it, so that you are editing rather than authoring. Read the worked example first: it shows what level of detail a reviewer expects, and it shows the cross-references, from the plan to the procedures, from the procedures to the forms, and from the ITP register to the ITPs themselves, that make the whole system hang together. Then complete the template section by section against your contract documents, fill the appendices, and issue for approval before mobilisation, not after.