Quality Assurance Planning for Region 6
- Quality Assurance Project Planning
- Sampling and Analysis Plan Guidance and Templates
- Quality Assurance Management Planning
The ultimate success of an environmental program or project depends on the quality of the environmental data collected and used in decision-making, and this may depend significantly on the adequacy of the quality assurance project plan and how it is carried out. EPA Region 6 requires that a systematic process be used, wherever possible and appropriate to plan all environmental data generation activities.
To facilitate the development of objectives, EPA has developed guidances to help state and tribal governments develop Quality Assurance Program Plans (QAPPs) in documenting the type and quality of data needed for environmental decisions and in describing the methods for collecting and assessing those data.
Quality Assurance Project Planning
You may need a PDF reader to view some of the files on this page. See EPA’s About PDF page to learn more.The purpose of the QA Project Plan is to document planning results for environmental data collection and to provide a project-specific blueprint for obtaining the type and quality of environmental data needed for a specific decision or use.
The QA Project Plan documents how quality assurance (QA) and quality control (QC) are applied to an environmental data operation to assure that the results obtained are of the type and quality needed and expected.
- EPA Requirements for Quality Assurance Project Plans
This document provides the QA Project Plan requirements for organizations that conduct environmental data operations on behalf of EPA through contracts, financial assistance agreements, and interagency agreements. - Agency-wide Guidance for Quality Assurance Project Plans
EPA guidance for the development of Quality Assurance Project Plans. - Uniform Federal Policy for Quality Assurance Project Plans
Government-wide guidance for the development of Quality Assurance Project Plans. - Agency-Wide Quality System Documents
General guidance from the Quality Staff to assist in the development and implementation of a suitable Quality System for both EPA and non-EPA organizations. - Beginners Guide to Preparing Quality Assurance Project Plans - Part 1: Project QA Documentation
Provides basic information about QA Project Plans (QAPPs) and answers some frequently asked questions. - Beginners Guide to Preparing Quality Assurance Project Plans - Part 2: Elements of a QA Project Plan
These slides provide an overview of the information that should be included in a QAPP.
Sampling and Analysis Plan Guidance and Templates
These documents can be downloaded and used to write a sampling and analysis plan.
- Sampling and Analysis Plan Guidance and Template for General Projects
This guidance is designed to assist organizations in documenting the procedural and analytical requirements for non-recurring projects involving the collection of water, soil, or sediment for analysis. - Format for requesting sample analyses
- Quality Assessment Checklist (doc)(9 pp, 177 K)
Quality Assurance Management Planning
A Quality Management Plan documents how an organization structures its quality system and describes its quality policies and procedures, criteria for and areas of application, and roles, responsibilities, and authorities. It also describes an organization's policies and procedures for implementing and assessing the effectiveness of the quality system.
These documents describe the elements of a quality system that are documented in a Quality Management Plan. For more information about EPA quality assurance requirements: