Subcontractor Quality Assurance Requirements

Posted by Administrator on May 31st, 2007

In many cases, a prime contractor may ask your subcontracting company to fulfill the quality requirements of the contract. The reason behind this is the prime contractor is responsible for the quality of the goods supplied by the subcontractors or suppliers. It’s in the best interest of the prime contractor to assure that the subcontractors can meet the quality requirements needed to fulfill the needs of the prime contract.

It’s surprising to many contractors and subcontractors that the quality control processes for subcontractors don’t relieve the prime contractors of their quality assurance responsibilities under the contract. In addition, there isn’t any contractual relationship between the government and the subcontractor. So, if you thought that quality control is one area where you most likely won’t be able to avoid some red tape, think again.

In order for a prime to accurately assess that you are able to produce quality goods on time and within budget, you will probably have to go through a systems inspection and systems approval process. Unfortunately, having owner’s insurance and having a good relationship with the prime isn’t enough of a quality assurance process these days. You may have to market yourself in ways that you hadn’t had to before.

If you’re currently working with a prime who hasn’t asked you about your quality assurance process yet, be aware that the prime might be letting you get by for now but you may be asked to present your quality assurance process before securing the next contract. If you want to be proactive, start working on your quality control processes now. This relieves you from trying to create a quality assurance process right before you need to turn in a proposal.

Creating a Quality Assurance Process

If you don’t have a quality assurance process in place and need to create your own QA system, you will need to use calibration systems requirements. One specification in particular, MIL-STD-45662, thoroughly explains how to set up quality assurance processes, why they’re needed, etc. Although there is a newer, shorter version of this spec, the MIL-STD-45662 is more detailed for new subcontractors trying to start up a QA program.

The more updated specification that replaced the 45662 is ISO 10012-1 / NCSL Z540-1, to use for Calibration Systems Requirements. However, the cost of ordering some of the documents like the NCSL can be costly – it will run you about $200.

More Information from Government Contracting Best Practices
Learn more about quality requirements in Government Quality Assurance Procedures and How to Ensure you are within Federal Government Compliance.