NDT Requirements for Navy and Navy-Contract Shipyard Work

The document that governs, and the two things it does not cover

NAVSEA Technical Publication T9074-AS-GIB-010/271, Requirements for Nondestructive Testing Methods, Revision 1, dated 11 September 2014, is the controlling NDT document for Navy and Navy-contract work. It covers the requirements for conducting nondestructive tests used in determining the presence of surface and internal discontinuities in metals, and contains the minimum requirements necessary to qualify NDT personnel, procedures and equipment. Revision 1 supersedes the 30 April 1997 issue as changed by ACN-1 of 16 February 1999.

It covers six methods and names them: radiographic, magnetic particle, liquid penetrant, ultrasonic, eddy current and visual testing. It does not contain acceptance criteria — the standards for acceptance are as specified in the applicable drawing, specification, contract or order — so a yard that reads 271 looking for accept/reject limits is reading the wrong document. Areas to be inspected are specified in the drawings, specifications, contracts or purchase orders, with symbols per AWS A2.4.

It also excludes underwater work. Nondestructive tests in an underwater environment are performed as specified in NAVSEA S0600-AA-PRO-070, the Underwater Ship Husbandry Manual, Chapter 7. A yard bidding hull work in the water needs that document as well as this one, and a calibration note worth knowing: because calibration requirements are self-contained in 271, the instruments and standards it describes fall outside ANSI/NCSL Z540.3 programmes, while scales, comparators, light meters, densitometers and other quantitative devices do not.

Written practice: SNT-TC-1A invoked as a mandatory minimum

Paragraph 1.6 sets the personnel rule in two sentences. Personnel performing nondestructive testing shall be certified in accordance with the activity's written practice, which shall be developed as required by ASNT SNT-TC-1A to identify the requirements necessary for control and administration of NDT personnel training, examination and certification. Then: SNT-TC-1A, as modified herein, shall be invoked as mandatory minimum requirements — minimum training hours, experience, examinations — and shall not be considered as recommendations or guidelines.

That reclassification is the whole difference between a commercial NDT programme and a Navy-work programme. A commercial written practice can adjust SNT-TC-1A's recommended hours with justification. Under 271 the hours are floors. A copy of the activity's written practice is provided to the Government inspector on request, so it is a document written to be read by someone looking for shortfalls, not a document written to be filed.

271 does permit limited certifications, and the allowance is precise. Where personnel perform only one operation of a multi-operation method, or inspections of limited scope, training hours, experience, question counts and the extent of practical examinations can be lower than SNT-TC-1A specifies — provided the requirements are described in the written practice and any limitation or restriction appears in both the written practice and the certification records, and provided the general examination is never fewer than fifteen questions and the specific never fewer than ten. Getting that structure right is the core of written practice development.

The Level III NDT Examiner, and the exam the activity must own

271 defines three roles. The Level I NDT Operator is equivalent to the Level I in ASNT SNT-TC-1A, and the Level II NDT Inspector to the Level II. The Level III NDT Examiner is the individual to whom the activity delegates the responsibility and authority to examine and certify NDT personnel, and to whom the activity assigns responsibility for approving NDT procedures and workmanship standards. The Examiner is equivalent to the SNT-TC-1A Level III. Administration and grading of examinations can be delegated to a representative of the Examiner and so recorded.

Examiner personnel are tested by examinations administered by the employing activity, ASNT, or another outside agency. But the specific examination — covering specifications, equipment, techniques and procedures applicable to the employer's products and methods, and the administration of the employer's written practice — carries an ownership rule: it is the responsibility of the employing activity, independent of the Examiner being tested, to prepare, approve and administer it. A contracted Examiner cannot write the exam that qualifies him for that activity.

That single clause defines the commercial shape of an outsourced arrangement, and it is worth reading alongside what an outside Level III can and cannot do. The employing activity remains responsible for the adequacy of the NDT programme and for the certification of all levels of NDT personnel. ASNT does offer a Naval Shipbuilders NDT Level III credential aligned to 271 — a 50-question, 2.5-hour open-book examination — but eligibility is restricted to prime or sub-tier contractors serving Huntington Ingalls Newport News or General Dynamics Electric Boat, and the credential does not replace the activity's own certification act.

Three-year certifications, annual oversight, and the year-two TPE

271 shortens the clock. NDT personnel other than Examiners are recertified at intervals not greater than three years; Examiners at intervals not greater than five. A certification is considered expired on the last day of the month in which recertification is due, which removes the grace period yards habitually assume. Against SNT-TC-1A's recommended five-year maximum for all levels, that is roughly double the examination workload for a technician population over any given decade.

The route is examination only. All NDT personnel are recertified by examinations as comprehensive as those used at initial certification, except that the Examiner basic examination need not be readministered while a method certification is maintained. Recertification by evidence of continuing satisfactory technical performance is not permitted, and neither is recertification on the basis of ASNT certifications granted without examination. Programmes built on the commercial performance-review route have to be rebuilt, which is what Level III exam oversight engagements are scoped around.

On top of the cycle sits continuous oversight. Oversight of personnel who perform NDT is evaluated and documented by the activity's Examiner or a designated representative, with the methodology defined in the written practice. The evaluation programme consists of witnessing in-process inspections, reinspecting previously inspected product, or conducting technical performance evaluations, with at least one accomplished and documented every twelve months. For personnel performing acceptance inspections, a TPE using production hardware or specimens containing discontinuities is performed before the end of year two of the cycle — and an operator who misses the annual oversight is re-examined by approved practical examination.

