Vendor Inspection Program (VIP) Plan

The purpose of the VIP Plan is to establish an overall approach, including goals, priorities, performance metrics, and resource management strategies for VIP activities. Key parts of the plan include:

• The objectives of the VIP, including its overarching goals that provide a link to the U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission's (NRC) statutory mission of protecting public health and safety, promoting the common defense and security, and protecting the environment
• The organization, staffing, training, and qualification of the vendor inspection staff in the NRC's Office of Nuclear Reactor Regulation (NRR) necessary to perform effective oversight of vendors
• The needed infrastructure including inspection and regulatory guidance and tools such as information (e.g., quality assurance Web site), inspection planning and scheduling, and self-assessment tracking systems
• Communication and coordination activities with internal and external stakeholders

The VIP Plan is updated every 6 months or as necessary.

The VIP verifies that reactor applicants and licensees are fulfilling their regulatory obligations with respect to providing effective oversight of the supply chain. It accomplishes this through a number of activities, including: performing vendor inspections that will verify the effective implementation of the vendor's quality assurance program, establishing a strategy for vendor identification and selection criteria, and ensuring vendor inspectors obtain necessary knowledge and skills to perform inspections. In addition, the VIP addresses interactions with nuclear consensus standards organizations, industry and external stakeholders, and international constituents.

The VIP also includes objectives and associated performance metrics to demonstrate that the overarching goals are being supported. The VIP performance metrics are assessed to ensure successful implementation and continuous improvement of the VIP. The performance metrics are based on input from various sources, including but not limited to inspection reports, stakeholder surveys, and vendor inspection staff's comments. The vendor inspection staff collects data quarterly and uses pre-established success criteria to analyze the data. The results of the vendor inspection staff's analysis are below.