Aerospace Sourcing
Approved supplier lists

How Shops Get on a Prime's Approved Supplier List

You get on an approved supplier list by passing a buyer's own qualification process: a registration or questionnaire, a review of your quality system, often a survey, and a closely watched first order. Approval is for specific work, and your delivery and quality record decides whether you keep it.

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What an approved supplier list actually is

An approved supplier list (ASL) is a buyer's internal record of which outside companies it may purchase from, and for what. It is not a public directory and there is no single industry list to apply to.

In aerospace the list is not optional for the buyer. AS9100 requires a certified organization to maintain a register of its external providers that records each provider's approval status, with examples such as approved, conditional or disapproved, and the scope of that approval, for example a product type or a process family. Auditors check that register. So when a purchasing agent says "you are not on our list," they usually mean their quality department has not finished qualifying you, and they cannot place the order until it does.

This is why getting approved at one prime does nothing at the next. Every buyer runs its own list, its own forms and its own risk rules.

Scope of approval: you are approved for something, not for everything

Buyers approve a supplier for a defined scope, so describe your capabilities precisely and only claim what you can prove.

A typical ASL entry might say a shop is approved for CNC machined aluminum and stainless detail parts, build to print, no special processes. If that same shop later wants to sell anodized parts it finishes in house, the buyer may need to extend the scope, and if the buyer requires accredited special processes, the anodize line may need Nadcap or a customer process approval first. The Nadcap accreditation page explains that side.

Scope also limits what you can subcontract. Many purchase orders say you may not outsource any part of the order unless the buyer authorizes it, and any approved sub-tier supplier must receive the same flow-down requirements. If you send parts out for plating, the plater usually has to be on the buyer's list too, or on your own list with an approval the buyer accepts.

What buyers check before they add you

Expect the buyer to verify your identity, your quality system, your controls on sensitive data, and your ability to deliver. The exact package varies, but these items come up again and again.

  • Quality certification. If you claim AS9100, the buyer will look you up in the IAQG OASIS database, which lists suppliers certified under IAQG rules along with the scope of their certificate. Certification bodies treat OASIS as the reference, so a certificate missing from it may not be accepted.
  • Federal identifiers. UEI and CAGE code from your SAM.gov registration, plus your small business status if you claim one.
  • Export control status. Whether you are registered with DDTC, and how you restrict ITAR technical data to US persons. See ITAR registration.
  • Cybersecurity. For defense work involving CUI, a current NIST SP 800-171 assessment score in SPRS, and increasingly a CMMC status. The DFARS clause bars primes from awarding a subcontract involving CUI to a supplier without a current assessment. See CMMC for small shops.
  • Capability evidence. Equipment list, inspection equipment and calibration records, sample first article reports, and sometimes sample parts.
  • Business basics. Insurance certificates, tax forms, and sometimes financial information for larger awards.

Many primes publish their supplier quality requirements. Lockheed Martin Aeronautics, for example, posts its supplier quality management system requirements online. Read those documents before you fill out a single form. They tell you what the buyer's auditor will ask.

The approval process, step by step

Most aerospace buyers follow a similar sequence, even if the names of the steps differ.

  1. Get a reason to be added. Buyers rarely qualify a supplier with no job in mind. The trigger is usually a capacity gap, a sole-source risk, a small business goal, or a part nobody else will quote.
  2. Supplier registration. Fill out the buyer's portal profile or questionnaire. Be specific about materials, tolerances, part size envelope, certifications and processes.
  3. Quality system review. The buyer's supplier quality engineer reviews your certificate, manual or procedures. Uncertified shops may get a longer questionnaire.
  4. Survey or audit. Some buyers visit. Others rely on your certificate plus a desk audit. Higher-risk work usually means an on-site look.
  5. Conditional approval. Many buyers start new suppliers on lower-risk work or with extra inspection, such as source inspection or a full first article on every order.
  6. First orders. Your first purchase orders are watched closely. A clean first article, complete cert package and on-time delivery matter more than price at this stage.
  7. Full approval and scope growth. A track record lets the buyer widen your scope and loosen extra inspection.