Vision, records and the certification that does not travel

All NDT personnel pass a vision test, current at the time of examination, conducted annually or earlier if a medical condition such as eye surgery has occurred. The standard is natural or corrected near-distance acuity sufficient to read J1 letters on the standard Jaeger chart, or an equivalent test, at not less than 12 and no more than 16 inches, met by one or both eyes. SNT-TC-1A's 2024 edition sets Jaeger number 2. J1 is the tighter line, and existing commercial vision records frequently do not clear it.

Colour differentiation is examined where the work requires it, at initial certification only, and can consist of a practical examination demonstrating the capability to distinguish and differentiate contrast among the colours used in the method as determined by the Examiner. Corrective aids used during the vision test must be used during the certification examination and all subsequent inspections and tests. Vision test records note the corrective aids and are retained for the current and preceding certification period.

Personnel records are specified item by item: qualification training and experience obtained prior to initial certification, retained as long as the person is certified; results of all current examinations correlated to the examination administered, with a master copy of each examination; vision test records; and a certification statement signed by the activity's Examiner for operators and inspectors, or by an employer representative for Examiners. Then the clause that surprises every new contractor — transfer of NDT certifications to other activities is prohibited except as authorised by NAVSEA.

Procedures: certified, qualified on real discontinuities, approved by the Examiner

Nondestructive testing methods are performed in accordance with written procedures, and 271 puts three obligations on each one. Activities performing NDT develop and maintain a written procedure for each method performed and certify that each procedure complies with 271, with that certification statement forming part of the procedure and signed by the cognizant Examiner of the activity. The signature is inside the document, not on a cover sheet.

Qualification is demonstrated, not asserted. Each procedure must have been qualified by proving that known discontinuities, natural or artificial, can be reliably detected and evaluated — discontinuities representative of typical expected flaw types and of a size near the threshold of acceptance and rejection. Data documenting that demonstration is provided to the Government inspector on request. Procedures approved under previous revisions of 271 are exempt from this requirement, which matters when auditing a legacy procedure library.

Approval and portability follow. Procedures are approved by the cognizant Examiner and provided to the Government inspector for review on request, and the inspector can request a demonstration at initial review or at any time there is reason to believe the procedure cannot deliver adequate results. Procedures shall not be transferred from one activity to another without the specific approval of NAVSEA — so an acquired yard's procedure set does not migrate, and neither does a purchased template. Building them properly the first time is the work described on NDT technical procedure development.

The surrounding documents a Navy-work yard is held to

271 does not stand alone. Its own referenced-document list names NAVSEA S9074-AR-GIB-010/278, Requirements for Fabrication Welding and Inspection, and Casting Inspection and Repair for Machinery, Piping, and Pressure Vessels; NAVSEA 250-1500-1, Welding Standard; MIL-STD-2132, Nondestructive Examination Requirements for Special Applications; MIL-STD-792 for identification marking; and NAVSEA S9086-CH-STM-020, Chapter 074 Volume 2, covering qualification and certification of naval personnel for NDT of metals.

Around those sit the fabrication and welding publications a yard meets by contract. S9074-AQ-GIB-010/248 covers requirements for welding and brazing procedure and performance qualification. T9074-AD-GIB-010/1688 consolidates requirements for fabrication, welding and inspection of submarine structure. In ship repair availabilities the requirements arrive through the NAVSEA Standard Items, of which 009-12, 'Weld, Fabricate, and Inspect', is the one that pulls welding and inspection obligations into the job. Read the contract's reference list rather than assuming the standard set.

There is one legitimate alternate certification route worth knowing. Personnel certified under programmes meeting MIL-STD-2132 or NAVSEA 250-1500-1 can perform duties under 271 for the same methods, provided the inspection procedure meets 271 including acceptance criteria, a specific examination is administered, and the SNT-TC-1A education and training requirements are met — with an additional Level III education and training condition for Examiners. Any other certification programme requires NAVSEA approval, and naval military personnel alone may certify under S9086-CH-STM-020.

How Navy work differs from commercial class work

A commercial NDT firm entering Navy repair usually arrives from one of two directions: class survey work, or code work under ASME and API. Both use the same methods and neither prepares the personnel programme. Under IACS UR Z17 the gate is firm-level approval by a classification society, renewed on a cycle, with the technician file checked by an attending surveyor — the sequence set out on IACS UR Z17 service supplier approval. Under 271 there is no third-party certificate to hold. The activity certifies its own people and stands behind them to a Government inspector.

The certification economics differ sharply as a result. Class accepts a certificate issued under a recognised scheme and can accept a demonstration verified by another IACS member for one element. NAVSEA prohibits transfer of certifications between activities and prohibits transfer of procedures without its specific approval. Nothing bought, inherited or carried in from a previous employer counts. A yard mobilising a crew for Navy work is building a certification programme, not assembling one.

Aerospace sits differently again — NAS 410 designates a responsible Level 3 with its own obligations, covered on NAS 410 responsible Level 3. A firm holding all three exposures runs three written practices, three recertification clocks and three vision standards, and the cheapest way to run them is one controlled document set with mapped differences. Training the technician population against the strictest of the three, through corporate NDT training, removes most of the duplication before it starts.

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