Record Retention, Change Control and FOD Prevention at Suppliers

Updated October 12, 2026

Record retention: the published periods

There is no single aerospace retention period. Each clause sets its own number and, just as important, its own start date.

The start dates are why a single company policy is hard. Final payment can come months after shipment, and PO completion can come years after the first delivery on a long blanket order. The workable rule for a supplier is to keep everything for the longest period any active customer imposes, counted from the latest possible start date, and to get written approval before destroying anything a customer has an interest in. Q11R is a reminder that clauses change: its revision log shows that in January 2020 Lockheed Martin removed an earlier requirement for suppliers to notify it before destroying records after 10 years.

What counts as a quality record

The record set is broader than most shops expect. The NGAS SQAR, section 2.4, lists evidence of inspection to drawings and revisions, FAI reports, test reports, periodic inspection and control of inspection media, special tooling and test equipment records, qualification and acceptance test data, personnel certifications, raw material and process certifications, and material review reports, plus any other record from realization, verification or validation.

Boeing D6-82479 Rev J adds specific items: calibration records with the calibration register elements and results; raw material test reports accepted from external providers together with the supplier's periodic validation test results, traceable to the delivered goods; and certification body certificates, audit reports and findings with evidence of corrective action, held under the contract's retention requirement. The NGAS SQAR requires all supplier documentation to be in English, and AR2 sets legibility rules: corrections lined through once, corrected in ink, initialed and dated, no correction tape or fluid. For material records specifically, see material certs and traceability.

Change notification: what needs the customer's approval

Q clauses require suppliers to tell the customer before changing how, where or by whom a part is made, and for repeat buys they freeze the process that was qualified.

The NGAS SQAR, section 2.1, requires advance notice of changes to the supplier's or sub-tier's name, address, tooling, facilities, materials, maintenance, processes and acceptance methods. Its examples include design changes (including proprietary designs), changes to fabrication or test methods, processes or tooling, manufacturing location, management or ownership, prolonged labor disputes or shutdowns, and changes to sub-tier locations. Material previously bought by Northrop Grumman must be made and accepted under the same conditions, processes, manufacturer and acceptance agency unless the change is approved. A change request must state the from and to conditions, the justification, and the proposed effectivity by date or by part, lot or serial number.

Lockheed Martin ties notice to the FAI. Quality clause Q2A Rev 17 (August 25, 2025) requires written notice to the SQE at least five business days before implementing any change that meets AS9102's criteria for a partial or re-accomplished FAI, and the FAI itself follows. Appendix QX 1.2.B requires 180 calendar days' notice before a sale, relocation or closure, including moving some products to a different site, with a risk mitigation plan covering schedule impact, record transfer, FAI recovery, inventory and work in process.

Boeing D6-82479 Rev J requires immediate written notice to the Boeing supplier quality representative and procurement agent of changes that may affect the quality system's ability to meet Boeing requirements, including changes affecting inspection, conformity or airworthiness, and changes to the quality contact or system scope.

Configuration control at the supplier

Configuration control at a supplier means the floor builds exactly the revision on the PO, with the process that was qualified, and nothing changes silently.

Revision handling is written into the NGAS SQAR, section 2.5.b: building to an equal or later engineering revision is acceptable, because a later revision incorporates the changes that would otherwise have been issued as engineering orders or change notices against the ordered one, and the delivered revision must appear on the packing list or C of C. Suppliers work to the latest revision of process specifications referenced in the PO unless noted, with exceptions for parts processed before a specification revision and for shelf-life items. Where digital datasets define the product, the SQAR invokes a separate supplement on their control and use.

