scope:

PURPOSE

To establish policy and specific responsibilities for planning and conducting a NASA Engineering and Quality Audits (NEQA) at contractor facilities and to ensure consistent evaluations of contractor compliance with NASA and MSFC contractual S&MA requirements.

NASA Engineering and Quality Audits (NEQA) for Office of Space Flight Projects will be structured and completed as defined in this plan. This document establishes requirements for selection, preparation, performance, and closeout of prime contractor, subcontractor, and vendor audits. Methodology and checklists for audit conduct are included in Appendix A.

This plan is organized to provide necessary guidelines and requirements for the implementation of NEQA at facilities and locations involved in manufacture, assembly, testing, and processing of hardware. This plan provides the methodology for planning, scheduling, performance, reporting and closeout of a NEQA. This audit can provide indicators of generic system anomalies that cause or contribute to the inability of personnel to warrant that the product satisfies specified requirements as well as specific problems in documentation or performance of required manufacturing/assembly operations.

APPLICABILITY

This procedure is applicable to all S&MA Office personnel who may serve as survey chairmen or team members on MSFC surveys and to other MSFC organizational elements and in-house MSFC contractors that perform any kind of work involving QA requirements on hardware, software, materials, and process equipment.