How to sell for the army?

That is:

Why do we need to have AQAP certificate when we want to be a supplier of the Polish Army?

Why do we need to be AQAP certified when we want to be a supplier to the NATO army?

Poland joined NATO on March 12, 1999, and since then the slow but relentless process of standardizing the Polish Army with NATO standards has begun. With an emphasis on the word “slow”.

The Ministry of National Defense, followed by the General Staff of the Polish Army, began implementing NATO standards, including in the form of STANAG guidelines, a full list of which can be found on the websitehttps://nso.nato.int/nso/nsdd/main/list-promulg.

As part of harmonization and standardization, in 2003 the Ministry of National Defense established the Military Center for Standardization, Quality and Codification (WCNJiK) https://wcnjik.wp.mil.pl/pl/, which was established in place of the Office of the Military Standardization Service (BWSN) and the Organizational Group of the Military Codification Bureau (GO WBK).

Not so long ago, in August 2019, the Ministry of National Defense issued Decision No. 126 / MON of August 16, 2019 on the quality assurance of military equipment and services related to military equipment (https://www.dz.urz.mon.gov.pl/dziennik/pozycja/decyzja-159-decyzja-nr-126mon-z-dnia-16-sierpnia-2019-r-w-sprawie-zapewnienia-jakosci-sprzetu-wojskowego-i-uslug-ktorych-przedmiotem-jest-sprzet-wojsk/). This decision is the result of the implementation of the NATO standard STANAG 4107 issued in January 2019 as part of the Polish Army, which defines the principles of mutual acceptance of government quality assurance and the use of allied quality assurance publications (AQAP). According to this document, the basis for quality assurance under the government quality assurance when purchasing goods and services is the assessment of suppliers according to AQAP standards. (https://wcnjik.wp.mil.pl/u/d5_na_2020_07.pdf),

Interesting facts:

• abbreviationAQAP means Allied Quality Assurance Publication,

When we look at the content of Decision No. 126 / MON to Annex No. 1, which includes the EXECUTIVE PROCEDURE OF THE RULES OF INCLUDING THE QUALITY ASSURANCE REQUIREMENTS TO THE CONTRACT (P-01), we will find out that:

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Step 2 of the procedure:

“ The procedure applies to contracts concluded by units and organizational units of the Ministry of National Defense ” (point 2 of the procedure), which means that all military units and civil organizational units within the administration of the Ministry of National Defense are obliged to apply the procedure.

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Section 4.2.2 of the procedure:

“ The (quality) clause should, in particular, contain the requirements related to the contractor, including:

• a reference to the requirements of allied quality assurance publications that apply to the contract,
• commitment to include in the contract with the subcontractor provisions, agreed with the relevant RPW, enabling the implementation of the quality control process at the subcontractors ”

Which means, that:

• the agreement is to refer to NATO documents published in the form of AQAP standards or international standards recognized by NATO regarding quality assurance, e.g. ISO 9001,
• The entrepreneur is to ensure that his subcontractors also apply these standards

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Section 4.4 and 4.4.1 of the Procedure:

“ 4.4. Exemplary forms of the “quality clauses” to be included in the specifications of essential terms of the contract, draft contracts and contracts for the supply of TS.
 

44.1. An example of a quality clause in contracts with domestic contractors, with a foreign contractor from a NATO country that implemented the STANAG 4107 standardization agreement or a country with which the MoU has been signed, with a foreign contractor from non-NATO countries with which no MoU or countries have been signed members of NATO that have not implemented the STANAG 4107 standardization agreement may be as follows:

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1) the contractor’s quality management system complies with (enter the appropriate document, for example: PN-EN ISO 9001: 2015 or AS / EN 9100) 1;

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2) This agreement is subject to the requirements of (insert the appropriate allied quality assurance publication, for example: AQAP 2110, AQAP 2310, AQAP 2131, AQAP 2210) ; ”

This means that the Army, as the contracting authority, will oblige us to use:

• international quality standards, such as ISO 9001, A / S EN 9100 and others related to quality
• NATO quality standards: AQAP 2110, AQAP 2310, AQAP 2131, AQAP 2210

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We must remember that in order to be able to meet the requirements of the Polish Army or any other NATO Army, we must have a certificate issued by an accredited certification body confirming compliance with these requirements.

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Comment:

126 / MON of August 16, 2019 on the quality assurance of military equipment and military equipment, replaces:

1. Decision No. 67 / MON of the Minister of National Defense of 5 March 2014 on the supervision of the functioning of the defense product quality assurance system in the Ministry of National Defense (Journal of Laws of the Minister of National Defense, item 77);
2. Decision No. 427 / MON of the Minister of National Defense of October 29, 2014 on the definition of the principles of operation of the quality assurance system for defense products, the obligations of the contracting authority, the regional military representation, the operator of military equipment and the central logistic authority, and the Military Center for Standardization, Quality and Codification of the quality assurance of defense products (Journal of Laws of the Minister of National Defense, item 343);
3. Decision No. 447 / MON of the Minister of National Defense of November 10, 2015 on the implementation of executive procedures for the assurance of quality of defense products in the Ministry of National Defense (Journal of Laws of the Minister of National Defense, item 312).

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