Here, a compliance lapse is not a fine. It is a contract you may no longer bid.

“We passed the audit. We still lost the re-compete.”

In most sectors compliance is a cost sitting beside the work. In this one it is a condition of being allowed to do the work at all, which makes it an operating question rather than a legal one. A review reads contract economics, rate structure and the compliance evidence together, because they are the same system.

AS9100
ITAR
DFARS
SPRS
CMMC
indirect rates
FAI
build-to-print
cost of poor quality
on-time delivery

Your words, not ours.

Where it concentrates here

7 places the money tends to go in an aerospace and defense manufacturer. Each one is concentrated — a single agreement, a single queue, a single account nobody reviews — which is why sampling walks straight past them.

A NIST SP 800-171 self-assessment score submitted to SPRS with a plan of action behind it that was written to close the gap on paper rather than in the network.
ITAR-controlled technical data on a shared drive that is segregated in the policy and reachable in practice.
Indirect rate structure built around a program that ended, with the overhead still allocated across work that cannot carry it.
Build-to-print parts quoted from standards set several revisions ago, so reported margin by part number is a well-formatted guess.
Long-lead material bought against a forecast that moved, sitting as inventory no program will absorb.
Scrap and rework booked to a variance account reviewed in total, so one bad process hides inside an acceptable aggregate.
Cost of quality — containment, sorting, expedited freight after a slip — absorbed into overhead rather than attributed to the part that caused it.

Not every aerospace and defense manufacturer is the same business

Build-to-print machining and fabricationQuoted from standards that drift, on parts whose revisions change without the price being revisited.Read the page for build-to-print machining and fabrication →
Components and assembliesLong-lead material bought against forecasts that move, leaving inventory nobody will own.
MRO and aftermarketHighest margin, hardest to cost, and priced by precedent rather than by work actually performed.Read the page for mro and aftermarket →
Defense primes and subcontractorsCAS-covered contracts, incurred cost submissions, and a rate structure that must survive a DCAA audit.Read the page for defense primes and subcontractors →

Where this data actually lives

Epicor Kinetic, Global Shop or JobBOSS in the mid-market; IFS at the top end
A separate quality system — ETQ, uniPoint or paper — holding the AS9100 record
Net-Inspect or Discus for FAI and PPAP submissions
An ITAR-segregated file share that is usually less segregated than believed
Exostar or SAP Ariba for prime customer portals

Named because it changes what the intake asks for. An extract from one of these has known gaps, and the review is built around them rather than surprised by them.

Reported in your numbers, not ours

on-time delivery
PPM defect rate
scrap and rework
quote-to-win rate
indirect rate structure
inventory turns
machine utilization
cost of poor quality

The obligations that set the deadlines

AS9100D certification and surveillance audits
ITAR registration and export licensing; EAR classification for dual-use items
DFARS 252.204-7012 and NIST SP 800-171 — the SPRS score, and whether the POA&M behind it is real
CMMC assessment, and what it will find in the shared drive
DCAA incurred cost submissions and provisional billing rates on cost-type work
First Article Inspection (AS9102) and PPAP records

What the review would ask you for

9 requests written for an aerospace and defense manufacturer and asked of nobody else — 5 of them core. They sit alongside the operating spine every business has — finance, revenue, receivables, payables, contracts, people, IT, operations, risk, commercial and governance — which is 107 further requests.

Contract register: type, prime, period and value Core Firm-fixed-price, cost-plus and T&M carry entirely different exposure.
Indirect rate structure and provisional billing rates Core Overhead, G&A and any fringe pools, with the basis for each.
AS9100 certificate, last audit report and open findings Core Including surveillance audit dates.
NIST SP 800-171 assessment, SPRS score and POA&M Core The score as submitted, and the evidence behind the controls claimed met.
ITAR registration, export licenses and technical data controls Core Including how ITAR-controlled data is segregated in practice, not in policy.
Scrap, rework and cost of poor quality by part number By part, not in total — a single bad process hides inside an acceptable aggregate.
On-time delivery and supplier scorecards from primes As the customer measures it, which is rarely as you measure it.
Inventory by program, with obsolescence and long-lead exposure Material bought against a forecast that moved.
Most recent DCAA correspondence, incurred cost submissions Including any questioned costs and their resolution.

Anything you do not have can be skipped in one click, with a reason. The intake is completed in the client portal, which saves each answer as it is given and can be returned to as often as you like.

When this stops being interesting and becomes urgent

A CMMC assessment date, which converts a security question into a revenue question
A prime's supplier scorecard slipping
A DCAA audit or a questioned cost
An acquisition approach, where ITAR and CUI handling become diligence items
A program ending and the overhead built around it staying

Who this involves

Signs it: President or CFO
Resists it: The quality director, who reasonably fears a second audit
Has been asking for it: The contracts manager, and whoever owns the SPRS score

Who commissions it

Presidents, CFOs and contracts managers. Phase one is priced before phase two is discussed, the report is yours either way, and we take no vendor commissions or referral fees on anything we recommend.

See the proposal and the price Talk it through first

The proposal sets out the sequence week by week, what we would need from you, and what it costs for your number of operating units. No call required to see the number.

Closest to this

Operations that share more with an aerospace and defense manufacturer than the sector label suggests.