GAUTENA is an Organisation which, right from its earliest days, has been fully committed to providing a High-Quality Service, making a concerted effort to constantly improve both its technical and management models.

This drive towards Quality has also resulted in the maintenance of close contact with some of the most acclaimed programmes for autistic persons in the world, and among other initiatives of interest, the adoption on 1 January 1997 of the ISO 9001 Standard, with the Association gaining the official AENOR (Spanish Accreditation and Standardisation Agency) certificate in February 1998.

In February 2000, GAUTENA was recognised by the British National Autistic Society (National Autistic Society www.nas.org.uk) which applied its Service Quality Accreditation system in GAUTENA. In 2002 it received a Special Mention for Quality as a finalist in the 1st Gizartekintza Awards for Quality, established by the Gipuzkoa Provincial Government. which applied its Service Quality Accreditation system in GAUTENA. In 2002 it received a Special Mention for Quality as a finalist in the 1st Gizartekintza Awards for Quality, established by the Gipuzkoa Provincial Government.

GAUTENA has adopted the EFQM Model for Total Quality as its management benchmark, and has carried out two self-assessment in accordance with this model, one in 1999 and one in 2003. It continues to work in this field.

GAUTENA is constantly on the lookout for support from other Entities in order to make headway in the field of quality, both within the Basque Autonomous Region www.euskalit.es , Spainwww.feaps.org , and at an international level www.thecouncil.org