scope:

INTRODUCTION

DGDQA Special Bulletin (1/90) detailed changes in MOD policy relating to quality assessment of its suppliers. The revised policy required that, from 1 September 1991, suppliers of products or services for which there is a Quality Control/Inspection requirement, obtain appropriate certification from a Third Party Certification Body accredited by the National Accreditation Council for Certification Bodies (NACCB) as a pre-requisite to entry on the Defence Contractors' List (DCL).

where AQAP-13 is a contract requirement, and suppliers of products incorporating software when the software constitutes a significant part of the product, were excluded from these revised arrangements for a transitional period until appropriately accredited Third Party Certification Bodies were available to undertake the work. It was further stated in paragraph 12 that where appropriate MOD would continue to assess such suppliers against AQAP-1 and AQAP-13 during the transition period.

This situation has now been reviewed in light of advances made in the field of national certification for software/software based products and the purpose of this Special Bulletin is to update suppliers on MOD software assessment policy.