Volume 15, Number 3, September 1999
By Nancy Laubenthal
The ISO-9001 standard specifies how customer-responsive organizations work with an emphasis on quality products for their customers. Many organizations have become ISO-9001 certified through an independent audit process. Such certification is viewed as beneficial to a commercial organization in attracting and retaining customers.
Within the government many agencies and sub-units are also becoming ISO-9001 certified for the recognition that their processes are of high quality and lead to high quality products. NASA is becoming ISO-9001 certified. NASA's field centers are being independently audited for their levels of compliance to the ISO-9001 standard. Goddard's ISO registrar is Det Norske Veritas (DNV).
During the week of August 23-27, 1999, the DNV third party audit team visited Goddard Space Flight Center, both Greenbelt and Wallops Island, and examined the processes and state of documentation thereof carried out by each of many Goddard groups. NSSDC and the Space Science Data Operations Office (SSDOO) were among the groups audited. The audit revealed a number of minor non-conformances to the ISO standard Goddard-wide, and corrective action will be taken on these. None of these involved SSDOO or NSSDC.
The DNV audit team will recommend to the DNV Registrar that Goddard be certified as ISO-9001-compliant. DNV will issue the Goddard ISO certificate. Further information on ISO in general is available at http://www.iso.ch/. Further information on ISO at Goddard is available at http://arioch.gsfc.nasa.gov/iso9000/index.htm.
NASA home page 
GSFC home page 
GSFC organizational page