A project manager is leading an important development project.

The completed deliverable fails the quality standards established in the quality management plan, so it should not be accepted or passed forward. The project manager should return it for correction and verify that the reworked deliverable satisfies the approved quality requirements and acceptance criteria. Approving a known nonconforming deliverable undermines governance and may transfer defects to downstream work, increasing cost, schedule delay, and customer dissatisfaction. Adjusting the standards merely to match poor output is also inappropriate unless an authorized change is justified through formal governance. Quality control requires inspecting results, identifying nonconformity, documenting defects, performing rework or corrective action, and confirming compliance before acceptance. The selected response protects fitness for use, prevents defect propagation, and maintains the integrity of the project’s approved quality baseline.

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