(A2LA: Frederick, MD) -- The American Association for Laboratory Accreditation (A2LA) recently announced the expansion of the laboratory accreditation requirements to encompass the U.S. Department of Defense (DOD) Environmental Laboratory Accreditation Program (DOD ELAP).

On April 1, at the DOD Environmental Monitoring and Data Quality Workshop (EDQW) held in San Antonio, Texas, Edward Hartzog, chair of the DOD Environmental Data Quality Workgroup, announced that the DOD ELAP is relying on the International Laboratory Accreditation Cooperation (ILAC) arrangement to implement the DOD ELAP laboratory accreditations. United States-based, ILAC-recognized accreditation bodies were invited to apply for this special recognition. A2LA has been recognized by the DOD ELAP to provide accreditation for environmental testing laboratories that perform testing in support of the DOD environmental restoration (ER) programs at DOD operations, activities, and installations, including government-owned, contractor-operated facilities, and formerly-used defense sites (FUDS).

The DOD EDQW has unified minimum management system requirements for environmental laboratories that intend to perform work for the DOD across the components (Navy, Army, Air Force), by publishing the DOD Quality Systems Manual for Environmental Laboratories (DOD QSM). The DOD QSM Version 4 is based on the 2003 NELAC Requirements, ISO/IEC 17025, and the DOD Gray Box requirements.

Upon completion of the assessor training to the DOD requirements, which is planned to occur in the next few weeks, A2LA will begin conducting assessments for the DOD ELAP.

A2LA accredited its first environmental laboratory close to 30 years ago and that environmental laboratory continues to maintain accreditation through A2LA. This wealth of experience has positioned A2LA to be committed to the improvement of laboratory data quality, resulting in providing confidence to the data users while providing exemplary customer service to our accredited entities.

A2LA is currently accepting new applications for accreditation of laboratories who intend to test to the newly enacted DOD requirements. As well, A2LA is working with existing accredited laboratories to add compliance with these new requirements to their existing scopes of accreditation. There are resources devoted to ensure prompt attention to all interested parties’ needs.

“The DOD EDQW has established a very ambitious timeline for the accreditation of environmental testing laboratories and A2LA is taking the steps necessary to provide first-class, responsive service, to the applicant laboratories,” says Peter Unger, president of A2LA. “The DOD’s reliance on the ILAC mutual recognition arrangement is part of a growing trend of the federal government acceptance matched by the U.S. Consumer Product Safety Commission’s recent announcement through new legislation requiring ILAC-accreditation of testing laboratories conducting toy-testing.”

More detailed testing requirements, can be found on the DOD ELAP web site at www.navylabs.navy.mil/DOD%20ELAP%20fact%20sheet021809.pdf.