Quality Assurance

WILLCOR recognizes the need to provide a quality management approach to ensure that the performance on our contracts and tasks meet established quality standards. WILLCOR’s Quality Management process is guided and governed by well-defined practices and procedures for work initiation, control and monitoring, reporting, coordinating work activities, and insuring that sufficient schedule, cost, and internal management contacts are in place. Our quality management process is modeled after ISO-9001 guidelines.

We have implemented a Quality Surveillance Plan on all WILLCOR contracts that applies to all our staff and subcontractors. We use documented work procedures and develop metrics to effectively and clearly track our accomplishments against goals, to identify systematic problems, to assess trends, and to both measure and continuously improve our performance and efficiency. Tailored metrics are selected for their applicability to specific work and so, may vary across functions and projects. We employ quantitative, qualitative, and schedule metrics.

Major characteristics for our metrics selection include the following:

• Metrics are directly related to the quality, cost or timeliness of the product or services being provided
• Metrics targets reflect realistic customer and performance expectations
• Metrics are specific and definable in terms of the delivered service or product
• Metrics are easy to collect
• Metrics lend themselves to objective evaluation, whenever possible. However, subjective measures are valuable in some cases such as for a summary evaluation of overall system quality
• Metrics aid in identifying defects, cost deviations, and variations in process time or service quality

Metrics measure small discrete processes.

Our metrics address schedule, performance (including discrete cost efficiency and quality measures) and subjective quality measures reflecting the performance of each SOW work area. With this set, we are confident that we can evaluate both task level and overall contract performance to the Government’s satisfaction.

Our Quality Surveillance function is administered by our corporate Quality Manager, who reports directly to the company President. Quality surveillance is performed throughout all aspects and projects associated with the Seaport-E tasks. Each activity and its associated Work Plan establishes specific indicators to reflect performance in their individual Task Order.

Metrics are designated and defined in accordance with the following scheme:

• Work Element
• Metric title
• Type(s) which include the following designators: Performance = P, Timeliness = T, Quantity = Q, Meets Contract Requirements = R
• Evaluation Method(s), for example 100% inspection, 10% random sampling, subjective estimate, etc.
• Evaluation Schedule, for example monthly, operation cycle completion, at end of system development, etc.
• Target: performance level expected

Variance: Permitted deviations or actions that permit deviations from target.

To ensure good document quality and high quality products across all the SOW areas, a true product and process organization must exist. The WILLCOR staff understands these issues and will continue to ensure consistent results through strong proven product and process management.

All documents go through a multi-phase review depending on their complexity, and are accompanied by a internal Route Slip that requires reviewer signatures and comments after review.

All delivered reports and task–related items go through a four-phase review process including a simple spell-check, a clean hand review (second reader), a formal technical editing process, and a policy review based on planned distribution.

WILLCOR ensures that all formal submittals conform to the special formatting requirements for formal reports.

Management Reviews. Cost/schedule, performance, and executive management reviews are primarily directed toward the coordination of internal actions and the early identification and resolution of problems that may affect work performance.

Technical Reviews. Requirements reviews, technical interchange, walk-through, operational reviews, are periodically performed to maintain awareness of technical status and accomplishments.

Quality Reviews. Informal peer reviews of work activities and quarterly formal quality audits of products, services, and deliverables measure compliance with quality standards and expected workmanship.

The WILLCOR Quality Assurance POC for the SeaPort-e contract is:

Mr. Ralph Sickinger
Quality Assurance Manager
Phone #: (301) 405-9990 ext. 116
rsickinger@willcor.com