The Nadcap Management Council and the Performance Review Institute updated their response to the COVID-19 pandemic to include Risk Assessment Surveys and Virtual Verification Audits. This update follows Nadcap’s initial response in the spring of 2020.

In light of the logistical and safety constraints put upon NASA’s suppliers and training facilities due to COVID-19, NASA’s Office of Safety and Mission Assurance released its second memo, which endorses, with caveats, the extension of training credential validity periods for the majority of operators and inspectors employed by organizations who seek to comply with NASA Workmanship Standards for the assembly and Quality Assurance of NASA hardware. This extension is only applicable to individuals whose training credentials would have expired on or after Feb. 15, 2020. 

The Office of Safety and Mission Assurance (OSMA) simultaneously renumbered and published an update to NASA-STD-6008, NASA Fastener Procurement, Receiving Inspection, and Storage Practices for Spaceflight. The new document, NASA-STD-8739.14, NASA Fastener Procurement, Receiving Inspection, and Storage Practices for NASA Mission Hardware, is now available for download at standards.nasa.gov. This is the first substantive technical change to the document since its stewardship transferred from the NASA Office of Chief Engineer to OSMA in 2008. The number change aligns with OSMA’s assigned number series for technical standards.

Fluke Calibration recently announced a new educational center for free online training aimed at metrologists and calibration professionals. 

The U.K.’s National Measurement Institute — National Physics Lab (NPL) — recently made its full suite of e-Learning training courses available for free through June 30, 2020. According to the NPL website, this was in acknowledgement that “Operating remotely and working from home has become a new reality for many and employers, employees and students alike are all looking for ways to adapt.”

The International Aerospace Quality Group (IAQG) — the industry standards organization that manages coordination and publication of AS9100, Quality Management Systems – Requirements for Aviation, Space and Defense Organizations  — recently released guidance and relief for its normal certification policies and timing requirements. The IAQG made the announcement due to travel restrictions and work stoppages among AS9100-certified suppliers due to COVID-19.

The Office of Safety and Mission Assurance’s Metrology and Calibration (MetCal) Program recently released “Handling, Transport, Storage, & Shipping of Measuring & Test Equipment” in SATERN. This one-hour course provides an overview of the proper physical handling, transporting, storing and shipping of Measuring and Test Equipment to help ensure it will continue to meet its accuracy specifications.

The Office of Safety and Mission Assurance is preparing to submit NASA-STD-8739.14, NASA Fastener Procurement, Receiving Inspection, and Storage Practices for NASA Mission Hardware for agencywide review in order to meet the planned May 6, 2020, publication date. 

On Oct. 1, the Office of Safety and Mission Assurance (OSMA) delegated a new program within the Quality Assurance discipline: Supply Chain Risk Management (SCRM). SCRM focuses on strategies, tools, techniques and guidance that generate knowledge about supplier risk and creates approaches for maximizing successful Quality outcomes throughout NASA’s supply chain for mission hardware.

The NASA Metrology and Calibration Program released a new course in SATERN, “NASA Metrology and Calibration Program Requirements Overview.”