NQA-1 Audit Preparation for Inspection Companies
A NQA-1 audit runs in 6 stages, beginning with build the programme to part i and the applicable part ii subparts,.. The American Society of Mechanical Engineers (standard owner and operator of the voluntary NQA-1 Certification programme); the U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission endorses it through Regulatory Guide 1.28, and the U.S.
NQA-1 is the implementing standard that turns the eighteen abstract criteria of 10 CFR 50 Appendix B into auditable requirements. Part I contains the eighteen Requirements — Organization; Quality Assurance Program; Design Control; Procurement Document Control; Instructions, Procedures and Drawings; Document Control; Control of Purchased Items and Services; Identification and Control of Items; Control of Special Processes; Inspection; Test Control; Control of Measuring and Test Equipment; Handling, Storage and Shipping; Inspection, Test and Operating Status; Control of Nonconforming Items; Corrective Action; Quality Assurance Records; Audits. Part II adds supplemental subparts for specific activities, including Subpart 2.7 Software Control and Subpart 2.14 Commercial Grade Dedication. Requirement 9 covers special processes such as welding and NDE; Requirement 2 covers indoctrination, training and the qualification of inspection and test personnel. A graded approach lets the degree of application follow the quality level of the work.
Source: ASME NQA-1-2022, 'Quality Assurance Requirements for Nuclear Facility Applications' (ASME/ANSI listing); ASME NQA-1-2024 issued 24 July 2024 is the newest edition. NRC Regulatory Guide 1.28, Revision 6, 'Quality Assurance Program Criteria (Design and Construction),' issued September 2023 and announced in the Federal Register on 11 September 2023, endorses NQA-1-2017, NQA-1-2019 and NQA-1-2022 subject to exceptions and clarifications, extends endorsement to Part II, and also endorses NEI 14-05A Revision 1 (September 2020) for accreditation in lieu of commercial grade surveys for laboratory calibration and test services. Part I Requirement list and the Part II Subpart 2.7 and 2.14 titles cross-checked against an ASME/ANS Section technical overview presentation dated 21 January 2026 and ASME's own standard page. ASME NQA-1 Certification programme description and CA Connect process from asme.org. NOTE: the specific paragraph number within Requirement 2 that addresses NDE personnel could not be confirmed from the standard itself and is deliberately omitted. Accessed 21 Aug 2026.
| Stage | What happens | What it tests |
|---|---|---|
| Stage 1 | Build the programme to Part I and the applicable Part II subparts, applying the graded approach to the quality level. | Where the paperwork is tested against itself |
| Stage 2 | Submit the QA manual for review — to the customer directly, or to ASME through CA Connect if seeking the. | Where the paperwork is tested against practice |
| Stage 3 | Implement and generate objective evidence: NQA-1 certification and customer audits both assess implementation, not just the manual, so the programme. | Where the paperwork is tested against practice |
| Stage 4 | Undergo the assessment — for ASME certification, a full audit of the quality assurance program by trained ASME auditors; for. | Where the paperwork is tested against practice |
| Stage 5 | Close findings with cause determination and corrective action under Requirement 16, then receive the NQA-1 Quality Program Certificate or placement. | Where the paperwork is tested against practice |
| Stage 6 | Maintain through internal audits under Requirement 18 and periodic reassessment by ASME or the customer. | Where the paperwork is tested against practice |
| Renewal | NQA-1 compliance itself does not expire; it is maintained continuously and verified by audit. NQA-1 Part I Requirement 18 requires audits to verify compliance with the programme, and in practice suppliers run internal audits of all requirements annually and are audited by customers on a recurring cycle — NUPIC's standard vendor schedule is 33 months. The ASME NQA-1 Quality Program Certificate is renewed by reassessment; ASME publishes a price guide covering both new certificates and renewals but does not publish the renewal interval on its programme pages, so it is not stated here. | Diarised from the certificate date, not the last audit |
How long does NQA-1 audit preparation take?
Document work — the written practice, procedures and quality manual — takes weeks. What cannot be compressed is documented experience and records history: on-the-job hours accrue in real time, and calibration and certification history cannot be back-filled. Firms that start when the audit is scheduled rather than announced clear it without findings.
