This fact sheet describes the National Institute of Justice's (NIJ's) Follow-up Inspection and Testing (FIT) program for body armor, which involves the random testing of body armors in the manufacturing process that complied with NIJ's minimum standard in pre-production testing.
The FIT program is intended to ensure that the ongoing manufacturing process for body armors that met the NIJ minimum standard in pre-production models are being accurately reproduced in the manufacturing process. The first follow-up inspection under FIT occurred in September 2010. Through September 2016, inspectors contracted to the Compliance Testing Program (CTP) completed 251 inspections at various manufacturing locations, pulling 748 armor models for post-production testing. The vast majority passed through the FIT program with no issues; however, 13 models were removed from the NIJ Compliant Products List (CPL) as a result of FIT inspections; 73 (9.76 percent) variations in construction were identified and resolved. The FIT program assists manufacturers in identifying production issues that can potentially impact the performance of their armor. Each month the CTP prepares a list of armors and locations for follow-up inspections by FIT, based on the number of models a manufacturer currently has on the CPL that have not been inspected within the past 10 months. The FIT program also includes initial product inspection, which requires that follow-up inspection occur as soon as a model is listed on the CPL and production begins.