Experience | QA Plan | Points of Contact | SOW

It is the policy of NRC that quality assurance (QA) is infused into every aspect of project execution, both for our clients and ourselves. QA is performed as a pro-active collaborative effort on the part of each NRC employee to ensure that only the best products and services are provided to customers on all projects. NRC’s QA Manager ensures that project teams have the training and support they require to work efficiently, and to strive for consistent excellence. The QA Manager also champions process excellence and improvements throughout the company, while each employee is viewed as a quality advocate.

NRC relies on both industry and government standards for guidance in conducting corporate quality assurance activities. In the event of a potential conflict between NRC QA practices and established government/industry standards, resolution is addressed on a case-by-case basis for each contract and/or project as part of the project’s quality planning activities.

Bi-annual reviews of the overall QA effort are performed in order to assess the execution of NRC’s QA Plan and the activities conducted for compliance. NRC management reviews the accomplishment of planned quality tasks, the conduct of planned reviews, evaluations of products and services, metrics, and all action items or discrepancies. In addition, quality advocacy issues are addressed to ensure that company culture continues to support the spirit of the NRC QA Policy. The focus of QA reviews is on process quality and improvement, as well as the quality of QA coaching provided to NRC employees.

In addition to targeted QA reviews, NRC conducts generalized bi-annual program performance assessments on all aspects of our contracts. Assessments focus on technical accomplishment, problems encountered, recommended actions for problem resolution, problems that have been resolved, and results attributable to those actions. These contract reviews provide NRC management with visibility into individual task order performance and provide the means for proactive control of contract requirements.

Specific technical reviews are conducted in conjunction with project milestones. Project plan tasks, risk management, and deliverables are reviewed to ensure compliance with contractual obligations and NRC process requirements. The intent of these reviews is to ensure that the project is ready to move forward to the next phase. In the same way that program reviews provide management insight into the health of a program, technical reviews provide similar visibility with regard to issues, services, or resources the company needs to provide to assist the project team in accomplishing assigned tasks. Action items noted during the review are either closed by the next review, or subject to discussion for resolution.

QA Program activity records are prepared and collected as generated in the performance of the tasks identified in the QA plan. These records are maintained in the project specific files, and organized by major development or maintenance activity (i.e. phase, activity, task, etc.). The records are maintained throughout the duration of the project and will become part of the cumulative database of measurement and action data maintained by NRC. The QA Manager is responsible for the maintenance of these records.

Reports are generated as a routine function of the records collection procedures. These include:

• Monthly action status reports for each ongoing project team.
• Quarterly action status reports for NRC management.
• Periodic reports showing action initiation and resolution measurements as an aid in identifying ways to strengthen NRC processes and providing support to NRC employees. These reports are available to any NRC employee.
• Metrics reports to show status based upon identified measurements. These reports are available to any NRC employee.