On 23 June 2011 EHFA opened a tender for the provision of training and management for the association's accreditation of training providers. The closing date for tenders was 12:00 on 7 July 2011.
Accreditation was the association's core service to training providers. A provider whose programme was found to meet the European occupational standards was accredited by the Standards Council, which held technical authority over the criteria and over the decisions taken against them. The work behind that was continuous: applications assessed, evidence examined, decisions recorded and accredited providers kept in view as the standards were revised. Running it with a secretariat of a handful of people meant contracting parts of it out rather than letting the administration of the scheme set its limits. A tender was how a defined piece of work was described publicly, priced and dated.
Accreditation mattered to the provider as well as to the association. The criteria were the standards themselves, and the assessment looked at the content of the training, how it was delivered and how learners were assessed. Providers used accreditation to show employers and national authorities that their certificate rested on the European framework rather than on a house syllabus. See accreditation for what it recognised and the accreditation process for the steps involved.