What to put on an aircraft parts purchase order: a checklist and a reusable template
Many disputes over a part that "is not what we ordered" start with a purchase order that never said what was ordered: no condition, no certificate, no trace, no tag-age limit, no delivery point. Below: why the PO, not the quote, is the document to get right, a field-by-field checklist tying each entry to the risk it removes, a template you can copy, and what to check when the seller's acknowledgment comes back.
Why the PO has to say it, even when the quote did
A quote is the seller's description of an offer. The purchase order is the buyer's statement of what it is buying, and it is the document your receiving inspector will hold the part against. The FAA's guidance on receiving inspection, Advisory Circular 20-154A (July 2024), describes a check that "all part, model, serial numbers, etc., as appropriate, match the accompanying documentation, such as packing slips, invoices, certificates of conformance, work orders, maintenance release tags, or purchase orders." If the PO is silent on the certificate, there is nothing to match it against.
The same circular also speaks to the buying side: "The purchasing department should convey its document requirements to all distributors in order to create a smoother flow of articles into inventories." It also suggests asking distributors to fill every blank box with "NA", so that a missing entry and a deliberate "not applicable" can be told apart. An advisory circular is guidance, not a regulation, but it describes what a receiving department will be looking for.
In the priced supplier quotes we received between June and September 2026, about 112,000 offer lines for some 13,000 part numbers, 46.6% of lines stated no certificate, 55.7% stated no trace, 65.6% did not say which country the part ships from, 9.6% gave no lead time, and 85.6% gave no delivery term at all. Whatever the quote left open, the PO is the last place to close it before the part ships.
A PO is an offer until the seller accepts it
Sending a PO does not reserve the part. Sellers' published terms say so in plain words: "Availability of Parts is subject to their prior sale or commitment to third parties prior to Seller's acceptance of the applicable Order" (Spirit AeroSystems, general terms and conditions for parts, article 4.3).
The fine print also collides. The same Spirit terms say that terms on a customer's order "shall be deemed null and void." Buyers write the mirror image: the purchase terms of Aero Gear, a US maker of aerospace gears and gearboxes, say that additional or different terms in the seller's form "shall be deemed material and are objected to and rejected", and that a PO counts as accepted when the seller acknowledges it, starts work or ships, whichever comes first. Under US law, Uniform Commercial Code § 2-207 decides which terms survive when the forms disagree. This is general information, not legal advice; ask your counsel which law applies to your orders.
The practical lesson is simpler than the law. A requirement that lives only in the boilerplate on the back of your PO is the one most likely to be lost in that exchange. Put the things that decide whether the part is usable on the line itself, and get them repeated back in writing.
Checklist, part 1: what to state once per order
| Field | What to write | Risk it removes |
|---|---|---|
| PO number and date | Your number, and a request that it appear on the invoice, packing list, certificate and box label. | A part arriving that nobody can match to an order. Aero Gear's purchase terms, for example, require every invoice to "show the Buyer PO number, part number(s), unit price(s), and quantities shipped." |
| Quote reference | The seller's quote number and date, and the lines you are accepting. | An order filled at a newer price or from different stock. Stock quotes have a short life: Spirit's in-stock quotes hold for orders received and accepted within 30 days of the quote, unless it states another period. |
| Seller and payee | Legal name, address, and bank details taken from a source you already trust. | Paying a fraudster who changed the account by email. See paying a supplier safely. |
| Delivery term | An Incoterms rule plus a named place and the edition, e.g. "FCA [seller's address], Incoterms 2020". | Arguing later over who paid freight, who carried the risk and who filed the export. Details in the Incoterms guide. |
| Carrier or forwarder | Your forwarder and account number, or "seller's choice, prepay and add". | A part sent by a carrier or service level you did not want, with the freight added to your invoice. |
