develop consensus standards for use by TNI's programs. This group has a support role in assisting other programs with activities such as guidance and standards interpretation.
fosters the generation of data of known and documented quality is through the National Environmental Laboratory Accreditation Program, or NELAP. The purpose of this program is to establish and implement a program for the accreditation of environmental laboratories.
is to establish and maintain a national PT program to support TNI’s National Environmental Laboratory Accreditation Program, and other activities.
Field Activities Program (NEFAP) Executive Committee is to establish and implement an accreditation program for field sampling and measurement organizations (FSMOs).
on a variety of topics of interest to the environmental measurement community. TNI also hosts two regularly scheduled meetings per year, typically in January and August. Both are a week long and involve open meetings of TNI committees as well as training courses and other special sessions.Standard Interpretation
Standard: NEFAP
Section: 6.1.1.1
Link to relevant standard
REQUEST:
In regards to the 8/10 meeting minutes the requirement reads that the application must be completed within 9 months. This is in direct violation of ISO/IEC 17011. An application for accreditation is completed when accreditation is granted and it take at times 12 months to get accredited even without undue delays caused by the AB and/or the CAB (FSMO). An AB is required to have a policy in place to handle delays with assessments and make a judgment based upon action and/or non-action of the CAB. I do not read the requirement any other way. Section 6.1.1.1 states "... [an AB must] complete action on an application within nine (9) months from the time a completed application is first received from the FSMO. This time period shall not apply if delays are caused by the FSMO responses to the accreditation process, on-site assessment or proficiency testing requirements beyond the required time limits set forth in this standard."
The second sentence which ties back to the first sentence talks about the entire accreditation process therefore this requirement means that from the time the application is received the FSMO must be accredited within 9 months unless delays are caused by the FSMO. As I already mentioned, it can take up to 12 months if not longer especially if follow-up visits are necessary to accredit a CAB and neither the AB or the CAB is causing any delays.
TNI FINAL RESPONSE:
Section 6.1.1.1 and the reference to 9 months are additions to ISO/IEC 17011 language and provide a timeline for the completed process of the application and not accreditation. This is not in violation of ISO/IEC 17011 which identifies having sufficient competent personnel available. These are two different issues (completing action on an application versus completing accreditation). Accreditation may take longer.