# Presentation: 027738

## Integrating Assessments of NASA Suppliers NASA Supply Chain 2008 Conference, October 28-30Goddard Space Flight Center 

**Buck Crenshaw**, Jet Propulsion Laboratory
- Joint Audit Planning Committee (JAPC) Chair
**Olga Ceritelli**, NASA Contract Assurances Services
- NASA Audit Management Team (NAMT) Facilitator

## Overview

- Why integrate assessments?
- The Joint Audit Planning Committee
- The NASA Audit Management Team

## Why Integrate Assessments?

**U.S. Code Title 15--Commerce and Foreign Trade**
**CHAPTER II--NATIONAL INSTITUTE OF STANDARDS AND TECHNOLOGY, DEPARTMENT OF COMMERCE, PART 287— GUIDANCE ON FEDERAL CONFORMITY ASSESSMENT **
**287.1 Purpose and scope of this guidance.**
- (a) This part provides guidance for each Federal agency to use in evaluating the efficacy and efficiency of its conformity assessment activities. Each agency should coordinate its conformity assessment activities with those of other appropriate government** **agencies and with those of the private sector to reduce unnecessary duplication...

## Joint Audit Planning Committee

- Joint Audit Planning Committee (JAPC)
- The JAPC is responsible for oversight of assessment coordination and management of the ***Sub-Tier Supplier base ***as documented in a Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) that implements the NASA Joint Audit Planning Committee amongst NASA and numerous Primes.
- The MOU establishes an integrated audit schedule and addresses team membership and methods of operation for the conduct of the audits of these Sub-Tier Suppliers.

## JAPC GOALS

- Share supplier quality data *within the committee*.
- Enhancing the capability to identify supplier risks and tailor quality assurance actions
- Reduce *committee companies* costs by combining auditing resources.
- Reporting Agency-wide quality metrics and trends
- Standardize supplier auditing practices.
- Share best practices and lessons learned.

## JAPC GOALS (cont.)

- Identify and facilitate the resolution of common supplier issues.
- Eliminating duplicative audits and reducing supplier costs and work interruptions related to customer audits.
- Providing continuous improvement feedback to third party, Industry Controlled Other Party (ICOP), and Government programs which serve to assess the conformance and/or effectiveness of supplier quality management systems or quality system processes.  Examples include AS9100 Certification/Registration Bodies (CRB) accredited in accordance with AS9014 and Nadcap special process accreditation.

## NASA Audit Management Team (NAMT)

- As the JAPC coordinates numerous activities between NASA and Primes who participated in the MOU, the NAMT coordinate activities amongst Centers auditing Primes.

## NAMT Goals

- Verify implementation and effectiveness of contractually imposed SMA Requirements at ***Prime Contractors.***
-  Identify common issues and opportunities for improvement to benefit the agency, at the NASA Field Centers and Prime Contractors.
- Eliminate duplicative audits.
- Reduce the impact to both NASA Centers and Primes by efficient scheduling and providing audit opportunities.
- Reduce the burden in cost and time to NASA Centers and Prime Contractors by reducing interruptions related to ongoing customer audits.

## NAMT Goals (Cont.)

- Provide an improved audit service to the supplier.
- Identify opportunities for improvement to NASA requirements.
- Work collectively on tools to help support Agency audit processes.
-  Identify opportunities for ***technical assist visits***.
-  Identify opportunities for use of the ***Process Control Team***.

## Overlapping Suppliers

- Suppliers sometimes serve as both NASA Prime and NASA Sub-Contractor.
- If the supplier agrees to be audited by the JAPC, the audit will be done at that level (with some exceptions).

## Being Audited

- The process is set up in a manner that will benefit the auditee in participating in NAMT or JAPC activities.
- The audit team will typically be more well rounded when representing different Primes and Centers providing a more effective audit.
- There will be a single line of communication for responding to findings.
- Although the JAPC and NAMT attempt to reduce audits, there will occasionally still be certain circumstances where the Center must conduct and audit of your facility without the JAPC or NAMT participation.
- Reasons may include: Program or Project Specific Requirements or Needs, Quality Issues at the facility, Schedule concerns, new technology or to verify special process capability.

## Summary

- JAPC focuses on coordinating audit activities between NASA and the Prime Contractors of sub-tier suppliers.
- NAMT is a Government Team coordinating audit activities of the NASA Centers.
- The JAPC and the NAMT have similar goals to reduce impact at suppliers, increase value, effectiveness, and efficiency for NASA Programs.
- This will involve more up-front coordination.
- Both teams also share a set of suppliers which makes it necessary for teaming.
- Auditees receive a more comprehensive audit at facility when more Centers/Primes participate.

## QUESTIONS?

## References

- NPD 1000.3C **The NASA Organization w/Change 29 (09/24/2008)** (see link) _[http://nodis3.gsfc.nasa.gov/displayDir.cfm?Internal_ID=N_PD_1000_003C_&page_name=main](http://nodis3.gsfc.nasa.gov/displayDir.cfm?Internal_ID=N_PD_1000_003C_&page_name=main)_
- NPD 1210.2  **NASA Surveys, Audits, and Reviews Policy **(see link)  _[http://nodis3.gsfc.nasa.gov/displayDir.cfm?t=NPD&c=1210&s=2](http://nodis3.gsfc.nasa.gov/displayDir.cfm?t=NPD&c=1210&s=2)_
- NPD 8700.1C  **NASA Policy for Safety and Mission Success **(see link) http://nodis3.gsfc.nasa.gov/displayDir.cfm?Internal_ID=N_PD_8700_001C_&page_name=main
- NPR 8705.6 **Safety and Mission Assurance Audits, Reviews, and Assessments **(see link) http://nodis3.gsfc.nasa.gov/displayDir.cfm?t=NPR&c=8705&s=6

## References

- NPR 8735.2A **Management of Government Quality Assurance Functions for NASA Contracts (see link) **http://nodis3.gsfc.nasa.gov/displayDir.cfm?t=NPR&c=8735&s=2A
**U.S. Code Title 15--Commerce and Foreign Trade, **CHAPTER II--NATIONAL INSTITUTE OF STANDARDS AND TECHNOLOGY, DEPARTMENT OF COMMERCE, PART 287 http://www.google.com/search?hl=en&q=U.S.+Code+Title+15+chapter+II+part+287
**MEMORANDUM OF UNDERSTANDING (MOU) FOR OPERATION OF THE NASA JOINT AUDIT PLANNING COMMITTEE**.
- 	https://secureworkgroups.grc.nasa.gov/japc