Quality Assurance Program

HTA, an award-winning SDVOSB, has been recognized by senior officials in the Department of the Army for the quality of its multi-disciplinary support services. We received special recognition as one of the top 40 fastest-growing high technology companies in the State of New Mexico in 2005 and 2006; our SURVIVE software was a finalist in two categories (Custom Solutions and Integrated Solutions) in the 2005 New Mexico Information Technology and Software Excellence competition; and we are currently in a second-year protégé and participant in the highly competitive Sandia National Laboratory Mentor/Protégé Program.

HTA is a 2007 graduate of the State of New Mexico ISO 9000:2000 program. We have developed and are validating an ISO 9001 Quality Management System (QMS); and we expect the State of New Mexico Economic Development Department to verify HTA’s compliance with ISO international quality standards in 2007. We anticipate ISO certification in 2008.

HTA has also made a commitment to Six Sigma and Lean quality processes and measures. HTA’s President successfully completed two Six Sigma course (Green Belt and Black Belt) and received his Six Sigma Black Belt in Jan 2007. He received training in Lean practices at a U.S. Department of Commerce-sponsored course in Lean on 8 December 2006, and has implemented Lean practices at HTA during the last three months. 

HTA management maintains active memberships in professional and online associations that focus on quality enhancement and Best Practices in the Systems Engineering and Software domains.

Our approach for providing and managing professional support services to any customer (not just the Navy) integrates ISO 9001:2000 and ISO 9004:2000 quality standards with Six Sigma and Lean practices. Regardless of whether HTA provides R&D, Modeling, System Design, Software, IS/IS/IS, or Logistics Support Services, HTA’s procedures emphasize:

·        Development of a detailed understanding of customer requirements, expectations, and constraints such as performance timelines and budgets;

·        Mapping the key elements and tasks associated with customer requirements and task orders using Supplier–Input–Process–Output–Customer (SIPOC) techniques;

·        Developing, communicating, and obtaining customer approval for our work plan and schedule;

·        Executing approved work plans while maintaining close watch over schedules and budgets by means of internal progress meetings;

·        Communicating task order progress to customers on a regular basis by means of the Seaport-e web page on the company’s website, regular e-mail and telephone dialogues, and regular progress reports;

·        Early identification of issues that may impact task order performance, development of recommended corrective actions or risk mitigation strategies, and timely communication of issues and recommendations to the customer;

·        Internal quality control reviews of all task order services or products;

·        On-time and correct completion of task order assignments; and,

·        Timely invoicing.

Our policy is to provide high-quality services while minimizing turbulence within our customers’ organizations. We leverage the experiences HTA, ISSi, and BFS have had with our diverse customer bases to modify current procedures or develop, validate and institutionalize new procedures that will allow us to seamlessly interact with our NAVSEA or Virtual SYSCOM customers. Specifically, the HTA team:

1)      Ensures we execute processes correctly the first time by documenting and validating our operating procedures with designated customer personnel;

2)      Maintains the ability to repeat our validated processes, without error, by institutionalizing the process as an HTA procedure and using a control mechanism such as a checklist to ensure continued compliance with customer requirements;

3)      Applies Lean Thinking to each institutionalized process to identify, document, and integrate, wherever possible, actions that will improve the efficiency of a process;

4)      Collects time and performance data quantifying the impact of process efficiencies;

5)      Continuously assesses each institutionalized process to identify opportunities for improving performance by using Six Sigma measurement, assessment, improvement, and control techniques;  

6)      Quantifies and reports efficiencies and process improvement savings realized from our Lean and Six Sigma methods to our customers; and,

7)      Passes cost savings onto customers in the form of reduced labor hour requirements, lower direct costs for expendable and travel, and reduced G&A rates.

HTA Team Management and Subcontracting

During five of the eight years in which HTA has provided on- and off-site support services to the Army, we also managed a subcontractor who provided dedicated, onsite analysis support to a separate element within our customer’s organization. In managing this subcontractor, HTA flowed its reporting and invoicing procedures down to the subcontractor, monitored, and enforced compliance with HTA’s validated procedures, and ensured that the subcontractor performed all tasks specified by our contract. During the five years that we managed the subcontractor, only one error that occurred in our management process; this error was due to personnel turbulence in the Defense Finance Accounting Service (DFAS) payment office and not because of any procedural mistakes committed by HTA or its subcontractor.

Change Management

While HTA is experienced developing and implementing comprehensive project plans and schedules, we also recognize that external or internal factors may cause change to occur during execution of a work order. When a change event occurs, we immediately notify the customer (unless the customer directed the change), and all affected HTA principals assess performance, schedule, and cost impacts.

If an internal HTA problem caused the change, we identify the source, determine how and why it occurred, identify and initiate immediate corrective action, and notify the customer of the problem, the cause, the corrective action being taken, and the impact on the overall assignment.

If an external change occurs, affected HTA principals evaluate the performance, cost, and schedule impacts, identify potential mitigation opportunities, and then develop and evaluate options for dealing with the change’s impact on the planned work. We then communicate with the customer, discuss the results of our evaluation and recommend options for dealing with the change event. We implement the customer-approved recommendation; adjust project plans, schedules, and budgets; and document the actions that have occurred on our web site and in our next progress report.   

 

Monitoring and Maximizing Quality

 

Maintaining, monitoring, and maximizing quality are the foundations of HTA’s QMS. The company has made a corporate commitment to quality and is validating its QMS, its Quality Manual, and its procedures.

 

Problem and Conflict Resolution

Personal

If problems or conflicts occur during the performance of any work being performed by an employee of the HTA team, the supervisor of that employee will take immediate action to evaluate and control the situation, remove the employee from the work area, and attempt to resolve the situation with the customer representative. If the HTA supervisor is unable to resolve the situation with the on-site customer representative, the supervisor will contact his or her immediate supervisor, and appraise him or her of the situation. The second-tier HTA supervisor will contact the supervisor of the customer representative and attempt to resolve the problem. All HTA employees, to include supervisors, will document all conversations that take place with all customer representatives and forward this documentation to their company’s CEO/President, who will take immediate action to resolve the situation. Unethical or illegal activities by any employee of any HTA team member will be grounds for immediate termination of employment.

 

Organizational

If problems or conflicts occur between representatives of an HTA team member and a customer’s team, HTA’s President will be notified immediately. The team member’s management will document the conflict or problem, contact the COTR assigned to the contract, and attempt to resolve the situation with the COTR. If the HTA partner and the COTR cannot resolve the issue, the team member will notify HTA’s President, who will raise the issue to the Contracting Officer level and resolve the problem.  An HTA team member/company found to have willfully ignored a customer’s directive or to have violated standards of behavior defined by the FAR will be removed from the HTA team.