What does The American Society of Mechanical Engineers (standard owner and operator of the voluntary NQA-1 Certification programme); the U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission endorses it through Regulatory Guide 1.28, and the U.S. Department of Energy imposes it on its own contractors look at first?
Records, not manuals. A manual states intent; records show practice. The usual opening move is to take a completed job and trace it back to the technician's certification, the instrument's calibration, the approved procedure and the report — and see whether all four reconcile.
What are the most common NQA-1 findings?
Programme written to Part I but silent on the Part II subparts the work actually triggers — most often Subpart 2.7 for NDE acquisition and sizing software and Subpart 2.14 for commercial grade dedication, Graded approach applied inconsistently, so safety-related work is executed under procedures written for a lower quality level, Requirement 2 records incomplete — training and indoctrination logged but no qualification records for the individuals performing inspection and examination, NDE written practice not aligned to the specific edition of SNT-TC-1A or CP-189 that the customer's procurement documents invoked. Almost all of them are evidence problems rather than capability problems: the work was done correctly and the proof was not kept, or was kept somewhere the firm could not retrieve during the audit.
Can a consultant attend the NQA-1 audit?
Yes, and it changes the outcome. Someone who has sat through the same audit at other firms answers in the auditor's own terms, produces the right record without a search, and stops a clarification turning into a finding. The firm still owns every answer — the consultant does not speak for it.
What happens after a NQA-1 finding?
A corrective action with a deadline, and evidence of closure at the next audit. Repeat findings are treated far more seriously than first ones, because they show the corrective-action system itself is not working.
Does NQA-1 require a pre-audit or gap assessment?
Not as a requirement, but the arithmetic favours it: a gap assessment finds the same evidence problems the auditor would, without the finding attached, and while there is still time to fix them. Firms entering their first NQA-1 audit blind typically collect findings that a sampling exercise would have caught.
What the auditor asks to see
- Quality Assurance Program manual mapped to the eighteen Part I Requirements, with the graded approach and quality levels defined
- Indoctrination and training records — attendance sheets, training logs and personnel training records — and records of qualification for inspection and test personnel under Requirement 2
- NDE written practice to SNT-TC-1A or ANSI/ASNT CP-189, with the NDE procedures qualified under Requirement 9, Control of Special Processes
- Inspection and test plans and acceptance criteria under Requirements 10 and 11, and the inspection, test and operating status controls of Requirement 14
- Procurement documents and Approved Suppliers List evidence under Requirements 4 and 7, including sub-tier flowdown of NQA-1 and 10 CFR Part 21
- Commercial grade dedication procedure and critical characteristics records where Part II Subpart 2.14 applies
- Software control documentation under Part II Subpart 2.7 for any NDE acquisition, analysis or sizing software used in safety-related work
- Nonconforming item and corrective action records under Requirements 15 and 16
- Audit programme records — plan, checklist, report and evidence of corrective action completion — under Requirement 18
- Quality assurance records under Requirement 17, held in storage meeting the standard's fire-protection provisions
Findings to close before the audit
- Programme written to Part I but silent on the Part II subparts the work actually triggers — most often Subpart 2.7 for NDE acquisition and sizing software and Subpart 2.14 for commercial grade dedication
- Graded approach applied inconsistently, so safety-related work is executed under procedures written for a lower quality level
- Requirement 2 records incomplete — training and indoctrination logged but no qualification records for the individuals performing inspection and examination
- NDE written practice not aligned to the specific edition of SNT-TC-1A or CP-189 that the customer's procurement documents invoked
- Requirement 9 special process control missing the link between the qualified procedure, the qualified personnel and the specific job performed
- Requirement 7 sub-tier control weak — calibration laboratories or contract technicians engaged without evaluation, survey, or dedication
- Requirement 18 audits performed by personnel with direct responsibility in the area audited, or audit packages missing the plan, checklist, report or corrective action closure
- Requirement 12 measuring and test equipment found out of tolerance with no evaluation of the acceptability of items previously inspected with it
Related: the NQA-1 overview, outsourced ASNT Level III cover, written practice development, NDT procedure development, a programme gap assessment, interim Level III cover.