AQAP (Allied quality assurance publication)

AQAP stands for Allied quality assurance publication. It is the NATO abbreviation for publications that deal with quality assurance, and it is listed under that expansion in the NATO glossary of acronyms and abbreviations. NATO material describes AQAPs as the basic references for enforcing quality-assurance standards.

NATO developed common quality-assurance requirements so that defence industries taking part in multinational programmes would follow consistent rules and procedures. AQAPs carry those requirements. In Canada, AQAP references have appeared in Department of National Defence (DND) quality requirements, so a supplier may meet one in a solicitation or a contract.

What the AQAP series covers

NATO lists AQAP publications among its quality, reliability and maintainability publications. The subjects in the series include:

• General NATO quality assurance
• Design, development and production
• Production quality assurance
• Quality control and final inspection
• Software quality assurance
• Official government quality-assurance programmes

This breadth explains why an AQAP reference in a bid package can point to very different obligations. The number of the publication tells the supplier which part of the quality lifecycle the buyer is regulating. NATO's own documentation page shows where these publications sit in its catalogue.

AQAP and mutual government quality assurance

AQAPs are associated with NATO's arrangements for government quality assurance, including STANAG 4107. That NATO Standardization Agreement concerns the mutual acceptance of government quality assurance between allied nations. NATO historical material, such as NATO Facts and Figures, records that AQAPs were developed to establish common quality-assurance requirements for multinational industrial programmes.

Government quality assurance (GQA) is quality assurance performed or accepted by a government authority. Where a contract calls for it, the buyer's quality-assurance representative can verify that the supplier's processes meet the stated AQAP requirements.

How AQAP appears in Canadian defence procurement

Federal publications show AQAP in the setting of DND quality requirements. One Government of Canada publication lists DND requirements alongside NATO AQAP-1-2 in its list of quality standards.

A second federal publication on ISO 9000 documents states that DND suppliers were required to demonstrate compliance with ISO 9000 requirements and records a transition from AQAP to ISO 9000. The same publication says federal requirements for ISO 9000 registration were commonly defined case by case and written into requests for proposals and standing-offer documentation.

The Canadian sources show historical federal and DND use. They do not name a provincial buyer or program that uses AQAP.

Related terms

• STANAG: NATO Standardization Agreement.
• GQA: government quality assurance, performed or accepted by a government authority.
• QMS: the supplier's documented system for controlling and assuring quality.
• ISO 9001: a civilian quality-management standard that can be referenced alongside, or instead of, defence-specific quality requirements.

NATO's terminology database, NATOTerm, is the reference for non-classified NATO terminology.

What AQAP means for a supplier bidding on Canadian contracts

An AQAP reference means the solicitation or contract can impose a specific NATO quality-assurance standard or process. Read the clause for the exact AQAP number and edition, then confirm the contract quality requirements, inspection arrangements, records and evidence of compliance the buyer expects.

The requirement is set contract by contract, not by a single rule that applies to every supplier. Check each solicitation for its own quality clauses, and build the cost of meeting them into your bid before you submit.