Software and programs are part of the configuration. The SQAR requires non-deliverable software used in automated manufacturing or acceptance to be validated before use and kept under configuration control. Earlier revisions of Q2A, such as Rev 11 from 2015, listed a change in NC program or its translation to another medium among the events that require a partial or full FAI. The current Q2A Rev 17 lets suppliers of non-stockable products, such as major aircraft sections, meet production process verification through demonstrated configuration management, with a full verification repeated at least every 3 years or 200 aircraft ship-sets, whichever comes first, and requires evidence of AS9100-compliant configuration management on request. AS9100 itself requires configuration management; our AS9100 vs ISO 9001 suppliers page explains what that adds over ISO 9001.

FOD prevention: NAS412 and AS9146

FOD clauses require a documented foreign object prevention program at the supplier and at every sub-tier where debris can be trapped. Two documents define it.

How primes invoke them:

• Lockheed Martin Appendix QX Rev 10, 1.11: a FOD program compliant with AS9146; flow-down to every tier wherever debris can be entrapped or foreign objects can migrate; inspection before closing inaccessible areas, with no bags, caps, covers or plugs left inside; clean tooling, jigs and fixtures. Delivering the items certifies that items and packaging are free of foreign objects. The 2017 QA022-01 cited NAS-412 instead.
• NGAS SQAR, 2.12: a FOD process that meets the intent of NAS 412, with housekeeping, timely removal of chips and residue, special emphasis controls in high-risk areas, tool and hardware accountability, investigation of FOD incidents to root cause, and training.

For machined and fabricated parts the practical controls are deburr and chip removal from internal passages, capping ports and threads, clean packaging, and an inspection step before anything is closed. Parts going into fluid, propulsion or oxygen systems often need more than FOD control; see precision and oxygen cleaning and crating and packaging.

How these requirements appear on purchase orders

Most of this reaches a supplier as a clause reference, not as text, so the PO has to name the document and revision and any program-specific clause.

When you write POs to your own suppliers, state the retention period and its start date in words, list the changes that need your approval, name the FOD standard, and require the delivered revision on the certificate of conformance. Changes that trigger a new FAI are covered on our AS9102 first article inspection page, and the full set of quality pages is in the quality library. For what happens when a change slips through and causes a defect, see corrective action and SCAR.

Get the right clauses on the supplier's PO

Send your retention period, change approval rules and FOD requirements with your quality clauses when you request a quote. We flow them down to the supplier, check the delivered revision and cert package against your PO before delivery, and ship every order with a certificate of conformance plus the other certs your request requires. A person replies within 1 business day. Export-controlled drawings follow our controlled programs process.

Questions

Related

• What Prime Supplier Quality Clauses Require
• Nonconformance, MRB Authority and Supplier Corrective Action
• Material Certs, Specialty Metals and Lot Traceability
• Precision Cleaning and Oxygen Service Cleaning

Sources

• Lockheed Martin Aeronautics Appendix QX, Supplier Quality Requirements, Rev 10 (released January 1, 2023, last reviewed October 23, 2025)
• Lockheed Martin Aeronautics quality clause Q11R, C130J and LM100J programs, Rev 03 (released September 29, 2020, last reviewed October 4, 2023)
• Lockheed Martin quality clause Q11R revision log (last revised October 4, 2023)
• Lockheed Martin Aeronautics quality clause Q2A, First Article Inspection, Rev 17 (released August 25, 2025)
• Lockheed Martin Aeronautics quality clause Q2A, First Article Inspection, Rev 11 (March 25, 2015), superseded, cited for its listed FAI triggers
• Northrop Grumman Aeronautics Systems Supplier Quality Assurance Requirements (SQAR) manual, revision date May 15, 2026
• Lockheed Martin QA022-01 External Provider Quality Requirements, Rev 2 (June 29, 2017)
• L3Harris Aerojet Rocketdyne AR2, Aerospace Requirements for Distributors (effective November 5, 2025)
• Boeing D6-82479 Rev J (November 1, 2023), Boeing Quality Management System Requirements for Suppliers
• AIA: revised NAS412 Foreign Object Damage/Foreign Object Debris Prevention released August 31, 2023
• SAE AS9146, FOD Prevention Program Requirements (issued April 2017, reaffirmed September 8, 2022)