{"id":2776,"date":"2020-08-19T16:20:17","date_gmt":"2020-08-19T16:20:17","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.bidlink.net\/news\/?p=2776"},"modified":"2020-08-20T17:44:05","modified_gmt":"2020-08-20T17:44:05","slug":"all-about-the-qualified-parts-list-qpl","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.bidlink.net\/news\/2020\/08\/all-about-the-qualified-parts-list-qpl\/","title":{"rendered":"All about the Qualified Parts List (QPL)"},"content":{"rendered":"

So you’ve found a solicitation you want to bid, but it requires QPL. Here’s what you need to know about QPL and how to qualify.<\/p>\n

The defense department maintains a Qualified Parts List (QPL) of information regarding products and manufacturers, as compiled and maintained by the individual Qualifying Activities (QA).\u00a0 Activity is just a fancy word for government agency.\u00a0 Different product classes are maintained by specific agencies.\u00a0 For example, rubber hose is maintained by DLA Land and Maritime, a division of the Defense Logistics Agency.<\/p>\n

Items managed under QPL are broken down by military specification and Part or Identifying Number (PIN).\u00a0 For example, mil-spec\u00a0MIL-DTL-13444J defines the standards relating to rubber hose and hose assemblies.\u00a0 A subcategory of this specification is defined by the PIN, which describes the specific characteristics.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

Finding the agency that maintains a particular QPL is key to applying for inclusion on that list.<\/p>\n

Finding the right mil-spec<\/strong><\/p>\n

You start with the National Stock Number which is in the solicitation.\u00a0 BidLink<\/a>\u00a0 has a vast NSN lookup<\/a> which includes whether the item requires QPL.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/p>\n

Note the words “Competitive – Controlled by QPL”.\u00a0 This means that you must be on the QPL to provide this item to the government.\u00a0 This particular item was listed on a solicitation valued at $17,880.<\/p>\n

Next, we need the military specification number and PIN, which is also in BidLink.<\/p>\n

\"\"
Finding Mil-spec and PID in BidLink<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

In the Part Number Cross-reference, the first number\u00a0MS52103Z-160760R is the PIN.\u00a0 These are usually preceded by the characters MS.\u00a0 The second number\u00a0MIL-DTL-13444<\/a> is the mil-spec Document ID.<\/p>\n

Look up the mil-spec<\/strong><\/p>\n

The official authority on military specifications is the Government’s ASSIST database.\u00a0 There is a quick search but in order to drill down to the Preparing Activity, a login is required.\u00a0 Registration is free<\/a>.<\/p>\n

Once you’re in, click search and enter the document ID.\u00a0Several results will appear.\u00a0 Look for the most recent one and click it.\u00a0 It’s usually the top result.<\/p>\n

\"Search<\/a>
Search for mil-spec (click to enlarge)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

This takes you to a list of revisions for this spec as well as a litany of other information.\u00a0 Specifications are revised over time, so it’s important to have the most recent one.<\/p>\n

\"Mil-spec
Mil-spec details (click to enlarge)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Clicking the media logo next to the topmost revision (Revision J in this case) shows the most recent specification.\u00a0 Here’s a copy of\u00a0MIL-DTL-13444<\/a> so you can see what one looks like.\u00a0 Within the spec you will see information relating to qualification requirements.\u00a0 Read it thoroughly.<\/p>\n

Finding who manages the QPL\u00a0<\/strong><\/p>\n

On the screen above, look for Preparing Activity.\u00a0 You can see that the QPL for this item is maintained by DLA Land and Maritime.\u00a0 The code next to this takes you to the agency contacts.<\/p>\n

\"Contacts<\/a>
Contacts that mange this QPL (click to enlarge)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Clicking on a contact name will give you that person’s contact information.\u00a0 This is who you would reach out to regarding possible inclusion on the QPL for rubber hoses.<\/p>\n

\"Specific<\/a>
Specific contact details for QPL (Click to enlarge)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

It takes time to be added to the QPL, but this has been shortened as DLA migrates from the legacy system to the Qualified Parts Database (QPD).\u00a0 \u00a0As items are moved to the QPD, they will be moved off the legacy QPL.\u00a0 Additional information, including a list of companies which belong to a particular QPL can be found here:\u00a0https:\/\/qpldocs.dla.mil\/<\/a>.<\/p>\n

Belonging on a QPL proves to the government that you have the capability to build something according to the specification.\u00a0 This means that when bidding on a contract that requires QPL, you may be competing with fewer suppliers.<\/p>\n

BidLink helps contractors find government business through it’s superior bid search engine.\u00a0 To learn more, create a risk free trial account<\/a>.<\/p>\n

\"See<\/a>
See solicitation details on BidLink<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

So you’ve found a solicitation you want to bid, but it requires QPL. Here’s what you need to know about QPL and how to qualify. The defense department maintains a Qualified Parts List (QPL) of information regarding products and manufacturers, as compiled and maintained by the individual Qualifying Activities (QA).\u00a0 Activity is just a fancy … <\/p>\n

Continue reading “All about the Qualified Parts List (QPL)”<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":4,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[5],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-2776","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-government_contracts_bootcamp"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.bidlink.net\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2776","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.bidlink.net\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.bidlink.net\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.bidlink.net\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/4"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.bidlink.net\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=2776"}],"version-history":[{"count":9,"href":"https:\/\/www.bidlink.net\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2776\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":2798,"href":"https:\/\/www.bidlink.net\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2776\/revisions\/2798"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.bidlink.net\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=2776"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.bidlink.net\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=2776"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.bidlink.net\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=2776"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}