Quality control (QC), as specified in this chapter, shall be provided by the fabricator and erector. Quality assurance (QA), as specified in this chapter, shall be provided by others when required by the authority having jurisdiction (AHJ), applicable building code, purchaser, owner, or engineer of record, and when required, responsibilities shall be specified in the contract documents. Nondestructive testing (NDT) shall be performed by the agency or firm responsible for QA, except as permitted in accordance with Specification Section N6.
User Note: The QA plan in Section J4 is considered adequate and effective for most seismic force-resisting systems and should be used without modification. The QA plan is intended to ensure that the seismic force-resisting system is significantly free of defects that would greatly reduce the ductility of the system. There may be cases (e.g., nonredundant major transfer members or where work is performed in a location that is difficult to access) where supplemental testing might be advisable. Additionally, where the fabricator’s or erector’s QC program has demonstrated the capability to perform some tasks this plan has assigned to QA, modification of the plan could be considered.