Here's the situation as Becker sees it:
The U.S. military is actively replacing military specifications with commercial standards. Although the changeover is causing confusion, defense experts see good reason for altering the military spec system. Over the years, many military specs became redundant, and suppliers and contractors exerted more energy in "covering all bases" for the military, which sapped their competitive edge and made it difficult for them to function in dual markets-commercial and military.
To remedy this situation, on Feb. 14, 1994, then-Under Secretary of Defense for Acquisitions and Technology John M. Deutch issued a letter that allowed the armed services and their suppliers to substitute ISO 9000 standards for the quality assurance mil specs. In June 1994, Deutch made good on his promise to remove all military specs. The Defense Department issued letters to all services advising them to switch from mil specs to commercial or industry standards. In this letter, Deutch said this would be "a new way of doing business." Under this system, military specs are to be used only as a last resort.
The Defense Department took a major step in the direction of altering the mil spec system on the quality side when it inactivated Mil-Q-9858 in August 1995-more than a year ahead of schedule. Mil-Q-9858 was the defense quality-standards system. Federal acquisition requirements (D-FAR 246) have been revised to reflect this change, stating that for quality purposes, defense suppliers and contractors should use "any military, commercial, national or international standard."
Secondarily, the
Defense Department has designated ISO 9001 or 9002 as the quality system of
choice for its suppliers, replacing Mil-Q-9858. ISO 9000 is called Q9000 in
the United States. The following are the Q9000 replacements for mil standards:
* Q9001-Replaces MIL-Q-9858 and includes MIL-STD-1520 (Material Review),
MIL-STD-1535 (Supplier Quality Requirements) and MIL-Q-45662 (Top-Level
Calibration). It applies to systems in design, production, installation
and servicing.
* Q9002-Replaces MIL-I-45208 and is a more comprehensive quality
system. MIL-I is only an inspection system. It is exactly like Q9001
except for design requirements.
* Q9003-This standard is designed
to apply to final test and inspection only.
* Q9004-A guideline document
outlining quality management systems.
At this writing, the Defense Department has not required ISO 9000 certification and still conducts a great deal of second-party auditing. Depending on the service and agency concerned, defense contractors and suppliers must be in compliance with the ISO 9000 standard series but do not have to be registered.
In an agency as large as the Defense Department, this sort of far-reaching change can take years to filter through all layers of the system. By January 1995, the Defense Department had adopted more than 1,200 commercial standards. More than 160 military specs were eliminated as of this writing, out of a total of about 44,000.
However, there still are many, many issues to resolve:
* Not all military specs will be eliminated, especially in the product
area. Each agency serving the Defense Department has the right to pursue a
waiver through the head purchasing officer.
* The Defense Department
continues to audit suppliers and has not adopted a third-party registration
scheme for Q9000. When a Defense Department contract is issued, contractors
and suppliers can still expect an audit from the agency.
There has been tremendous internal debate over whether to train Defense Department auditors to conduct ISO 9000 registration. European Union officials voiced concern that this system-which effectively mixed second-party and third-party auditing-would ruin the third-party registration system that ISO 9000 advocates. But with the Big Three automakers creating their own QS-9000 system and major electronics giants forcibly angling to create their own "mixed" auditing system, the European Union is coming around to the Defense Department approach.
In the meantime, there are efforts to meld the Defense Department
and ISO 9000 third-party registration systems. The Defense Electronics
Supply Center in Dayton, Ohio, has been offering free ISO 9000 registrations
to certain qualified companies under a one-year pilot program.
* The individual services have the authority to act as they see fit,
and they are doing just that. While the Air Force and Navy are adopting
ISO 9000, the Navy has proposed a tailored version of ISO 9000/Q9000
called N9001 to its suppliers and contractors. The Army has stated
nothing in writing about the use of ISO 9000/Q9000. Each command has
the prerogative to do what it deems appropriate.
Long-time defense
suppliers and contractors will find their main concern may be implementing
ISO 9000. Remember, the Defense Department requires compliance to an ISO
9000-type of quality system, not certification. For those defense suppliers
and contractors already working on ISO 9000 certification, a main concern
is keeping track of evolving requirements surrounding mil specs and quality
systems. Here are some tips when conforming to military quality
requirements:
* Keep tabs on Defense Department requirements through the
data base on mil spec replacements. You can access this data base via the
worldwide web: http://www.acq.osd.mil/es/std/stdhome.html.
* Monitor individual services that are customers and be aware of
their recommendations.
* Know your "customer," in this case one
of hundreds of government agencies.
* Know the special requirements
that your customer sets.
But most of all, make sure you can track down Becker. She's the only one this writer knows who can make sense out of the Defense Department and its transitional standards system. You can reach Becker via Internet at beckerml@crl.com.
Amy Zuckerman is author of ISO 9000 Made Easy: A Cost-Saving Guide to Documentation and Registration (AMACOM Books). She operates an international market research company based in Amherst, Massachusetts.