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A NELAP Accreditation Body's First-year Experience Using Contract Assessors - Lessons Learned in Florida
Oral Presentation
Prepared by S. Arms
Florida DOH ELCP, 1217 Pearl Street, Jacksonville, FL, 32202, United States
Contact Information: steve.arms@flhealth.gov; 904-791-1502
ABSTRACT
In September 2013, the Florida Department of Health’s Environmental Laboratory Certification Program began implementing contracts with six companies to provide assessments for the purpose of maintaining the NELAP certifications of approximately 350 environmental testing laboratories. Florida-certified laboratories are now required to obtain, at their own expense, the services of one or more of these companies to perform an assessment that meets the NELAP and Florida requirements as specified in the contracts. Under these contracts the assessment providers are responsible for all aspects of each assessment, from scheduling to reporting to corrective action review. The State retains the responsibilities of application processing and proficiency testing review along with contract oversight and regulatory enforcement. The State makes all certification decisions and related compliance determinations while remaining firmly committed to its role as a NELAP-recognized Accreditation Body.
As with any new process, there will be problems to overcome, unanticipated questions and opportunities for improvement. At the same time, there will be successes, expected and unexpected. This talk will describe Florida’s approach to the use of so-called 3rd-party assessments. It will present a summary of issues encountered during the initial implementation phase along with solutions applied and lessons learned along the way.
Oral Presentation
Prepared by S. Arms
Florida DOH ELCP, 1217 Pearl Street, Jacksonville, FL, 32202, United States
Contact Information: steve.arms@flhealth.gov; 904-791-1502
ABSTRACT
In September 2013, the Florida Department of Health’s Environmental Laboratory Certification Program began implementing contracts with six companies to provide assessments for the purpose of maintaining the NELAP certifications of approximately 350 environmental testing laboratories. Florida-certified laboratories are now required to obtain, at their own expense, the services of one or more of these companies to perform an assessment that meets the NELAP and Florida requirements as specified in the contracts. Under these contracts the assessment providers are responsible for all aspects of each assessment, from scheduling to reporting to corrective action review. The State retains the responsibilities of application processing and proficiency testing review along with contract oversight and regulatory enforcement. The State makes all certification decisions and related compliance determinations while remaining firmly committed to its role as a NELAP-recognized Accreditation Body.
As with any new process, there will be problems to overcome, unanticipated questions and opportunities for improvement. At the same time, there will be successes, expected and unexpected. This talk will describe Florida’s approach to the use of so-called 3rd-party assessments. It will present a summary of issues encountered during the initial implementation phase along with solutions applied and lessons learned along the way.