Qualifying as a DLA Source of Supply

Access is not eligibility

A firm can obtain every drawing it needs and still be unable to sell the part. Lawful access to technical data is one question. Whether DLA must approve the firm as a source before accepting its offer is another, and the answer is recorded in an acquisition method code and suffix on every part DLA manages.

For restricted parts the route runs through a source approval request, judged part by part, usually by a Military Service engineering activity rather than by DLA. DLA estimates a minimum of 90 days and possibly 180 or longer, and a successful package yields eligibility for future buys, not an order. A firm that misreads the code or submits the wrong category spends that time for nothing.

What the paper answers

• What do AMC 0 through 5 mean, and why does the difference between AMC 3 and AMC 5 matter to a manufacturer?
• Which suffix codes require source approval, and which close a part until the firm holds its own data?
• Which of the four SAR categories does your evidence support, and what must each package contain?
• Where does each DLA site take submissions, and in what file format?
• Which Government office decides on a new supplier of a critical safety item or a QPL-controlled product, and where does the original manufacturer fit in?
• When can the purchase-or-borrow program support a reverse engineering package?

What's inside

• The acquisition method codes and the suffix codes a new supplier meets most often, with the practical effect of each.
• A three-check test for sorting any candidate part into open, data-limited and approval-limited.
• The twenty lettered SAR package elements mapped to each category, and the three elements UDC regards as the ones to get right first.
• Submission points, timelines and the pitfalls DLA's guide flags for new submitters, including assemblies, AMSC B permissions and recency limits.
• A table of approving authority by condition, from restricted items to aviation and ship safety parts and Qualified Products Lists, and a brief on technical data access through TDMT and JCP.

Six reference tables

Built to be kept open beside a parts list:

• Acquisition Method Codes
• Selected Acquisition Method Suffix Codes
• Source Approval Request Categories
• SAR Package Elements by Category
• SAR Submission Points
• Approving Authority by Condition

Who it's for

• Machine shops and manufacturers new to DLA that want approval to make restricted parts.
• Established suppliers expanding into source-controlled, critical safety or qualified products.
• Business development staff screening NSN lists before committing to tooling or a bid.

About the author

Chris A. Grable is founder and CEO of Up Doppler Consulting LLC, a Veteran-Owned Small Business in Leonardtown, Maryland. A Navy veteran with more than 45 years in DOW operations and acquisition, he retired from federal service as Senior Experiment Designer at the Naval Air Warfare Center Aircraft Division. UDC helps technology companies find, shape and win DOW work.