(FDA: Washington) -- The U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) has awarded a contract to Harvard Pilgrim Health Care Inc. to develop a pilot of the FDA’s Sentinel System, which will use automated health care data to evaluate medical product safety.

(ISO: Geneva) -- ISO has published a new, updated brochure providing a basic introduction to “Environmental management—The ISO 14000 family of International Standards.”

If you’re like the vast majority of readers, your company has probably gotten certified to one or more management system standards because someone told you to do so.

(QI Macros: Denver) -- KnowWare International Inc. announces the 2010 version of the QI Macros Lean Six Sigma SPC Software for Excel. The new version includes p and u templates as well as the ability to use time or date data to draw histograms.

(NIST: Gaithersburg, MD) -- The U.S. Commerce Department’s National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST) has awarded $34.12 million in grants for measurement science and engineering research.

(Labsphere: North Sutton, NH) -- Luminescent materials are extremely important components in many applications, including solid state lighting and medical imaging and diagnostic systems.

(Flow Dynamics: Scottsdale, AZ) -- Flow Dynamics Inc. a global provider of primary standard, NIST-traceable flow calibration equipment and services, will conduct liquid and gas flow measurement training classes during April at its facility in Scottsdale, Arizona.

(UL: Northbrook, IL) -- Underwriters Laboratories Inc. (UL), a world leader in product safety testing and certification services, announces that it has acquired Compliance Certification Services (CCS) of Fremont, California.

(TQRF: Toronto) -- Join Total Quality Research Foundation Canada (TQRF) and other organizations for The Second Canadian Quality Congress in Toronto, Canada, on Aug. 23-25.