Government helicopter design approval and manufacturer liability protection

Early 1990s Supreme Court decision (referenced but not named — likely Boyle v. United Technologies). Once the government accepts a contractor's design in writing, the contractor cannot be sued on a design-defect theory. Rationale: cutting-edge defense systems will make mistakes, and Congress chose to absorb that risk. Tom uses this to extend the design-freeze concept from ISO 9000 to defense procurement.

The industry can get together and apply to ISO, the International Standards Organization. They'll have a committee of ten people working for a year saying, these are the metrics that we are going to require everyone to have, and you will not change anything unless you tell us. They call that freezing of the design. If the Defense Department is building a new helicopter, Sikorsky or Bell or somebody is going to do the detail design, and they must then present that to the Naval Air Systems Command or the Air Force or whoever is contracting for that helicopter. If the government accepts the design, then the government is considered the designer of that helicopter.