What Nadcap audit preparation involves

Nadcap is an industry-managed accreditation program for special processes in aerospace, nondestructive testing among them. It is administered by the Performance Review Institute (PRI). For NDT, a supplier is audited against the AC7114 family of checklists, which the supplier obtains through PRI, together with any supplements its customers require. The audit itself is several days on site, during which a PRI auditor reviews the program and follows real jobs from order to report.

Preparing for that audit comes down to one question: does your NDT program do what its documents say, and can you show it? In practice that means four things.

  • The documents agree with each other. Your written practice, procedures and technique sheets agree with each other and with your customers' specifications.
  • The people are qualified on paper as well as in fact. Training, experience, examination and vision records support every certification, usually under NAS410.
  • The work is traceable. Any job can be followed from purchase order to report, including the equipment, materials and people that touched it.
  • The self-audit is honest and complete. The supplier completes a self-audit against the criteria before the audit, and it should describe the program as it really is.

Our Nadcap NDT audit preparation page lists what we help with. This page walks through how an engagement runs.

How an engagement runs

1. First call and scope

We start with a conversation about your program: the NDT methods in your scope, the primes and customer specifications you work to, whether this is a first audit, a reaccreditation or a scope change, when the audit is due, and who on your side owns the program. If there are open findings from a previous audit, we look at those first. You get a quote after this call, once we know what the work involves.

2. Gap review against the applicable checklists

We review your program against the Nadcap NDT checklists that apply to your scope, working from your own licensed copies, and against your customers' specifications. Most of this document work is done remotely. You get a plain list of gaps, in priority order, so the time before the audit goes on what matters most.

3. Written practice, procedures and personnel records

This is where most of the preparation happens, and where most problems start. We help prepare or revise the written practice, procedures and technique sheets, and check personnel records against the written practice: training and experience hours, examinations, vision examinations and certification dates. If your program needs Level III authority it does not have in-house, we can provide it as your outside Level III.

4. Prep (mock) audit and corrective actions

Before the real audit, we run a prep (mock) audit of your NDT program the way an auditor would: real jobs traced from order to report, records pulled on request, and questions put to the people who do the work. It is scheduled on site when it needs to follow work on the floor. You get a written list of what to fix. We then help you work through the corrective actions, with root cause and evidence, so they are closed before the auditor arrives. We also help you complete the required self-audit honestly and completely.

5. Support during the audit, and with findings afterwards

While the audit runs, we can be on site or on call, helping your team answer the auditor's questions and find the records being asked for. Your people answer the auditor; we support them. If the audit raises findings, we help write the root-cause and corrective-action responses, with containment and objective evidence, within the deadlines. Between audit cycles we can stay on as ongoing support so the program does not drift before the next one.

What an engagement does not do

NDT LLC is an independent consultant, not a PRI auditor. A prep audit is a practice run for your benefit; it is not a Nadcap audit and counts for nothing toward accreditation. We do not grant or influence accreditation, answer the auditor on your behalf, or speak for PRI or any task group, and no consultant can guarantee an audit outcome. The audit criteria are PRI's documents: we do not reproduce them, and we work from the copies you are licensed to use.

Frequently asked questions

How long does Nadcap audit preparation take?

It depends on where the program starts. A first audit, a new method or a program with open findings takes longer than a reaccreditation of a program in good order. Start as early as you can once the audit is on the calendar, because the self-audit has to be completed before the audit and corrective actions take time to close. We give you a realistic plan after the first call and the gap review.

Is a mock audit required for Nadcap?

No. Nadcap does not require a prep (mock) audit or a consultant, and many suppliers prepare on their own. A prep audit by someone outside the program is simply a good way to find the problems while there is still time to fix them. It carries no weight with PRI.

What records do Nadcap NDT auditors look at?

In outline: your written practice, procedures and technique sheets, personnel qualification and certification records (usually under NAS410), equipment and materials control, and the records of real jobs, followed from order to report. The detail is set by the audit criteria, which you obtain through PRI, and by your customers' specifications.

Can an outside Level III help with Nadcap preparation?

Yes. An outside Level III can review and approve procedures, prepare and grade examinations, and review qualification records, and NAS410 allows an employer to designate a Responsible Level 3 from outside the company within the limits the standard sets. Some primes and customer specifications restrict this, so check your customers' requirements first. See our Level III consulting page.

Is NDT LLC affiliated with PRI or Nadcap?

No. NDT LLC is an independent consulting firm and is not affiliated with, endorsed by or sponsored by the Performance Review Institute or Nadcap.

This page describes our consulting services in general terms. It is not engineering, legal or regulatory advice; always work to the current edition of the codes, standards and customer specifications named in your contract.

NDT LLC is an independent consulting firm. It is not affiliated with, endorsed by or sponsored by the Performance Review Institute (PRI), Nadcap, the Aerospace Industries Association (AIA), the American Society for Nondestructive Testing (ASNT), or any other organization named on this page; names are used only to identify the organizations and documents referred to.