Aerospace & Defense
MIL-STD-31000, Technical Data Packages (TDP)
Overview
What is MIL-STD-31000?
MIL-STD-31000 is the Department of Defense standard practice for technical data packages (TDPs): the authoritative technical definition of an item, supporting its acquisition, production, inspection, engineering, and logistics support. It defines three TDP levels (conceptual, developmental, and product), two types (2D, built on drawings, and 3D, built on annotated models), and the elements a package can contain, and it lets each contract tailor the package through a TDP Option Selection Worksheet.
Where to get the document
Key Features
- Three TDP levels: conceptual, developmental, and product
- Type 2D (drawings) and Type 3D (native models, with derived drawings, viewables, or neutral files)
- TDP elements from engineering design data to quality assurance provisions
- Contract tailoring through the TDP Option Selection Worksheet
- Revision C (3 February 2025) is current, adding additive manufacturing data
Also written as: MIL STD 31000 · MIL-STD-31000C · MIL-STD-31000B · MIL-STD-31000A · MIL-DTL-31000 · MIL-T-31000
Who MIL-STD-31000 Applies To
MIL-STD-31000 applies when a Department of Defense contract orders a technical data package, with the TDP Option Selection Worksheet or the CDRL setting what that package contains. It is a standard practice: it defines how a TDP is structured and delivered, while the contract decides the level, the type, and the elements. Two programs citing the same revision can therefore owe very different packages.
Levels, Types, and Elements
Levels describe design maturity: conceptual, developmental, and product, the full definition an item is produced and supported against. Revision B renamed the last level from production to product. Commercial engineering design data is a separate option, not a fourth level.
Types describe form. Type 2D is built on drawings, following the ASME Y14.100 series. Type 3D is built on native 3D models, with derived 2D drawings, 3D viewables, or neutral files as the contract requires; derived data must never conflict with the master model, and at the product level the models must be complete design disclosure models, fully annotated.
Elements are the contents: engineering design data and associated lists, specifications, software documentation, special packaging instructions, quality assurance provisions, and, since Revision C, the additive manufacturing data file and required manufacturing process descriptions.
Where Technical Manuals Fit
Technical manuals are not part of a TDP. Revision C states that technical, procedural, and maintenance manuals shall not be referenced in a TDP element, and that anything essential in them must be carried in the package itself. Earlier revisions described the TDP as the engineering data behind provisioning, training, and technical manuals.
The relationship runs one way: the TDP is upstream, and manuals are written from it against their own standards. That makes TDP completeness a publications problem too. When the package is incomplete, the gap surfaces in the manual, as a procedure nobody can illustrate or a part nobody can identify.
MIL-STD-31000 Revisions & Designations
The standard has carried several designations since it began as a military specification, and older contracts still cite them:
- MIL-T-31000
- The original military specification, December 1989.
- MIL-DTL-31000A to C
- The detail specification era, 1997 to 2004, canceled in November 2009 and superseded by the standard.
- MIL-STD-31000
- Reissued as a standard practice on 5 November 2009.
- MIL-STD-31000A
- February 2013. Added a model organizational schema for model-based definition, compliant with ASME Y14.41, and a 3D TDP validation guide.
- MIL-STD-31000B
- October 2018. Renamed the production level to product, and defined Type 3D as native models with derived drawings, viewables, or neutral files.
- MIL-STD-31000C
- 3 February 2025, current. Added the additive manufacturing data file and required manufacturing process descriptions.
Where MIL-STD-31000 Programs Go Wrong
- Treating the level as a formality. A package delivered at a lower level than the program needs leaves it unable to compete production or support, and the gap is found when someone tries.
- Completing the Option Selection Worksheet late. It decides what the package contains; settled after the work is priced, it becomes a dispute over what was owed.
- Assuming a 3D package ends the need for drawings. The contract decides which derived products accompany the model, and every one of them must agree with it.
- Leaving engineering changes out of the publications loop. Every change to the package is a potential change to a manual.
How It Relates to Other Standards
- MIL-STD-40051
- The Army's technical manual standard. Manuals are a separate deliverable from the TDP, written from its engineering data.
- S3000L
- The other upstream source for manuals: the TDP defines the item, and logistic support analysis defines how it will be supported.
MIL-STD-31000 Questions
What is MIL-STD-31000?
The Department of Defense standard practice for technical data packages: the authoritative technical definition of an item, supporting its acquisition, production, inspection, engineering, and logistics support. It defines TDP levels, types, and elements, and how a contract tailors them.
What is the current revision of MIL-STD-31000?
Revision C, issued 3 February 2025, superseding Revision B of October 2018. It has no change notices. The revision your contract cites is the one you owe: confirm it against ASSIST Quick Search rather than assuming the latest.
What are the TDP levels?
Conceptual, developmental, and product. Revision B renamed the third level from production to product, so older documents and contracts still say production level. Commercial engineering design data is a separate option, not a level.
What is a Type 3D technical data package?
A TDP built on native 3D models rather than drawings, with derived 2D drawings, 3D viewables, or neutral files supplied as the contract requires. At the product level the models must be complete design disclosure models, and any derived data must agree with the master model.
Are technical manuals part of a TDP?
No. Revision C states that technical, procedural, and maintenance manuals shall not be referenced in a TDP element. Manuals are written from the TDP's engineering data against their own standards, such as MIL-STD-40051 for the Army.
What is the TDP Option Selection Worksheet?
The form a contract uses to tailor the package: the level, the type and formats, the elements, associated lists, data management products, metadata, and other tailoring, signed by the procuring activity. The standard says the worksheet is mandatory when it forms part of a contract.
Where to Get MIL-STD-31000
Unclassified and free from ASSIST Quick Search, the DLA's repository of record. The current revision is 31000C, issued 3 February 2025, with no change notices.
Where MIL-STD-31000 Applies
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