Another important technique to improve reliability is the separate qualification of piece parts. This may be performed on discrete parts as well as hybrid and chip elements. The piece parts are qualified to environmental levels much higher than they will experience within the completed assembly, giving a factor of safety to the designer. Designs sometimes are less reliable than they might be because some aspect affecting reliability has been overlooked. This can be avoided by complete review and scrutiny. This oversight requirement can be satisfied by the submission of complete and comprehensive drawing packages. This is also necessary to assure control of the configuration.

Competitive space power supplies will inevitably use some quantity of what are termed “non-standard” parts. This may include parts that are military standard but not on the PPL, or parts that are custom, such as magnetics. For a full hybrid design, all chip components may be considered non-standard.