Third Party Inspection (TPI) scheme for outsourcing quality assurance functions for defence stores has been formulated covering modalities for outsourcing TPI agencies to perform quality assurance functions for defence stores manufactured by the private industry within India.

For an entity to be eligible to become a TPI agency, it should satisfy below criteria:

• Accreditation by the quality council of India (QCi) for certification / conformity assessment pertaining to quality management system (QMS) of manufacturers (1509001:2015).
• Accreditation for certification of "Conformity Assessment - Requirements for the Various Types of Bodies Performing Inspection as per IS/ISO/IEC 17020: 2012.
• Accreditation by OCI for ZED Maturity Assessment Model, initially provisionally approved and later formally accredited by NABCB and approved by DCMSME (for MSMEs)(in cases involving capacity assessment and certification task outsourced to TPI).

Indian agencies which meet the above eligibility criteria and are interested in registration as TPI for the purpose of this scheme may apply to DGQA for which the format and the procedure has been laid down.