The U.S. Commerce Department's National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST) Standards Coordination Office has just published two conformity assessment resourcesa response to input from public- and private-sector feedback. The American National Standards Institute (ANSI) encourages stakeholders to review the documents, entitled ABC's of Conformity Assessment and Conformity Assessment Considerations for Federal Agencies.
The documents are a result of participant feedback from a 2017 NIST workshop. The event was held to engage the stakeholder community in the development and update of NIST conformity assessment materials, to reflect the growth and evolution in the conformity assessment community, as well as to provide updates and guidance on the revised OMB Circular A-119.
The conformity assessment documents are available on the Conformity Assessment Resources for Federal Agencies page on Standards.gov, and include:
SP2000-01: ABC's of Conformity Assessment introduces conformity assessment concepts and information on how various conformity assessment activities are interlinked as well as the impact on the marketplace.
SP2000-02: Conformity Assessment Considerations for Federal Agencies introduces the complexities, issues, and decision points in developing, operating, using or, relying on conformity assessment programs to meet Federal legislative, or Federal agency mission, regulatory, or procurement requirements.