^®: CRE Regulatory Action of the Week

EPA Trains its Staff in DQA Compliance
The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency is to be commended for training its staff in the implementation of the Data Quality Act and EPA's Information Quality Act Guidelines. Of particular interest is EPA's workshops for staff within the Agency's Office of Water and for personnel in EPA's Great Lakes National Program Office. These DQA-specific workshops are part of training in EPA's overall quality system and in the implementation of these quality standards in EPA's projects. During these workshops, EPA also trains state staff and the staff of other federal agencies, as well as EPA contractors and grantees, and non-governmental organizations.

These two-hour workshops provide background information and descriptions of the DQA and detail what information is subject to the IQA Guidelines. They also explain the relationship of the Data Quality Act and the IQA Guidelines. The quality assessment factors discussed in the workshops include peer review, pre-dissemination review, and the DQA request for correction process.

CRE commends EPA for educating its staff and others not only about the IQA Guidelines, but also about the entire EPA Quality System of which the IQA Guidelines are an important part. We recommend that all EPA staff and management, including political appointees, attend these or similar workshops in the future.

We also recommend that other federal agencies follow EPA's lead and conduct comparable training sessions on the DQA and the implementing IQA guidelines. A point of contact at EPA is Ms. Marion Kelly.