I. What this page is
This page is for the candidate who has conducted the Qualified Capacity diagnostic at their own shop, has assembled the body of work below, has the signatures of the three signers, and is ready to submit. The reader of this page is, most often, a quality manager at a Tier 2 to Tier 4 manufacturer in the Defense Industrial Base — the same person who reaches for AS9100 documentation when the next audit approaches.
The path runs from a signed body of work at the candidate's shop, to a submission received by Meridian, through a completeness review, to conferral of Apprentice Steward standing. From submission to standing is roughly one week of business days. The full operational mechanics — the rubric, the Reviews, the standing states, the continuity covenant — live in the Qualified Capacity Ladder Manual. The Manual is the deeper reference; this page is the path itself.
The mission this path serves: Make suppliers eligible. Keep them eligible. Preserve their eligibility through change. The Apprentice Steward is the first practitioner-level commitment to that mission at a given shop.
II. The path
1. The body of work
The Apprentice body of work is three artifacts, produced at the candidate's shop and signed before submission. The artifacts themselves remain at the shop; Meridian receives the signed submission, not the artifacts.
2. The three signers
Three signers attest to the body of work. The candidate (the Apprentice Steward) attests to the work as their own. The Quality Manager attests to the work's factual consistency with the shop's quality management system. The Shop Manager or Shop Owner attests to the shop's commitment to carry the addressing plan through the twelve months named in the Analytic Narrative. Three signatures; three commitments; one body of work.
3. Identity verification at submission
When the candidate clicks submit, the path opens with identity verification. The candidate verifies passport for nationality and business affiliation for Defense Industrial Base status. Verification is delegated to a SOC 2 Type II provider; Meridian does not handle, view, process, or store identity documents. A candidate who has already completed verification for prior community access does not re-verify; the verification carries forward.
4. The service-level commitment
From the candidate's click on submit to the conferral of Apprentice Steward standing, the path runs on a published service-level commitment of three durations:
Day 1
1 business day
Confirmation of submission. Meridian acknowledges receipt; the body of work is in the queue.
Days 2–6
5 business days
Completeness review. Meridian confirms the submission contains all required elements and that the three signatures are consistent with the body of work.
Day 7
1 business day
Conferral. Standing is conferred; the practitioner is added to the Roster; the verification URL becomes live.
From submission to standing: roughly one week. The path is not negotiated; it is a published service-level commitment.
5. What conferral produces
On the day standing is conferred, the practitioner appears on the Qualified Capacity Roster with the seven public fields visible to vetted viewers: name, shop, location, tier, standing date, Biennial Apprentice Review next-due date, and standing state. A unique verification URL becomes live, allowing vetted parties — primes, program offices, peers in standing — to confirm the standing within the gated ecosystem. Standing is held in covenant with the shop where the body of work was assembled; this is the continuity covenant that distinguishes Qualified Capacity standing from a single moment of conferral.
The Apprentice Steward holds standing for the next twenty-four months until the Biennial Apprentice Review — the moment at which the practitioner names how the shop's posture has evolved and how the addressing plan has progressed. Maintenance is engagement, not re-test.