Technical manual validation and verification, explained

Validation and verification are the two checks a technical manual (TM) passes before it is published. Validation is done by the organization that wrote the manual; verification is done by the Government that will use it. DA Pam 25-40, the Army publishing procedures dated February 1, 2024, says preliminary TMs are first contractor-validated and then Government-verified, with verification performed on production configuration equipment. The Naval Air Systems Command (NAVAIR) standard MIL-STD-3001-1A, with Change 1 dated December 1, 2016, calls verification the Government's final quality assurance step before acceptance.

Two checks, two owners

DA Pam 25-40 defines validation as the contractor, or another agency the acquiring activity directs, testing a publication for completeness, contract compliance, and technical accuracy. Validation is done at the contractor's facility or the operational site and means actually performing the operating and maintenance procedures on the equipment. Stock and part numbers, source, maintenance, and recoverability codes, schematics, and wiring data are checked against current source data. The pamphlet recommends that the Government program office witness it, and validation comes before verification.

Verification, in the same pamphlet, is an evaluation by Government personnel, not contractors, of completeness, accuracy, adequacy, and usability against the production configuration. The lead technical writer leads the team, every publication needs a verification plan, and the plan must be approved at least 30 calendar days before verification starts.

MIL-STD-3001-1A puts it in fewer words. Validation is the contractor's test for technical accuracy, adequacy, comprehensibility, and usability. Verification uses target audience personnel to test whether the TM is adequate and suitable for operating and maintaining the equipment.

Hands-on, desktop, or both

DA Pam 25-40 sets which method applies. Hands-on verification by user representatives is required for new, revised, or changed operator instructions, maintenance procedures, and troubleshooting procedures. The preventive maintenance checks and services (PMCS) table is verified hands-on in full, except where a procedure would endanger people or equipment, such as aircraft emergency procedures.

Desktop review is limited to front and rear matter, descriptive information, parts information, and supporting information such as references and the maintenance allocation chart. Procedures verified hands-on before and left unchanged may also be reviewed at a desk. Combining contractor validation with Government verification needs approval from the Army Deputy Chief of Staff, G-4, is limited to small and less complex systems, and should not be used for vehicles or aircraft.

For electronic manuals the test includes the software. An interactive electronic technical manual (IETM) that cannot be loaded, run, and used is not successfully verified, the pamphlet says, even if the content is accurate.

How S1000D records the result

A 2011 Naval Sea Systems Command (NAVSEA) guide from the Naval Surface Warfare Center, Carderock Division, maps the terms. S1000D calls validation first verification and Government verification second verification. The guide says NAVSEA Instruction 4160.3 requires every new TM to be validated by the preparing activity and verified by the Government. Validators should match the expected users in education, experience, and skill, and verifiers should be fleet or training personnel at the target user's level, in a facility of the maintenance level the TM covers.

Each data module carries the result. In the Issue 7 schema, the quality assurance element holds either an "unverified" marker or a first verification, optionally followed by a second. The Issue 7 value list allows three verification types: tabtop, onobject, and ttandoo. The NAVSEA guide reads them as a check at a desk, at the product, and both. Modules verified one at a time must be verified again once assembled into a publication module, so their order is checked.

Why the equipment matters

An April 2014 Picatinny Arsenal story shows the method. Seven Soldiers from the 1-19 Infantry Battalion at Fort Benning reviewed the manuals for the M252A1 81mm mortar from March 18 to 20, performing tasks with only the manuals as guides. They went through each page line by line, looking for errors and for any wording or drawing that did not make sense.

The cost is people and time. An October 2017 article in Army AL&T magazine, written by staff of the Assistant Secretary of the Army for Acquisition, Logistics and Technology, reported that Army Regulation (AR) 25-30 then required TM verification 100 percent hands-on by Soldiers. The average verification needed five Soldiers as test users, and timelines ran from two weeks up to a year depending on system complexity. The article describes a three-pronged proposal, one prong being a sampling method from the U.S. Army Combined Arms Support Command in place of 100 percent hands-on verification. The 2024 pamphlet keeps hands-on verification for procedures and allows desktop review for the parts of a manual listed above.

What to check

• Who validated the manual, who verified it, and were the verifiers Government personnel rather than contractors?
• Was verification done on production configuration equipment, by personnel at the target user's level?
• Which sections were reviewed only at a desk, and are they limited to front and rear matter, descriptive, parts, and supporting information?
• Was the PMCS table verified hands-on in full, and if not, which procedures were excluded as hazardous?
• For S1000D content, does each data module show a first and second verification and its type?
• For an IETM, was the delivered package loaded, run, and used during verification?

Azcuna's TRACE is one offline viewer for S1000D, MIL-STD-3001 XML, and PDF technical manuals. It keeps the source location and the markings of everything it shows and never modifies the source. It was proposed to NAVAIR under Navy SBIR Phase I topic DON26BZ05-NV078, and the proposal was submitted on September 23, 2026.

Sources

1. 1DA Pam 25-40, Army Publishing Program Procedures · Headquarters, Department of the Army, February 1, 2024
2. 2MIL-STD-3001-1A (w/Change 1), Preparation of Digital Technical Information for Multi-Output Presentation of Technical Manuals (Part 1 of 8 Parts) · Department of the Navy, December 1, 2016, via EverySpec
3. 3NSWCCD-20-TR-2011/06, Procedures for the Acquisition and Development of NAVSEA TMs/IETMs in Accordance with International Specification S1000D · Naval Surface Warfare Center, Carderock Division, October 2011
4. 4S1000D Issue 7 XML schema, complexTypes.xsd · ASD, AIA and ATA e-Business Program, S1000D online data dictionary, issue date July 16, 2026
5. 5S1000D Issue 7 XML schema, simpleTypes.xsd · ASD, AIA and ATA e-Business Program, S1000D online data dictionary, issue date July 16, 2026
6. 6One acquisition process at a time · Army AL&T magazine, via army.mil, October 10, 2017
7. 7Soldiers help Picatinny engineers test new lightweight mortar system · Picatinny Arsenal, via army.mil, April 2, 2014

Where this shows up in our work

• TRACE, the offline S1000D and IETM viewer opens S1000D, MIL-STD-3001 and PDF technical manuals on a tablet with every marking intact.
• ELLMENT, the offline LLM for E-2D crews answers a crew's question from the aircraft's own manuals and cites the page, with no network.