(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.

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