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QUALITY AND PRACTICES FOR ITS ASSURANCE 13 Government contract quality assurance is the various functions, including inspection, that the government performs to determine that the contractor has fulfilled contract obligations of quality and quantity. Inspection means examining and testing supplies or services, possibly including raw materials, components, and intermediate assembliesâas well as work-in-placeâto determine their conformance to contract requirements. Part 52 of the FAR, ''Contract Clauses,'' requires agencies to include in their fixed-price14 construction contracts a standard clause requiring contractors to "maintain an adequate inspection system and perform such inspections as will ensure that the work called for by this contract conforms to contract requirements" and to "maintain complete inspection records and make them available to the government." Contracts with a value below a defined small purchase amount15 are exempted from the requirement, but agencies may still choose to include the clause. Most agencies have adopted much more elaborate sets of regulations and requirements for quality assurance. AGENCY QUALITY MANAGEMENT PRACTICES Within the common framework established by the FAR, individual federal agency QA and QC practices vary substantially as to where responsibilities are assigned and the formal components of the QA/QC program. The Department of Veterans Affairs (VA), for example, holds the general contractor responsible for quality control and VA resident engineersâassisted by the design firm and a government-hired testing laboratoryâmonitor and inspect to ensure contractor 14 Most governmental construction in the United States is purchased under fixed-price arrangements, in which contractor and owner agree to a definite total amount to be paid for satisfactory completion of construction of a facility described by previously prepared drawings, specifications, and related contract documents. 15 A small purchase is defined in the FAR as amounting to $25,000 or less.
QUALITY AND PRACTICES FOR ITS ASSURANCE 14 compliance. The Army Corps of Engineers and Naval Facilities Engineering Command (NAVFAC) also leave QC generally to the contractor, but often require that the contractor perform specified inspections, and sometimes supplement their staff QA personnel with third party professionals to verify contractor compliance. The Office of Foreign Buildings Operations of the U.S. Department of State (DoS), responsible for overseas embassy construction, has adopted an approach to quality management similar to the Corps. The construction contractor is required to provide an inspection system, and certain tests, inspections, and reports are specified. The DoS places on each project a staff project director to administer a program of testing and inspections for quality assurance. This program may often be quite stringent because of the unique problems associated with embassy security requirements and design standards and the challenges of construction in overseas locations. The General Services Administration (GSA) assumes primary responsibility for quality assurance and control during the construction phase of its projects, while recognizing that its construction contractors support the QA/QC effort with their own internal quality control systems. To perform on-site quality control functions, GSA uses in-house staff, personnel provided by construction management or the design A/E consultants, or various combinations of these. Some agencies supplement the FAR with additional regulations intended to respond to specific characteristics of their missions. The Army Corps of Engineers, for example, is regulated by the Department of Defense's FAR Supplement (DFARS), the Army FAR Supplement (AFARS) and the Engineer FAR Supplement (EFARS), in descending order of hierarchy. The Naval Facilities Engineering Command supplements the FAR and DFARS with the Navy Acquisition Procedure Supplement (NAPS). The Department of Veterans Affairs adds the Veterans Administration Acquisition Regulations (VAAR). These lower level regulations usually add more specific and
QUALITY AND PRACTICES FOR ITS ASSURANCE 15 restrictive language to the basic FAR requirements and must be read in conjunction with all higher level regulations. The Department of Energy (DoE), whose construction of research, nuclear, and other unique facilities demands specialized oversight and regulatory controls, has developed its own detailed quality assurance requirements 16. In most cases, DoE personnel are directly involved with QA activities. On small projects, inspection may be carried out by A/E personnel. On large projects, construction management contractors may perform inspections as part of the QA function. Because its construction is administered primarily by the Army Corps of Engineers, the Air Force does not maintain its own construction inspection staff. The Air Force nevertheless deserves mention: leadership of the Air Force has asserted strongly its commitment to the quality of its facilities and staff professionals work with their designers and construction agency counterparts to assure that this quality is delivered. The ability of construction agencies to assure quality facilities is greatly enhanced by such strong user commitment. In spite of the current variations in inspection practice by government agencies, there seems to be a consistent trend within the engineering and construction profession which leads the public agencies toward smaller and smaller forces to provide inspection oversight. This movement can progress only so far in public contracting because present laws preclude rewarding good performance by new, non-competitive construction contracts as is the case in private industry. This constraint may reduce the contractor's incentive for excellence because he or she must compete regardless of past quality or level of performance, but it should not reduce the contractor's pride in work well done or the need to build and retain a reputation for excellence. The federal agencies should foster and assist the growth of this professional attitude in those contractors that serve public programs. 16 These are contained in DOE Orders 5700.6B, "Quality Assurance," 4700.1, "Project Management," and 6430.1A, "General Design Criteria."
