In 2007 OPCA/SOPOL went through a 7 month merger process in which the best practices of each company were determined, resulting in a new company with a wealth of experience behind it.

It was during 2005 that CERTICON - Associação para a Qualificação e Certificação na Construção, awarded the OPCA Engineering business unit the NP EN ISO 9001:2000, OHSAS 18001:1999 (eq NP 4397:2001) and NP EN ISO 14001:2004 certifications, namely their Quality, Safety and Environmental divisions, for “Management and Execution of engineering work in transport infrastructures in Portuguese territory”

Once the System had been set up and certified, 2005 was a year in which the company had to reorganise itself and adapt to the new Certification rules: define objectives and establish procedures, adapt ongoing construction works to the new rules, train the staff, collect and integrate proposals for improvement, do internal audits to check on conformity with new regulations, introduce a Working Manual to set out each and every responsibility according to the new rules, evaluate suppliers and client satisfaction, amongst others.

This Certification is presently being extended to the entire OPWAY group, using the certified system already implemented in the Engineering unit. This has meant hiring more people to reinforce the office staff, and moving others around the various Business units in order to harmonize all internal processes, the result being more efficient working methods with potentially more efficient response to both internal and external clients.