 addressed during the process of selecting SIP providers and SBC vendors. Quality Assurance Quality assurance (QA) refers to planned and systematic production processes that pro- vide confidence in a product's suitability for its intended purpose. It is a set of activities intended to ensure that products satisfy customer requirements in a systematic, reliable fashion. QA cannot absolutely guarantee the production of quality products, unfortu- nately, but makes this more likely. Therefore, you can check the following items with the vendor who will be supplying your SBC: Ask them to list and describe all quality certifications held by the bidder. Has the bidder achieved ISO accreditation? If so, when was it last renewed? Ask the bidder to describe its policy and process for changing management. Can the bidder provide accurate delivery estimates on a weekly regional/country basis? Ask the bidder to describe the inspection process for ensuring a high-quality fin- ished product. Also, ask the bidder to describe corrective actions taken if a substan- dard product is shipped. Ask the bidder to describe the process to handle defects and policy/procedures for corrective action. Ask the bidder to describe the methodology for tracking failure/defect rates, including inclusion of templates. Ask the bidder to provide examples of typical fail- ure/defect rates for product/services similar to those described in this sourcing engagement. Chapter 9: Questions to Ask of a Service Provider Offering and an SBC Vendor What methods might the bidder employ to resolve a customer satisfaction issue with you? Certification Certification is the process of certifying that a certain product has passed performance and quality assurance tests or qualification requirements stipulated in regulations, or that it complies with a set of regulations governing quality and minimum performance requirements. Because SIP trunks are a new phenomena in the industry, you might depend of some test results and certification process run by third party SO that