Quality Assurance Verification

Quality Assurance Verification is the verification of the continuing effectiveness of a contractor's methods for controlling product quality. In Canadian federal defence procurement, it means the government reviews the contractor's quality-control system and checks whether products conform to the specifications in the contract.

The term appears in Government of Canada procurement material for Department of National Defence (DND) requirements administered through Public Services and Procurement Canada (PSPC). CanadaBuys lists it as a contract-administration activity in its description of agreements with the Department of National Defence. It is written out in full and is not an abbreviation.

How Quality Assurance Verification relates to Government Quality Assurance

Quality Assurance Verification sits within Government Quality Assurance (GQA), the approach in which the government confirms that contractual quality requirements are being met. Several related terms help separate the pieces:

• Quality assurance (QA): planned and systematic activities that give confidence quality requirements will be fulfilled.
• Quality control (QC): the contractor's own methods for controlling product quality. These methods are what the government verifies.
• GQA at source: government verification carried out at the contractor's facility or another source the client identifies.
• Inspection authority: the body designated to conduct verification and inspection, either by the client or by PSPC on the client's behalf.

What the government checks during verification

The CanadaBuys description of DND agreements names the areas that verification covers. They include:

• management controls and quality-assurance planning
• documentation and corrective actions
• engineering controls
• inspection and test equipment
• manufacturing and process controls
• inspection and testing
• non-conforming materiel
• handling, storage and packing

Taken together, these cover the contractor's quality system from planning through to final inspection and delivery. Verification is not a single event. It confirms that the controls remain effective for as long as the contract runs.

What the solicitation must state

CanadaBuys guidance on standards and quality assurance places the responsibility on the client. Clients must specify GQA requirements in the requisition or attached documentation, including the inspection authority and the point of inspection. The level of GQA depends on the technical requirements of the contract and on the offeror's performance history.

The same guidance sets out what GQA can require of a contractor:

• maintaining a quality-assurance system
• demonstrating conformance and providing proof of compliance with an acceptable standard or specification
• submitting samples, first-off units or pre-production units
• submitting an inspection plan
• permitting government verification of inspection, tests and trials

CanadaBuys identifies ISO 9001:2015, ISO 9001:2015 combined with AQAP-2110, or an equivalent recognized program as possible bases for a contractor's quality system. AQAP-2110 is one of the NATO quality assurance requirements. NATO's terminology database, NATOTerm, is maintained by the NATO Terminology Office.

What it means for a supplier bidding on Canadian public contracts

Suppliers bidding on defence and military-specification requirements should read the quality clauses in the solicitation closely. The precise obligations depend on the solicitation, the contract clauses, the specified standard, the inspection authority and the point of inspection.

In practice, a supplier should be ready to give the inspection authority access to its facility and records. It should also be ready to provide evidence of conformance, inspection plans and samples, and to share corrective-action information when the contract asks for them. A documented quality system built on the standard the solicitation names, such as ISO 9001:2015 or ISO 9001:2015 with AQAP-2110, puts a bidder in a stronger position to meet these requirements. A bidder's performance history also influences the level of GQA applied.