QUALITY ASSURANCE PROGRAM

IEA uses internal quality processes of ISO 9001:2008 and PMBOK as part of our standard
operating procedures to maintain consistent quality across all of our contracts and task orders.
Quality Assurance is of paramount importance and enables us to meet or exceed performance
standards and acceptable quality levels. IEA has extensive experience managing quality
programs using customer FAM, FAH, and Quality Assurance Surveillance Plans (QASP), and we
are compliant with industry best standards, including ISO 9001:2008 Quality Systems and
FAH-5 H-200 Project Management. These guidelines set the framework for analysis, monitoring
and evaluation, and continuous improvement activities by task order. Each task order has a
quality control plan (QCP) to ensure our staff efficiently meets service expectations.
IEA continually seeks improvement in the delivery of its services to customers. We
systematically monitor, evaluate, assess risk, and recommend preventative and corrective
actions to ensure we sustain customer satisfaction. Our Team believes the responsibility for
quality rests with all service delivery stakeholders. For instance, our corporate quality policy
states that all personnel who manage, perform, or verify work related to customer services
share responsibility in ensuring those services are provided with quality.
Our QCP defines guidelines at the contract level. The Program Manager (PM) is responsible for
setting the general guidelines that are appropriate for providing staffing services to customer
guidelines, which are focused on performance management and service delivery. The
guidelines include clear definition of the objectives for the task and the metrics for evaluating
performance success. The PM monitors and reports the metrics, and executes required data
gathering. This data is provided to the PM to monitor all inspections, audits, systems, and
documentation.
IEA uses a proven foundation of establishing quality for a contract. As the scope of the task
defines "what" is to be delivered during the course of the project, the QCP defines "how" the
scope will be validated. The key elements of the QCP are as follows:

define the contractual requirements for quality so that they are understood and observed
define the appropriate requirements for quality
determine any consequent design, production, inspection, and documentation procedures
and processes are mutually compatible
anticipate any special requirements for skills, training, environment, tools, or test
equipment in the future implementation of the quality plan

The QCP defines procedures, codes of practice, and standards to be applied during the contract.
IEA documents the specific QCP at task start. Figure is a sample baseline QCP documenting
acceptable quality levels for a staffing contract. This sample plan is a starting point for each
task. At task initiation, the PM collaborates with the customer to create a specific task order
quality plan, expectations for performance, and the approach for monitoring and tracking
quality indicators.

QUALITY ASSURANCE PROGRAM

Figure 1. Quality Control Plan A strong QCP outlines performance expectations in accordance with task order
requirements and provides the means to monitor and track quality indicators.

METHODS AND PROCEDURES FOR QUALITY MONITORING AND TRACKING

IEA uses five primary methods for gathering the data required for monitoring and tracking. Each
of these methods is executed under the guidance of PM and may include additional
management staff to acquire data and review results. They include:
1. Physical Observation: PM captures data about onsite operations by interviewing staff and
observing deficiencies.
2. Processes and Procedures: Internal quality assurance (QA) auditors review existing
processes and procedures to assess compliance.
3. Work Product Reviews: Work product reviews are conducted as peer or management
reviews. As appropriate, management performs technical reviews, walkthroughs, design
reviews, and testing to ensure deliverables meet requirements.
4. Staffing Management Documents: PM reviews status reports and logs to determine if goals
and deliverables of the project are being met and interviews the customer to determine
overall satisfaction with the work product.
5. Feedback: PM reviews all feedback provided by the CO, COR, Government supervisor, and
professional service employees. Deficiencies and issues are evaluated for corrective or
preventive action, presented in an audit report, and integrated into employee and process
improvement.

QUALITY ASSURANCE PROGRAM

Our QC processes involve monitoring contract

performance and recommending corrective
and preventive actions to ensure customer
satisfaction. Our VETS GWAC Team takes a
proactive approach to quality control by
focusing on communication, prevention, and
continuous
improvement
activities.
Specifically, our PM and quality support staff
systematically record, monitor, analyze, and
report on key customer experience indicators
as a byproduct of our monitoring and
evaluation of quality metrics.
CORRECTING SERVICE DEFICIENCIES AND PREVENTING
RECURRENCE
IEA's personnel understand our quality policy
and objectives, and they ensure the quality of
their work. Our personnel are responsible for
initiating action to identify and correct
deficiencies in performance. The Corrective
Preventive Action Request (CPAR) process
enables employees to surface problems and
issues for management attention. If a
problem, deviation, or non-conforming
product is identified at any level, the
individual that identifies the problem notifies
the PM by initiating a CPAR. The PM, with the
support of our Quality experts, has the
responsibility of processing and responding to
the QA Deficiency Report.

Figure 2. Corrective Action Process IEA recognizes

the need for responsive resolution to problems as soon
as they occur.

Figure shows the process flow map for the

IEA's standard ISO-compliant corrective
action process. Major steps in this process
are the identification of the problem or issue using the CPAR form; the assessment of the
legitimacy of the problem, root cause analysis, and the formulation of a corrective action
strategy; execution of this strategy; and explicit determination of the effectiveness of the
corrective action. Full documentation is provided at each step of the process by progressively
completing each section of the CPAR. When the corrective action is completed and properly
closed, the CPAR becomes part of the permanent quality performance record. Our preventive
action process is identical in all respects except that it does not include a root-cause analysis
activity.