Defense Contract Management Agency Santa Ana Quality Assurance Oversight Needs lmprovement
Abstract
We determined whether the Defense Contract Management Agency (DCMA) Santa Ana contract management office performed quality assurance (QA) procedures and oversight of contractors in accordance with applicable policies for critical safety items (CSIs). For this audit, we reviewed QA oversight of four contracts valued at about $278 million. The DCMA Santa Ana quality assurance representatives (QARs) assigned to four contracts did not adequately perform or document their QA surveillance. For all four contracts, QARs did not develop QA surveillance plans to mitigate risk, plan and perform reviews of key manufacturing processes, and execute or adequately perform product examination before final acceptance. This occurred primarily because first-level supervisors did not provide oversight of the nonresident QARs to minimize the risk of defective CSIs reaching the warfighter. As a result, DCMA Santa Ana officials provided limited assurance that 18,507 critical safety items, consisting of T-11 parachutes, oxygen masks, drone parachutes, and breathing apparatuses met contract requirements. We recommend that the Director, DCMA Santa Ana contract management office verify that QARs developed adequate QA surveillance plans and performed process reviews and product examinations; certify that the supervisory reviews of QARs were accurate, complete, and timely; and perform a risk analysis in coordination with Service Engineers to identify QA risk areas and determine the need to recall or restrict the use of CSI items previously accepted.
Document Details
- Document Type
- Technical Report
- Publication Date
- Apr 19, 2013
- Accession Number
- ADA580057
Entities
People
- Jacqueline L. Wicecarver
Organizations
- Office of the Inspector General, U.S. Department of Defense