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Interim Internal Purchasing Guidelines > 6 Contract Administration > 6.3 Quality Assurance
6.3.1.a General
1. Quality assurance requirements, including inspection and testing,
acceptance, and first article approval, are discussed in 2.2.1 through
2.2.3. This section focuses on administering those requirements during
contract performance.
2. Unless there are special requirements (see 2.2.1.d), the Postal Service
inspects commercially available items at destination and only for type
and kind; quantity; damage; operability (if readily determinable); and
preservation, packaging, packing, and marking, if applicable.
6.3.1.b Nonconforming Supplies or Services
1. General
(a) Purchase teams may reject supplies or services not conforming
to contract requirements.
(b) The repeated delivery of nonconforming property or services
must not be allowed. In such cases, purchase teams should take
appropriate action, such as rejecting delivery and having the
purchasing organization document the rejection in the supplier's
performance record.
2. Correction or Replacement
(a) Suppliers must be given an opportunity to correct or replace
nonconforming supplies or services when it can be accomplished
within the delivery schedule.
(b) Correction or replacement must be at no additional cost to the
Postal Service.
(c) The Postal Service reserves the right to charge the supplier the
cost of reinspection and retesting needed because of a previous
rejection.
3. Rejection
(a) Determination. When correction within the delivery schedule is
not possible, the purchase team must ordinarily reject supplies or
services where nonconformance adversely affects safety, health,
reliability, durability, performance, interchangeability of parts or
assemblies, weight, appearance, or any other basic objective of
the contract (but see 6.3.1.b.4).
(b) Notice. Suppliers must be given a notice of rejection promptly,
including the reasons for rejection. If prompt notice is not given,
acceptance may be implied as a matter of law. Notice must be in
writing when:
(1) The supplier persists in offering nonconforming supplies or
services for acceptance; or(2)
(2) Delivery or performance was late without an excusable
cause.
4. Substitute Performance
(a) When replacement or correction is not possible within the
performance period, and the purchase team has rejected
performance, the contracting officer may provide the supplier an
opportunity to provide acceptable substitute performance if the
purchase team decides:
(1) Performance is still desired, and
(2) Substitute performance will best mitigate the damage
suffered by the Postal Service.
(b) When substitute performance is accepted, the contracting officer
must modify the contract to provide for appropriate consideration.
5. Accepting Defective Performance
(a) Minor Defects. The purchase team may waive minor
noncomformities.
(b) Other Defects. The purchase team may not accept supplies or
services where nonconformance adversely affects a basic
contract objective unless acceptance is clearly in the Postal
Service's interest. The purchase team's decision to accept the
supplies or services must be put in writing by the contracting
officer and be based on:
(1) Information on the nature and extent of the
nonconformance;
(2) Advice of technical specialists that the material is safe to
use and will perform its intended purpose;
(3) The supplier's request for acceptance of the supplies or
service;
(4) A recommendation for acceptance by the intended user,
with supporting rationale; and
(5) Appropriate monetary or other consideration.
(c) Consideration for Acceptance of Defective Performance
(1) When nonconforming supplies or services are accepted
under 6.3.1.b.5(a), the contracting officer need not modify
the contract to provide for appropriate consideration,
unless:
(i) It appears that the savings to the supplier in
fabricating the nonconforming supplies or performing
the nonconforming services exceed the cost to the
Postal Service of processing and enforcing a
modification.
(ii) The Postal Service's interests otherwise require a
contract modification.
(2) When nonconforming supplies or services are accepted
under (b) above, the contracting officer must modify the
contract to provide for consideration.
6.3.2.a General
1. Acceptance constitutes acknowledgment that supplies or services
conform with quality, quantity, and packaging requirements set forth in
the contract.
2. Acceptance may take place before delivery, at delivery, or after delivery,
depending on the contract's provisions.
6.3.2.b Responsibility. Acceptance is the responsibility of the contracting officer or his
or her representative. When this responsibility is assigned to a contracting
officer's representative or other party, acceptance by that person is binding
on the Postal Service.
6.3.2.c Place of Acceptance. Usually, contracts must specify the place of
acceptance. Contracts providing for Postal Service inspection at source
ordinarily provide for acceptance at source; those providing for inspection at
destination ordinarily provide for acceptance at destination. Supplies
accepted at a place other than destination may not be reinspected for
acceptance at destination, but should be examined for quantity, damage in
transit, and possible substitution or fraud.
6.3.2.d Supplier Certification. When purchasing commercially-available items,
acceptance based on supplier certification may be in the Postal Service's
interest when:
1. Only small losses will be incurred by a defect; or
2. The supplier's reputation or past performance suggests that the
supplies or services will be acceptable, and defective work will be
replaced, corrected, or repaired without contest.
6.3.2.e Revocation of Acceptance in Whole or in Part
1. If the value of performance has been substantially impaired, the
purchase team represented by the contracting officer may revoke
acceptance of nonconforming performance if acceptance has:
(a) Resulted from the reasonable assumption that the
nonconformance would be cured and it is not cured; or
(b) Taken place because the nonconformance has not been
discovered before acceptance, as a result of the difficulty of
discovery, or because of the supplier's assurances.
2. Revocation of acceptance must occur within a reasonable time after the
purchase team discovers or should have discovered the grounds for it
and before any substantial change not caused by their own defects
takes place in the condition of supplies. Revocation is not effective until
the contracting officer notifies the supplier.
3. The Postal Service has the same rights and duties upon revocation as
upon rejection.
6.3.2.f Transfer of Title and Risk of Loss
1. Title to supplies passes to the Postal Service upon formal acceptance,
regardless of when or where the Postal Service takes physical
possession, unless the contract specifically provides for earlier transfer
of title.
2. Unless the contract specifically provides otherwise, risk of loss or
damage remains with the supplier until:
(a) Delivery of the supplies to a carrier if transportation is f.o.b. origin;
or
(b) Acceptance by the Postal Service or delivery to the Postal
Service at the destination specified in the contract, whichever is
later, if transportation is f.o.b. destination.
3. The provisions of 6.3.2.f.2 do not apply to supplies that are rejected.
The risk of loss of or damage to rejected supplies remains with the
supplier until cure or acceptance. After cure or acceptance, 6.3.2.f.2
applies.
6.3.3.a General
1. Completed receiving reports should be submitted to the Accounting
Service Center (ASC) within 5 days of receiving supplies or services.
2. If receiving activities' reports are regularly received at the ASC more
than 10 days after receiving supplies or services, this will be reported
by the ASC to the appropriate purchasing organization for remedial
action.
6.3.3.b Responsibility
1. The contracting officer must ensure that receiving activities get proper
notification of contract awards, including the receiving reports
generated by the contract writing system, with instructions for prompt
completion and submission.
2. The contracting officer must provide the proper shipping and payment
information to the supplier.
3. Day-to-day responsibility for monitoring the completion and submission
of receiving reports may be delegated to purchasing personnel or, as
necessary, to managers within the receiving installation.
4. Each installation head must:
(a) Designate in writing an individual (or individuals) responsible for
receiving and accepting all delivered supplies and services.
(b) Provide the appropriate purchasing organizations with a copy of
the designation.
(c) See that procedures are established to ensure that the individual
responsible for receiving and accepting supplies is notified when
a shipment arrives.
5. When partial shipments are certified for payment, a copy of the certified
receiving report must be kept for use in receiving the balance of the
shipment.
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