This report along with its companion report, Implementation Manual for Quality Assurance include quality control requirements for the contractor and or supplier and quality assurance requirements for the agency. These reports consider the all encompassing concept of quality control, quality acceptance, independent assurance (I.A.) laboratory accreditation, technician training and certification, and contractor quality control plans.

In addition to quality control (QC), this book introduces the concept of quality assurance (QA). Quality assurance has a number of definitions, but in general is the combination of the quality assurance plan with procedures through which the quality control inspector can inspect in the field. The book is arranged in categories so that is can be used in handbook fashion; each section stands independent of the others. The arrangement of the major portion of the book is organized in the same format as we usually find in building construction specification, the Construction Specifications Institute (CSI) format.

This report, FEMA-353 - Recommended Specifications and Quality Assurance Guidelines for Steel Moment-Frame Construction for Seismic Applications has been prepared by the SAC Joint Venture, under contract to the Federal Emergency Management Agency, to indicate those standards of workmanship for structural steel fabrication and erection deemed necessary to achieve reliably the design performance objectives contained in the set of companion publications prepared under this same contract: FEMA-350 - Recommended Seismic Design Criteria for New Steel Moment-Frame Buildings, which provides recommended criteria, supplemental to FEMA-302, 1997 NEHRP Recommended Provisions for Seismic Regulations for New Buildings and Other Structures, for the design and construction of steel moment-frame buildings and provides alternative performance-based design criteria; FEMA-351 - Recommended Seismic Evaluation and Upgrade Criteria for Existing Welded Steel Moment-Frame Buildings, which provides recommended methods to evaluate the probable performance of existing steel moment-frame buildings in future earthquakes and to retrofit these buildings for improved performance; and FEMA-352 - Recommended Postearthquake Evaluation and Repair Criteria for Welded, Steel Moment-Frame Buildings, which provides recommendations for performing postearthquake inspections to detect damage in steel moment-frame buildings following an earthquake, evaluating the damaged buildings to determine their safety in the postearthquake environment, and repairing damaged buildings. The recommended design criteria contained in these three companion reports are based on the material and workmanship standards contained in this document, which also includes discussion of the basis for the quality control and quality assurance criteria contained in the recommended specifications.