Bowhead LogoQuality Assurance Plan

To ensure Bowhead Professional Solutions, LLC’s performance exceeds contractual requirements and expectations, we have established processes and procedures for measuring performance to ensure the quality, accuracy, and timeliness of our services. Team Bowhead fully understands the critical need of providing qualified personnel and delivering quality services in support of the specified functional areas. In addition to utilizing industry best practices (Lean Six Sigma, Program Management Institute), our Quality Assurance Plan (QAP) is based on lessons learned and focuses on proactive identification, mitigation of problem areas, and corrective actions. Team Bowhead’s QAP is an integral part of everything we do and each task we support.

We execute our QAP aggressively in order to ensure full compliance with the solicitation requirements, deliverable schedule, the customer’s expectations, and our distinctive standard of customer service. Our experience while performing tasks of similar size and scope has demonstrated that a successful QAP must address:

  • Quality, Cost Control, and Timeliness
  • Contracting and Business Relations Control
  • Risk Management
  • Quality Assurance and Task Execution

 

Quality, Cost Control, and Timeless

Team Bowhead maintains management control and visibility of all professional services throughout the period of performance to ensure that all requirements of the contract are accomplished on schedule and are consistent with contractual standards of performance. To ensure the highest level of visibility, a senior level executive is assigned as the Quality Assurance Manager to supervise quality assurance efforts for this contract.

Our Quality Assurance Managers have access to Bowhead’s corporate analysts who provide the necessary data and analytical tools such as DCAA approved Deltek, to support accurate tracking and management of program budgets. Each month, the Quality Assurance Manager holds an internal program review to discuss the program’s execution and ensure that budget management is on track.

They conduct quarterly reviews with Bowhead and Senior Management (Presidents and Executive Vice Presidents), and key staff to assess cost and budget performance by determining deliverables are on budget and on schedule, as well as, reviewing overall financial status of the contract. These quarterly reviews allow for senior executive level monitoring and guidance for the program. Thus, they ensure that Team Bowhead continues to meet or exceed the customer’s expectations. Monthly reports, formal and informal reviews, and other performance evaluations address key performance indicators, task status, and funds expended. Exhibit 9 depicts the control actions, evaluation factors, and feedback mechanism options Team Bowhead will use.

The Quality Assurance Manager oversees performance to ensure that it exceeds the customer’s expectations. The Quality Assurance Manager will immediately address quality control issues and may submit written reports addressing shortcomings, corrective actions, and plans to preclude future recurrence.

Quality and cost controls are agenda items for all review meetings, technical interchanges with the customer, and status reports. Team Bowhead’s quality, cost controls, and timeliness actions are only a few of the tools that Team Bowhead use to ensure success.

Control Action Evaluation Factors Feedback Mechanism Options
Quality of Product and Service
  • Compliance with contract requirements
  • Monthly report and monthly program review
  • Accuracy of reports
  • Monthly report and monthly program review
  • Customer evaluation feedback
  • Technical excellence
  • Daily technical interchange meeting between scientists and customer technical POCs
  • Weekly task workforce interchange
  • Monthly status report and program review
  • Lessons learned database to document issues
Cost Control

  • Program budget
  • Standard labor categories
  • Labor hour targets
  • Timely, accurate, and complete billings
  • Monthly report and monthly program review
  • Monthly corporate invoice status and financial review
  • Cost-containment initiatives
  • Pre-approval for travel and extended work week
  • Monthly report and monthly program review
  • Quarterly review
Timeliness of Performance

  • Task schedules
  • Task cycle times
  • Roadmap milestone schedules
  • Timely submission of invoices and other contract data
  • Meet schedules to ensure timeliness of products. Plan actions to provide sufficient time for coordination and completion
  • Daily technical interchange meeting between scientists and customer technical POCs
  • Tasks accomplished list in monthly report
  • Monthly program reviews
  • Responsiveness to technical direction, including cycle times associated with tasks and actions
  • Daily, weekly, monthly meetings between QA Manager, the COR, and/or technical POCs to review responsiveness to technical directions
  • Regular meetings with workforce personnel
  • Responsiveness to contract change orders or administrative requirements
  • Daily, weekly, monthly meetings between QAP Manager, Bowhead’s contract administrator, and the COR
  • Complete on time, including wrap-up, reporting responsibilities, and contract administration
  • QA Manager monthly report and program review
  • Regular meetings between QA Manager and Bowhead’s contract administrator

Exhibit 9 – Quality Assurance Feedback Mechanism Options. Team Bowhead maintains control and visibility of professional services to ensure requirements of the contract are accomplished on schedule and consistent with contractual standards.

 

Contracting and Business Relations Control Actions

Team Bowhead brings significant capability to the customer by incorporating a constant and effective integrated management approach to ensure continuity of effort, performance consistency, and high-quality outcomes (see Exhibit 10). Consequently, contracting and business relationship considerations receive regular managerial attention.

Control Action Evaluation Factors Feedback Mechanism Options
Contracting/Business Relations

  • Ensure effective communications with key management staff
  • Identify problems early and act decisively to solve them
  • Maintain open and continuous communications between customer, PM, key DSI management staff, and Bowhead Senior Management
  • Creative strategies to serve customer and remain responsive to contract requirements
  • Regular meetings between PM and Bowhead’s contract administrator
  • Corporate leader meetings with COR and technical POCs to review customer satisfaction
  • Quarterly all-hands meetings with PM and the workforce to review status and solicit ideas
  • PM’s monthly meetings to discuss issues with key management staff
  • Integrated management approach to solicit best available talent from Team Bowhead members
  • Prompt notification of problems and application of effective solutions to proactively identify and resolve problems and prevent recurrence
  • Weekly technical interchange and monthly management/contract interchange meetings to promptly notify the COR, technical POCs, and PM, of issues or concerns
  • Recommend and discuss solutions during monthly management and contract interchange meetings

Exhibit 10 – Contracting/Business Relations Control Actions/Feedback  Mechanism Options. Team Bowhead brings  significant capability to the customer. Our constant and effective integrated  management ensures continuity of effort, performance consistency, and  high-quality outcomes

All key stakeholders that are involved with the contract and ensuing task execution are actively involved in the QAP that Team Bowhead has tailored for the customer. Our experiences on similar tasks for a variety of Federal agencies have proven that key stakeholder involvement results in tasks being completed right the first time, on schedule, and within budget. One of the key components of the QAP process is the ability to implement the basic tenets at the lowest levels of task management.