scope:

Description of Driving Event:

The High Powered Amplifiers for the Early Communications Projects (ECOMM) provided by a prime contractor's supplier failed to meet performance and quality requirements (defective soldering workmanship) resulting in schedule impacts.

Root cause: The procurement process for Criticality 3 (non-critical) hardware, by JSC contractors, has in some cases not received the same quality assurance rigors as the procurement process involving critical hardware. The quality assurance activities to be performed at source by, the prime contractor, should be predicated on risk and proven ability of a subcontractor to supply conforming items. In this case the decision to forego source activities was based solely on the criticality of the hardware and did not take into consideration the complexity of the hardware and lack of subcontractor historical data.

Deficiencies were noted in the following areas for this particular procurement:

• Inadequate supplier selection process.

• A site survey was not performed to verify subcontractor capabilities.

• Inadequate contract monitoring of supplier performance and progress.

• Source inspection was not performed by the prime.