oEPA United States Environmental Protection Agency ©MS OFFICE of MISSION SUPPORT EPA Environmental Information Quality Policy and Procedure: The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency's (EPA) Office of Mission Support (QMS), Office of Records, Administrative Systems and eDiscovery (ORASE), Enterprise Quality Management Division (EQMD) has updated the Agency's Quality Directives, Environmental Information Quality Policy and Quality Policy and Procedure. The two directives were signed by the CIO on March 16, 2021, and reissued for administrative updates. The new directives have been posted on the Quality Internet website and are posted on the IT/I M Directives website. Now that these directives are updated, CIO 2106, Quality Policy (2008); and CIO 2106-P-01-Q, Procedure for the Quality Polic (2008) are rescinded. These directives establish policy and program requirements for the implementation of the Agency's Quality Program and define the minimum requirements. In addition, they establish management principles and responsibilities for ensuring that EPA environmental information operations products and services meet Agency quality-related requirements, are of sufficient quality for their intended use, and support EPA's mission to protect human health and the environment. Minimal changes to the directives provide valuable improvements in how we manage the Agency's Quality Program. For example, the new requirement for annual certification will contribute to the integrity of environmental information, the annual reporting requirement provides for consistency in upcoming years, and the new terminology for environment information aligns wih the current American Society for Quality (ASQ)/American National Standards Institute (ANSI) E4:2014, Quality management systems for environmental information and technology programs—Requirements with guidance for use, ANSI/ASQ E-4 standards. Background: The Agency has a five-year requirement to review/update/reissue or rescind our directives. These directives are 20 years overdue. While there have been multiple attempts over the years to update these directives, they were unsuccessful. In August 2017 the Chief Information Officer SAC approved the update of these directives and the June 2020, OIG Audit Report of the Agency's Quality Program identified a finding requiring corrective action to review and determine (update/reissue or rescind) of all our directives. The EQMD prepared communication materials and training for implementation of the new directives. EQMD has provided training for the Agency Quality Assurance Managers in a "Train the Trainers" format, which will allow for them to then train others. Point of Contact: Katherine Chalfant 202-564-1511 ------- |