Quality Issue Resolution Team - August 2022

WEAPON QUALITY ASSURANCE (WQA) BULLETIN NNSA WEAPON QUALITY DIVISION (NA-121.3) August 2022 Quality Issue Resolution Team Purpose The purpose of the Quality Issue Resolution Team (QIRT) is to avoid delay to high-impact mission deliverables by expediting involvement of NNSA and Management and Operating (M&O) quality leadership on an emerging issue. Responsibilities • The Quality Issue Resolution Team (QIRT) is fundamentally both an escalation process and communication tool in support of program deliverables. • QIRT intent is to rapidly bring site-specific quality management to an emerging quality issue which threatens a high-impact mission deliverable, such as weapon/Joint Test Assembly (JTA) shipment from Pantex. • The QIRT will facilitate site-specific quality management involvement to expedite a Product Realization Team (PRT) executable plan to avoid mission impact. • Site-specific QIRT involvement will begin at request of Federal Program Office (FPO), when a PRT encounters a quality issue and is unable to develop a high confidence plan to disposition associated hardware in time to avoid a high impact to mission deliverable. • The QIRT tracks issues as long as necessary to ensure high confidence in execution. This process is tactical and has a short-term recovery focus and therefore is not associated with the Issue Resolution Group process outlined in T082. • The QIRT’s intent is to develop plans within current NNSA Weapon Quality Policy requirements. • Issue specific technical information and associated recovery options will be provided by associated PRT, involved M&O system’s organizations, and the FPO. Primary points of contact from the quality organizations below should be senior-level representatives for each listed organization. Primary backups have also been identified and will be included on distribution emails to ensure timely response. As primary and back-up points of contact change, each organization should provide updates to NA-121.3. Quality Issue Resolution Team Members • NA-122/125/19x: Federal Program Manager, Co-Lead • NA-121.3: Weapon Quality Director, Co-Lead • KCFO Assistant Manager for Quality • LAFO Assistant Manager for Quality • LFO Assistant Manager for Quality • NPO Assistant Manager for Quality • SFO Assistant Manager for Quality • CNS Quality • KCNSC FM&T Quality Make Parts and Buy Parts • LANL-DA Quality • LANL-PA Quality • LLNL-DA Quality • SNL-DA Quality • SNL-PA Quality Scenario Example The following scenario provides a use case example for when the QIRT can be called upon to provide its expertise. Scenario 1 – Nonconforming condition is identified at an NNSA shipping site, and nonconformed hardware has been consumed into Pantex assemblies that are scheduled to ship at end of the current month, which is less than 10 days away. An expedited disposition path is needed to ensure an impact is avoided. The PRT, working with the FPO, has developed a plan to characterize nonconforming product and gather technical basis for disposition path. Due to level of potential impact the Federal Program Manager has requested the QIRT to participate directly in course of action by: • Validating PRTs underlying quality process assumptions, • Participating directly in plan development with FPO and PRT • Facilitating plan implementation with associated quality processes • Providing guidance for other paths that may be more efficient • Providing plan concurrence Quality Issue Resolution Team