Guide 02 Quality assurance and type approval
What are a QAP, a FAT and an ATP in defence supply?
A quality assurance plan (QAP) lists every inspection and test stage an item goes through. A factory acceptance test (FAT) is the acceptance testing carried out at the supplier's own premises before dispatch. An acceptance test procedure (ATP) is the written document that tells the tester exactly what to do and what result to expect.
- Topic
- Quality assurance and type approval
- Checked
- 23 September 2026
- Sources
- 3
- Questions
- 5
01
The quality assurance plan: the map of what gets checked
A quality assurance plan lists every inspection and test stage for an item: raw material checks, in-process inspections, special processes, type and routine tests and final acceptance, together with the acceptance criteria, the documents each stage produces and who is required to witness it. For naval stores, DQA(N) approves the quality assurance plan and the drawings alongside it before manufacture proceeds.
A QAP is written for one item against its own specification, not copied wholesale from another product. A supplier proposing a QAP for a new item should expect the inspecting authority to check it against the equipment's actual drawings and specification rather than accept a generic template.
02
Factory acceptance test: proving it before it leaves
A factory acceptance test is acceptance testing performed at the site where the item was made, usually by the supplier's own staff and often witnessed by the buyer or inspecting authority, to check the item meets its requirements before it is dispatched or installed. It commonly includes a completeness check, verification against the contract or purchase order, a functional proof, by simulation or by an actual function test, and a final inspection.
For naval stores, DQA(N) inspects and conducts factory acceptance trials against the approved quality assurance plan. A FAT that passes is what allows an item to move from the workshop to delivery; it is not the same step as the type testing that qualified the design in the first place.
03
Acceptance test procedure: what the tester actually follows
An acceptance test procedure is the written guidance that directs a tester on which data to use, the step-by-step process to follow and the result to expect at each step. It is what turns "test the item" into a repeatable, checkable activity that two different testers, or the same tester on two different days, can carry out the same way.
A quality assurance plan sets out that a factory acceptance test must happen and roughly what it must prove; the acceptance test procedure is the detailed script for carrying it out. Both documents are usually agreed and approved before the test itself is run, not written up afterward to match whatever happened.
Three documents, three jobs
- QAP
- Lists every inspection and test stage for the item, start to finish
- FAT
- The acceptance test actually run at the supplier's premises before dispatch
- ATP
- The written procedure the tester follows to run that test consistently
04
How the three fit together with type testing
A type test proves a design, usually on one or a few samples, and can include destructive or severe environmental and shock tests that a production unit would not be expected to survive. Routine tests are run on every unit produced, typically checks such as insulation, functional performance and dielectric strength. A factory acceptance test, run to its acceptance test procedure and recorded against the quality assurance plan, is often the point where a subset of those routine tests is witnessed by the buyer before an individual unit is accepted for delivery.
Asked next
Questions people also ask
What are a QAP, a FAT and an ATP in defence supply?
What is a quality assurance plan (QAP)?
A QAP lists every inspection and test stage an item goes through: raw material checks, in-process inspections, special processes, type and routine tests and final acceptance, with the acceptance criteria and who witnesses each stage. For naval stores, DQA(N) approves the quality assurance plan and the drawings it references before manufacture proceeds.
What is a factory acceptance test (FAT)?
A FAT is acceptance testing carried out at the supplier's own premises, usually before an item is dispatched or installed, often witnessed by the buyer or inspecting authority. It typically covers a completeness check, verification against the contract, a functional proof and a final inspection, and for naval stores it is conducted by DQA(N) against the approved quality assurance plan.
What does ATP stand for in a test document?
ATP stands for acceptance test procedure, the written guidance that tells a tester which data to use, the step-by-step process to follow and the expected result at each step. It is what makes a factory acceptance test repeatable rather than ad hoc, so two different test runs on the same item can be compared directly.
Is a factory acceptance test the same as a type test?
No. A type test proves a design, usually on one or a few samples, and can include destructive or severe tests a production unit is not expected to survive. A factory acceptance test is run on the actual unit being delivered, before dispatch, and checks that specific unit meets its requirements rather than proving the design itself.
Who writes the acceptance test procedure for a defence item?
It is normally prepared by the supplier and agreed with the inspecting authority as part of the quality assurance plan, before the acceptance test is run, so both sides know in advance what will be checked and what counts as a pass. It is a written document, not something improvised on the test bench on the day.
Checked against
Sources
- 01DQA(N), Directorate of Quality Assurance (Naval), Directorate General of Quality Assurance, Ministry of Defence
- 02Defence Production, quality assurance documentation, Department of Defence Production, Ministry of Defence
- 03Acceptance testing, Wikipedia, cross-checked against standard acceptance-test practice
This guide explains how the system works in general, as the documents above describe it, and was last checked on 23 September 2026. Rules and thresholds change: the governing document is the authority, not this page.
On this site
Where this meets the work
- The qualification schedule behind a DQA(N) type approval
- Documents available the same day for a new vendor
- The DQA(N) type approved rotary frequency converter
- More defence quality assurance terms explained
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