IG Report On EKV

The Defense Department inspector general's office recently performed a "quality assurance assessment" of the Missile Defense Agency's Exoatmospheric Kill Vehicle.

In a report released today, the IG found that while most of MDA's EKV quality management systems managed by prime contractor Boeing and subcontractor Raytheon were in compliance, "some areas need improvement." Specifically:

A. Boeing and Raytheon were not ensuring that software development processes and testing were sufficient, which could result in reliability issues.

B. Boeing and Raytheon did not ensure all quality assurance and technical requirements for mission-critical assemblies flowed down to the supply chain and were verified. Therefore, it is uncertain that all supplier products will meet system, performance, and reliability requirements.

C. Boeing and Raytheon were not adhering to configuration management processes, specifically with respect to management of change processes for design requirements. This leads to some uncertainty in fielded configurations.

D. Missile Defense Agency, Boeing, and Raytheon were not ensuring that all quality management systems were in compliance with the AS9100C standard. We identified a total of 48 nonconformances that were violations of the AS9100C standard. These nonconformances could result in the production of nonconforming hardware and software which could effect mission success.

Consequently, the IG recommends the MDA director do the following:

A. Ensure software development processes are fully documented, implemented, and enforced throughout the Exoatmospheric Kill Vehicle supply chain.

B.1 Ensure all suppliers of critical items are identified as critical suppliers, receive the necessary contractual requirements, and requirements are verified throughout the supply chain.

B.2 Ensure fielded hardware affected by an insufficient Hardware Acceptance Review Checklist process is assessed for risk.

C. Ensure design and configuration changes do not circumvent the Missile Defense Agency Assurance Provisions for configuration management.

D. Conduct an effective root cause analysis and implement corrective actions for all 48 nonconformances including assessing the risk to fielded hardware.