The latest contract notification mentioned "...engineering change proposal 4 SilverBlock for the government of the UK". Anyone know what this means?
Don't know what SilverBlock is.
A Change is
'an alteration to the design which does not affect cost, interchangeability or performance characteristics, and which is not intended to be applied retrospectively, either by the Services or the contractor'.
An Engineering Change Proposal may or may not result in a modification. (A Change is not a modification, but a modification is a change).
That is the decision of the person who controls the design. i.e. If MoD, the Technical Agency.
That definition comes with a health warning. In 2015 MoD withdrew the mandated Defence Standard without replacement.
If it means ECP #4, that is quite impressive. But it could mean MoD has drawn a firm line, which would be unwise if using the above definition.
The important thing, for the audit trail, is that the ECP number must always be tied to any resulting modification number. Again, the Technical Agency ensures this, or the mod cannot be approved.