AQAP 2110
AQAP 2110 compliance software
Defence suppliers delivering on NATO contracts.
AQAP 2110 is NATO’s quality assurance requirement for design, development and production. It builds on ISO 9001, and ComplyTrain gives you the framework to manage the additional contractual requirements it adds.
ComplyTrain fully supports this standard
What AQAP 2110 is
AQAP 2110 is a NATO Allied Quality Assurance Publication - the quality assurance requirements a supplier must meet for the design, development and production of defence materiel. It builds directly on ISO 9001 and adds the requirements a defence acquisition places on top: configuration management, government quality assurance, management of risk to the contract, and the customer’s right to verify quality at your premises.
It is not a certificate you buy from a certification body the way ISO 9001 is. AQAP 2110 is invoked by the contract, and conformance is assured by the customer’s national quality assurance authority - Government Quality Assurance (GQA). Meeting it means running an ISO 9001-grade quality system and satisfying the additional contractual requirements the AQAP flows down.
Why AQAP 2110 exists
Defence materiel has to work, first time, often where failure costs lives - and the customer is a government spending public money on capability. AQAP 2110 exists to give NATO nations a common quality assurance requirement they can write into contracts across borders, so that a Danish, German or UK acquisition authority asks suppliers for the same demonstrable quality discipline. For the supplier, it turns “trust us” into a defined, auditable set of obligations.
Who needs AQAP 2110
Suppliers delivering the design, development or production of defence materiel on NATO or NATO-nation contracts, and their sub-suppliers when the requirement is flowed down through the supply chain. If a contract or tender cites AQAP 2110 - or its sibling AQAP 2210 for software - it is a condition of the work, not an optional badge. Because it builds on ISO 9001, holding ISO 9001 certification is normally the starting point.
How it builds on ISO 9001
AQAP 2110 assumes an ISO 9001 quality management system and adds defence-specific requirements to it. The main additions are:
- Configuration management: controlling the definition of the product and every change to it, with full traceability - critical when materiel is maintained for decades.
- Government Quality Assurance: the customer’s right to assess and verify quality, including at your premises and your sub-suppliers’, and your duty to support it.
- Risk to contract performance: identifying and managing the risks that could stop you delivering to specification, on time.
- Evidence and right of access: the quality records a NATO customer expects, and their right to reach them.
Common misconceptions
- It is not a replacement for ISO 9001 - it requires an ISO 9001-grade system underneath and adds to it.
- It is not certified by a normal certification body. Conformance is assured through the contract and Government Quality Assurance, not a certificate you display.
- It is not only the prime’s problem. AQAP requirements flow down: a sub-supplier’s configuration or quality gap becomes the prime’s nonconformity.
How ComplyTrain helps you meet it
ComplyTrain gives you the ISO 9001-structured quality system AQAP 2110 builds on, plus the tools to manage the requirements it adds:
- The ISO 9001-structured QMS at the base - Quality Management
- AQAP and contract-specific requirements captured and traced to evidence - Requirements Management
- Configuration and controlled documents with full revision history and sign-off - Document Control
- Risk to contract performance managed as a living register - Risk Management
- Competence and training records for the people on the contract - Training Management
ComplyTrain is not itself AQAP 2110 certified, and does not need to be: it is the system you build and run your own AQAP 2110 program in. The certificate is yours to earn - ComplyTrain is where the evidence for it lives.
Questions
Is AQAP 2110 the same as ISO 9001?
No - but it is built on it. AQAP 2110 requires an ISO 9001-grade quality management system and adds defence-contract-specific requirements on top, such as configuration management and government quality assurance. ComplyTrain gives you the ISO 9001 base and the requirements tracking for the AQAP additions in one system.
Does ComplyTrain make us NATO or AQAP qualified?
No. Qualification is between your organisation and your customer or certification body. ComplyTrain is the system you run your AQAP 2110 quality program in and hold the evidence for - it does not, and cannot, grant a qualification.
How is AQAP 2110 conformance assessed - is it certified?
Not by a certification body in the ISO 9001 sense. AQAP 2110 is a contractual requirement, and conformance is assured through Government Quality Assurance - the customer’s national quality authority verifying your quality system and the specific contract, often at your premises. An ISO 9001 certificate usually evidences the underlying quality system; the AQAP additions are demonstrated to the customer.
What is Government Quality Assurance (GQA)?
GQA is the process by which a customer nation’s quality assurance authority gains confidence that a supplier meets the quality requirements of a defence contract - reviewing the quality system, witnessing key activities, and reserving the right of access to premises and records, including at sub-suppliers. AQAP 2110 sets out the supplier’s duty to support it.
What is the difference between AQAP 2110 and AQAP 2210?
AQAP 2110 covers quality assurance for design, development and production generally; AQAP 2210 adds the requirements specific to software. A supplier delivering software-intensive defence materiel is often held to both, with 2210 applied on top of the 2110 quality system.
Implementation
How to meet AQAP 2110 - a practical path
AQAP 2110 is met by an ISO 9001 system plus the defence-contract requirements, ready for Government Quality Assurance.
Stand up the ISO 9001 base
AQAP 2110 requires an ISO 9001-grade quality management system. Get that in place - or certified - first; it carries most of the weight.
Add configuration management
Control the product definition and every change to it, with full traceability and sign-off - the defence-specific discipline AQAP puts front and centre.
Capture the contract requirements
Take the AQAP and contract-specific requirements as a tracked set, flow them down to sub-suppliers, and trace each to the evidence that meets it.
Be ready for Government Quality Assurance
Manage risk to contract performance and keep the quality records - and the right of access to them - that a customer’s quality authority will come to verify.