propriate, originators of procurement request and contracting officers by:

(1) Participating in each phase of project planning and each step of the procurement process;

(2) Determining and documenting the necessary quality requirements;

(3) Documenting funding estimates required to implement the quality requirements of the procurement request;

(4) Participating in preaward and postaward surveys;

(5) Reviewing Quality Program Plans or Inspection Plans for adequacy and coordinating reviews with originators of procurement requests;

(6) Presenting quality requirements at bidder's conferences or oral briefings;

(7) Participating in proposal or bid evaluations;

(8) Providing technical support in negotiation of quality requirements into contracts;

(9) Reviewing contracts prior to issuance to ensure inclusion of appropriate quality requirements;

(10) Evaluating contractor after award of contract; and

efforts

(11) Preparing the quality assurance requirements for inclusion in the Letters of Delegation for performance of contract administration services by other Government agencies.

(c) Contracting officers. The contracting officer, with or through personnel responsible for quality assurance, shall:

(1) Review each procurement document to ensure that quality requirements are included, as necessary;

(2) Determine, if quality requirements have been omitted or appear to be inadequate, the applicable quality requirements by consultation and verification with personnel responsible for quality assurance and the originator of the procurement request;

(3) Advise all prospective contractors of the quality requirements for the particular procurement;

(4) Include a statement, when NASA quality documents are referenced in the RFP or IFB, that if copies of the documents are unavailable for the preparation of the proposal or bid, they will be furnished upon request;

(5) Advise prospective contractors of the interpretation of quality requirements;

(6) Arrange for participation of personnel responsible for quality assurance

in proposal or bid evaluations and negotiations, as necessary;

(7) Insure that the provisions of the contract are specific as to the contractor's responsibility for meeting quality requirements;

(8) Insure that responsibility is designated for performance of Government quality assurance functions at suppliers' plants to a NASA installation or to another Government agency, or both; and

(9) Notify the contractor, the delegated agency, and the assigned representatives of the NASA installation as to quality assurance functions delegated, and the functions to be performed by the NASA installation. Letters outlining delegated functions shall be specific as to the quality assurance effort required, and those outlining functions to be performed by the NASA installation at plant sites shall set forth the duties, responsibilities, and authority of installation personnel assigned to perform these functions.

(d) NASA installations. Detailed procedures shall be established by the NASA installations to implement this subpart, including: assigning and defining personnel responsibilities and duties, routing of procurement requests, recording of technical and quality requirements, notification of meetings and negotiations, and establishing quality requirements in accordance with the categories of procurement.

§ 18-1.5004 Procedures.

This section specifies additional related actions with regard to the procurement process.

(a) Procurement plan. Procurement plans prepared in accordance with § 183.852 shall include:

(1) Extent of applicability of NHB 5300.4(1B) or NPC 200-3.

(2) Planned funding (best estimates by fiscal year) for the quality program.

(b) Evaluation of proposals. Evaluation shall include consideration of quality factors concerning the prospective contractor's proposal, quality system, plan, capability, and past performance prior to final recommendation for award. These quality factors are items to be considered during preaward surveys conducted in accordance with § 18-1.905-50. Evaluation of these factors are required regardless of the evaluation method used.

(c) Inspection and acceptance. (See Part 18-14 of this chapter.)

Subpart 18-1.51-Integration of Reliability Requirements Into NASA Procurements

§ 18-1.5100 Scope of subpart.

This subpart establishes procedures for implementing the reliability policies prescribed in NASA Policy Directive 5300.7, "Basic Policy for Reliability and Quality Assurance" by (a) establishing general principles of systematic reliability assurance actions on NASA procurements; (b) detailing the application of NASA Reliability Publication "Reliability Program Provisions for Aeronautical and Space Systems Contractors" (NHB 5300.4(1A)); and (c) defining the level at which reliability program requirements are to be placed on contractors.

[36 F.R. 21467, Nov. 10, 1971]

NASA reliability and quality assurance policy, as reflected in NPD 5300.7 is to (a) utilize every practical means to achieve levels of reliability and quality commensurate with mission objectives; (b) assign responsibility for establishing and achieving reliability and quality assurance (R&QA) requirements for products and services which are developed and fabricated within NASA installations or acquired from contractors; and (c) to review and evaluate plans, systems, and activities related to establishing and meeting reliability and quality requirements by contractors and within NASA installations to ensure that desired objectives are effectively achieved. [36 F.R. 21467, Nov. 10, 1971]

§ 18-1.5102 Definitions.

For the purpose of this subpart, the following terms have the meanings set forth below.

(a) Reliability. A characteristic or a system or any element thereof which is expressed as the probability that it will perform its required functions under defined conditions at designated times and for specified operating periods.

(b) Reliability program. A series of tasks, systematized under a comprehensive plan, which is designed to achieve the required level or reliability in the design, development, fabrication, test and use of a hardware end item.