| Ship-to and ultimate destination | Delivery address, the country where the part will be used, and the end user if it is not you. | A held export. When an item on the Commerce Control List ships (EAR99 items are exempt), the exporter must put a destination control statement on the commercial invoice, tied to the country of ultimate destination and the end user identified there (15 CFR 758.6). See export control for buyers. |
| Currency and payment terms | Currency, and prepayment, deposit or net terms as agreed. | An invoice in a currency or on terms you never accepted. |
| Warranty and returns | The period and notice window you accepted on the quote, or a reference to the seller's terms by name and revision. | Finding out the rules after a failure. See warranty returns. |
| Acknowledgment | "Please confirm acceptance of each line, with lead time, by [date]." | An order that is neither accepted nor declined, and a part that is no longer there. |
Checklist, part 2: what to state on every line
| Field | What to write | Risk it removes |
|---|---|---|
| Part number | Exactly as in the IPC, dashes and suffixes included, plus a short description. | A near-miss number: a different dash can be a different part (see interchangeability). |
| Alternates | "No alternates", or the specific alternate P/Ns your engineering approved. Say whether PMA is acceptable. | A substitute you cannot install. AC 20-154A: a substituted part should be reflected in the maintenance records with "substantiating equivalency approval data", and "the installer is responsible for determining that the substitute part meets all regulatory requirements." |
| Quantity and unit | Number plus unit: EA, FT, LB, KT, RL. | Ten feet of wire where you wanted ten rolls. |
| Condition | The code you are buying: NE, NS, OH, SV, AR. | An overhauled unit where you paid for new surplus. Codes explained in condition codes. |
| Certificate | "FAA 8130-3", "EASA Form 1", "8130-3 dual release", or "CoC to [standard]" for standard hardware. | The most common rejection: the wrong release document. For a standard part (14 CFR 21.9(a)(3): "such as a nut or bolt") a CoC is normal, and AC 20-154A says it "should identify the acceptable standard to which the part was produced." See which certificate to ask for. |
| Trace | How far back, and for used parts a non-incident statement. For life-limited parts, back-to-birth records and minimum cycles remaining. | A part whose history stops at the last seller. See traceability. |
| Tag age | Your limit, if you have one: e.g. "release certificate dated within 12 months of shipment". | A new surplus part with a ten-year-old tag that your customer will not accept. No regulation sets a maximum; it is your policy, so it has to be written down. See tag date. |
| Shelf life | Minimum remaining life at shipment, and cure date or batch on the paperwork. | Seals or sealant that expire on the shelf. See shelf life. |
| Serial or lot | The serial number quoted, or "lot traceable, original packaging". | A different unit from the one whose records you approved. AC 20-154A recommends keeping original packaging with bulk parts to identify producer and lot. |
| Price | Unit price, currency, and any charges agreed on the quote (minimum order, certificate fee). | Surprise lines on the invoice. See the true cost of a part. |
| Lead time and need-by date | The lead time quoted, and the date the part must be at your door. | "Stock" that turns into three weeks. See lead time. |
| Packaging | Caps and plugs installed, ESD protection where applicable, and a reusable container for repairables if you want one, e.g. "ATA Spec 300 Category II". | A unit damaged in a carton. AC 20-154A's receiving check includes plugs, caps and a container "appropriate for items received." |
| Dangerous goods | Flag the line if the part or its fluid is regulated. | A shipment refused by the carrier. See dangerous goods. |
About packaging: ATA Specification 300, now published by Airlines for America, grades reusable shipping containers by how many round trips they survive. In the 1996 edition (Revision 19), the one we could read in full, Category I is a minimum of 100 round trips, Category II 10 and Category III one, and a supplier of a repairable item ships in Category II "unless a Category I container has been requested by the customer." The current revision is sold by A4A and we have not read it, so if your contracts rely on a specific requirement, cite the revision you hold.
