First article inspection

Definition

A measured report proving the first part matches the drawing, which is a customer's rule and not law.

Why It Matters

Worth knowing what this is and what it is not. The report itself comes from an industry standard a customer imposes through its own quality system, so a shop that has run a job for years holds something a competitor cannot quote around, because requalifying costs the customer time and paperwork. It is NOT the federal instrument of nearly the same name, which is a contracting officer's written acceptance of test results and is normally not required at all where the specification is complete and detailed; treating the two as one is the mistake to avoid. What the law does require of a shop on government work is records: books, documents, accounting practices and supporting evidence made available to the agency and to the Comptroller General for three years after final payment, and the subpart says contracts and contractors include subcontracts and subcontractors, so a sub-tier shop is caught by it.