(c) Reliability assurance. A planned and systematic pattern of actions neces

sary to provide adequate confidence that a space or aeronautical system or portion thereof (including test equipment) will perform reliably in actual operation. This includes actions to:

(1) Plan for achievement of satisfactory reliability when formulating procurement documents;

(2) Plan and execute reliability programs pertinent to each phase of the work from design through end use of the system hardware;

(3) Monitor and guide contractor reliability efforts; and

(4) Assess to determine whether the necessary level of reliability is being attained and maintained.

[36 F.R. 21467, Nov. 10, 1971]

(a) The procedures prescribed in this subpart are applicable to:

(1) New procurements of complete space or aeronautical systems; principal systems making up a complete system (e.g., launch vehicles, spacecraft, test equipment, critical ground support equipment, experiments, etc.); critical subsystems or critical components where the total cost of the procurement is estimated to exceed $1 million. (See paragraph (b) of this section, for smaller procurements of critical items.) It is not necessarily applicable for procurements which do not entail design responsibility (e.g., "off-the-shelf" items); and

(2) Amendments to exisiting contracts of the types stated in paragraph (a) (1) of this section if the total contract value exceeds $1 million after amendment. In applying NHB 5300.4(1A) to existing contracts, cognizant personnel shall exercise discretion to prescribe reliability program requirements in such a manner as to be timely in contract performance and reasonable in cost in light of project completion status.

(b) For procurements of $1 million or less where the contractor has design responsibility for an aeronautical or space system or for critical hardware end items, or equipment to serve as part of such a system (including critical test and ground support equipment), the cognizant NASA installation shall (1) determine and impose applicable reliability program requirements (e.g., design review, design specifications, failure reporting and correction, parts and materials program, qualification and flight acceptance testing); and (2) follow those pro

cedures set forth in § 18-1.5104(a) considered by the installation to be applicable.

[36 F.R. 21467, Nov. 10, 1971]

§ 18-1.5104 Responsibilities.

(a) Originators of procurement requests. Originators of procurement requests shall consult as early as possible with appropriate reliability assurance personnel to determine the extent of applicability of NASA reliability publication NHB 5300.4(1A) to the procurement and to ensure that these reliability personnel develop detailed reliability program requirements. They shall also:

(1) Generally define in the procurement request the extent to which reliability program provisions of NHB 5300.4 (1A) will be invoked in the contract;

(2) Cite in the procurement request appropriate specifications, standards, design reliability criteria, or other documents or provisions which further establish or define reliability requirements;

(3) Recomended in the procurement request the manner in which reliability assurance requirements should be phased relative to over-all procurement phasing, and specify the time at which the contractor's reliability program plan is to be incorporated in the contract;

(4) Provide for the Statement of Work, details on the extent of applicability or necessary amplification of the provisions of NHB 5300.4(1A) and any other reliability documents to be invoked in the contract (for technical factors requiring definitization, see § 18-1.5106); and

(5) Provide the contracting officer the necessary copies of items described in subparagraph (2) of this paragraph, or advice as to where they can be obtained.

(b) Contracting Officers. Contracting officers, with or through appropriate reliability assurance personnel, shall:

(1) Review the reliability assurance requirements established for each procurement;

(2) Question those reliability assurance provisions which appear to be inadequate or have not been included (this will be accomplished in coordination with, and with verification by, the originator of the procurement request and reliability assurance personnel);

(3) Advise all prospective contractors of reliability assurance and program requirements for the procurement;

(4) Insure, whenever practicable, that the contractor's reliability program plan is incorporated in the contract at the

time of award of Phase C and/or Phase D contracts; in multiple phase contracts, which include Phase B, negotiate as a minimum the scope of the reliability program by reliability task for this project phase prior to contract award and provide for definitization of the reliability program plan prior to the start of Phase C (see NHB 7121.2 "Phased Project Planning Guidelines");

(5) Insure that the provisions of the contract are clear as to the contractor's responsibility for meeting reliability requirements; and

(6) Insure that the contractor meets the terms and conditions of the contract relative to reliability requirements.

(c) Reliability assurance personnel. Reliability assurance personnel shall:

(1) Advise and assist originators of procurement requests in performing the functions described in paragraph (a) of this section;

(2) Advise and assist contracting officers in the functions described in paragraph (b) of this section;

(3) Assist contracting officers in the preparation of procurement plans to insure that the plans contain necessary provisions for reliability assurance;

(4) Assist the originators of procurement requests in evaluating and scoring the reliability program provisions of contract proposals;

(5) Advise and assist in guidance and monitoring, and other actions necessary to assure the contractor's compliance with the contract reliability program requirements;

(6) Take other actions as necessary to ensure that the system, hardware end item, or equipment being procured meets required levels of reliability; and

(7) Advise contracting officers and originators of procurements as necessary to assist them in evaluating and negotiating proposed reliability program costs and in monitoring of these costs during reliability program execution.

[36 F.R. 21467, Nov. 10, 1971]

§ 18-1.5105 Procedures.

(a) Processing of procurement documents for procurements of systems expected to exceed $1 million—(1) Procurement requests. The procurement requests will include in the description of the procurement a statement of reliability requirements, in accordance with § 18-1.5104(a) (1) through (4).

(2) Procurement plans. The procurement plan will contain a discussion of