How suppliers stay on the list, or fall off it

Once you are approved, the buyer keeps scoring you, and a poor score can move you to conditional status or off the list.

Most supplier scorecards come down to on-time delivery and quality escapes, meaning parts rejected at receiving inspection or found bad later. AS9100 requires buyers to monitor external provider performance, so this is not just habit. It is audited.

A few habits keep a small shop in good standing:

  • Tell the buyer early when a date will slip. A warned slip is a scheduling problem. A surprise slip is a performance problem.
  • Answer corrective action requests fully and on time, with a real root cause, not "operator error, retrained."
  • Never ship a nonconforming part without written disposition from the buyer.
  • Keep certificates current. A lapsed AS9100 certificate or expired DDTC registration can drop your status automatically.
  • Re-read the purchase order quality clauses on every order. They change, and the revision on the PO is the one that counts.

Getting in front of buyers in the first place

The hardest part is usually not the qualification, it is getting a buyer to start it. A few routes work for small shops.

Small business status helps. Large federal prime contractors on contracts above the FAR threshold, $900,000 since October 1, 2025, must negotiate small business subcontracting plans, and their small business liaison officers look for qualified small suppliers. The small business subcontracting guide covers WOSB, SDVOSB, HUBZone and 8(a).

Working through a tier supplier or a sourcing partner also helps. When another company already holds the prime relationship, your shop may only need to be approved on that company's list to do the work. The tradeoffs between selling direct, using online marketplaces and working through a sourcing partner are laid out in sourcing network vs direct.

Before you push hard on any of these, run the supplier readiness checklist so the first survey goes well. The supplier guide shows how ASL approval fits with certification, registration and cybersecurity.

Where Aerospace Sourcing fits

Aerospace Sourcing matches aerospace and defense requests from Space Coast buyers to qualified suppliers, flows down the buyer's requirements, and checks the paperwork before delivery. To match a job to your shop, we need to know your real scope: materials, processes, certifications and capacity.

Sign up free at /suppliers/ and give us that scope in detail. We review every signup and contact you when a job fits. We cannot promise a volume of RFQs, but a precise profile is what puts the right work in front of you, and the same clarity will help on every buyer's ASL questionnaire.

Questions

Is there one approved supplier list for the whole aerospace industry?

No. Each buyer keeps its own approved supplier list, sets its own criteria and runs its own qualification. Approval at one prime does not carry over to another. Shared resources exist for parts of the process, such as the IAQG OASIS database for AS9100 certificates and Nadcap for special process accreditation, which reduce duplicate audits, but the final approval decision always belongs to the buying company.

Can I get on an approved supplier list without AS9100?

Sometimes. Some buyers approve ISO 9001 or uncertified suppliers for limited scopes, often with conditions such as source inspection, a full first article on each order, or restriction to tooling and ground equipment. For flight hardware, many buyers require AS9100. Ask the buyer directly what they require for the specific work, since the answer differs by company and by part.

What does scope of approval mean?

It is the type of work you are approved to supply, such as machined aluminum detail parts or a specific heat treat process. AS9100 requires buyers to record scope in their supplier register. If you want to supply something outside your approved scope, the buyer may need to review and extend your approval first, which can include a new survey or process approval.

How do I find out why I was not approved?

Ask the supplier quality engineer or buyer who handled your qualification. Most will tell you which gap stopped the approval, such as a missing certification, weak calibration records, export control concerns or no current cybersecurity assessment in SPRS. Fix the gap, document the fix, and ask when you can be reconsidered. A clear corrective plan often matters as much as the original finding.

Can I lose my approved status?

Yes. Buyers monitor supplier performance, usually on-time delivery and quality, and can move a supplier to conditional or disapproved status. Lapsed certifications, an expired DDTC registration, unanswered corrective action requests or shipping nonconforming parts without disposition are common causes. Staying in touch with the buyer and fixing problems quickly is the best protection.

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