A template you can copy
Two sample lines. The part numbers are real public numbers used as illustration; prices are left out on purpose. The first is standard hardware, the second a repairable unit.
| Column | Line 1: hardware | Line 2: repairable unit |
|---|---|---|
| P/N and description | MS21075L3K, nut plate | [P/N exactly as in IPC], starter-generator |
| Alternates | None | None; OEM only, no PMA |
| Qty / unit | 25 EA | 1 EA |
| Condition | NE | OH |
| Certificate | Manufacturer's CoC stating the specification | FAA 8130-3 dual release (EASA Part-145 statement) |
| Trace | To manufacturer; lot number on CoC | Last operator; signed non-incident statement; teardown report |
| Tag age | n/a | Release dated within 12 months of shipment |
| Shelf life | n/a | n/a |
| Serial / lot | Lot traceable, original packaging | S/N as quoted |
| Unit price | As quoted, quote ref and date | As quoted, quote ref and date |
| Lead time / need-by | Stock / [date] | 5 days / [date] |
| Packaging | Original manufacturer's packaging | ATA Spec 300 Category II container, ESD bag, caps installed |
| DG | No | No |
Please ship only against the lines, conditions, certificates and trace stated on this order. Do not substitute part numbers, conditions or certificates without our written approval. Show this PO number on the invoice, packing list, certificate and box label. Fill every blank box on the release certificate with "NA" where not applicable. Please confirm acceptance of each line, with lead time and ships-from country, by [date]; any change to quantity, price, condition, certificate or date needs a revised written confirmation before shipment.
When the acknowledgment comes back
Read the acknowledgment against your PO line by line, the way your receiving inspector will later read the paperwork against the part:
- Every line answered. Accepted, declined or changed. A line not mentioned is not accepted.
- Same facts. Part number, condition, certificate, trace and quantity as ordered. A quiet change from "8130-3 dual release" to "8130-3" can make a used part unusable on an EU-registered aircraft.
- Price and term. Unit price, currency and delivery term as quoted, not re-quoted.
- Dates. Lead time per line, measured against your need-by date.
- Changes in writing. A different condition, certificate, quantity, price or date in the acknowledgment is a counter-offer, not a confirmation. Accept it or reject it in writing, and ask for a revised acknowledgment before the part ships.
Keep the acknowledgment with the PO. When the box arrives, both go to receiving; the parallel guide on receiving inspection covers what happens next.
If you buy from MG AVIATION TECH through our client portal, RFQ Radar, the quoted lines already show condition, certificates, lead time in days, minimum order and, where the supplier states it, the country the part ships from. Prices are Ex Works our warehouse in Orlando, FL. A purchase order in the portal carries the quantity, a "certificate needed" tick on each line and a note; our reply to the order, accepted or declined, comes back in the portal, and the order PDF shows the lead time for each line.
Order with the requirements on every line
Send your RFQ to [email protected] in the file you already have (Excel, PDF, a scan or the email body, five lines or five hundred), with condition, certificate and trace stated per line. Your inquiry will be reviewed by a specialist within one business day. In RFQ Radar, the answer comes back with condition, certificates and lead time on every line, plus the ships-from country where the supplier states it, and your purchase order carries a "certificate needed" tick per line and a note.
Our client portal, RFQ Radar, keeps every quote, order and invoice in one place.
Before you buy, check what certificates and trace come with each part. Aircraft on ground? See how our 24/7 AOG desk works.
Sources
All checked on 23 September 2026.
- AC 20-154A, Guide for Developing a Receiving Inspection System for Aircraft Parts and Materials — FAA, 3 July 2024 (paragraphs 7.6.2, 7.6.5, 7.6.7, 7.6.8, 7.6.12, 7.6.13 and 8.2).
- 14 CFR 21.9, Replacement and modification articles — eCFR.
- 15 CFR 758.6, Destination control statement and other information furnished to consignees — eCFR.
- Uniform Commercial Code § 2-207, Additional Terms in Acceptance or Confirmation — Legal Information Institute, Cornell Law School.
- ATA Specification 300, Packaging of Airline Supplies, Revision 19 — Air Transport Association of America, 1996 (chapter 1, section 2), as incorporated by reference in 49 CFR 171.7.
- Spec 300: Specification for Packaging of Airline Supplies, Revision 2020.1 — A4A Publications (catalogue page; the document itself not read).
- General Terms and Conditions — Spirit AeroSystems (preamble, articles 2.3 and 4.3; no revision date shown).
- Terms & Conditions of Purchase, revised October 2014 — Aero Gear, Inc. (Acceptance and Acknowledgement; Invoices).