RE: Purchase Specification

>item no. 3. This has cause some arguments
See the actual code wording in UG-10 and UG-15 of Section VIII. I expect there are similar provisions in the piping codes. I've found that it's really a huge pain in the ass to deal with non-standard materials.

>for item no. 2, does it mean yes. we can accept mtr in lieu of certificate
>of compliance but not vice versa.

Yes, provided the MTR procedures agree with the appropritate ASTM or ASME spec and provided that the customer spec or in-house QA procedures permit.

>At the beginning u mention there is no order of precedence and yet u stated
that u wont
>cant paid if the spec is not followed.

When a customer says, 'Furnish this,' in a contract, you have to furnish it or you won't get paid, just like if you pay a dealer if he delivered a horse instead of the VW beetle you ordered. That's just simple business. If it turns out that the customer ordered something that can't be supplied or that one provision of his order conflicts with another, you need to work those out with the customer. For example a customer might specify mag particle testing for aluminum or a material for Code construction that is unlisted in the Code. In the first case the physical realities take precedence over the contract--it's not possible to use MP on aluminum, and the contract needs to be changed. In the second case, the customer has to decide between the code stamp and his pet material--he can't have both.
In that case the code takes precedence. Ultimately the contract will take precedence, but only if it's self-consistent. If the contract isn't self-consistent, you can't just ignore it.

Christopher Wright P.E.    |"They couldn't hit an elephant from
chrisw@skypoint.com        | this distance"   (last words of Gen.
___________________________| John Sedgwick, Spotsylvania 1864)