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ETV Verification Process
The EPA Environmental Technology Verification Program (ETV) will conclude operations at the end of 2013. The program is currently completing any on-going or in-process technology verifications. ETV’s verification centers are no longer accepting new applications for technologies to be verified. The following verification process has been used by ETV to prioritize, identify, solicit and test technologies in the past. Some of the outlined steps in the verification process are still on-going, such as protocol development, verification testing and report and statement writing.
ETV is a voluntary program. The following are general criteria that have been applied for submitting a technology for verification:
- The technology must be commercial ready.
- The vendor should anticipate that the technology will perform well under ETV testing (all verification results are published).
Note: ETV is no longer accepting new submissions for verification.
The ETV verification process has typically included the following steps:
- Identification of area-specific technology categories
- Identification of verification factors
- Vendor solicitation and application
- Verification protocol
- Test/quality assurance plan
- Verification testing
- Verification report and statement
- Outreach
Identification of Area-Specific Technology Categories
ETV centers set priorities for verification activities with the help of stakeholder input. In general, stakeholders have applied three criteria in setting priorities among technology categories:
- Existence of an important environmental problem to be addressed
- Availability of techniques for performance testing
- Feasibility and practicality considerations.
Identification of Verification Factors
Once a technology category was accepted for verification, ETV stakeholders identified the verification factors, or performance considerations, about which purchasers and permitters needed information to make decisions. For example, monitoring technologies have been evaluated for verification factors such as measurement precision and accuracy. Other verification factors may include:
- Required technical proficiency and training of the operator
- Time required for setup and breakdown
- Overall ruggedness of the instrument
- Energy consumption
- Downtime considerations
- Failure rates
- Multimedia impacts (e.g., air control technologies that may produce water or solid waste residuals).
Vendor Solicitation and Application
Once a technology category was identified, ETV issued vendors solicitations and the verification centers accepted vendor applications in that category.
ETV solicitation for vendors occurred in the following ways:
- By posting an announcement on ETV’s Web site and in ETVoice (ETV's listserve and monthly electronic newsletter)
- By posting an announcement in FedBizOpps
- By inviting known vendors in the marketplace to participate
- By discussing participation in ETV with individual vendors at conferences and trade shows.
Verification Protocol
When the full list of verification factors has been identified, a verification protocol is usually developed by the verification center. The protocol is either based on existing test procedures or is newly developed. Stakeholders and panels of technical experts review the protocol to determine whether the data to be collected in the verification test would definitively address the verification factors when published in the final verification report. In some cases, the protocol is developed prior to testing. In other cases, a generic protocol is developed after the verification is complete and reflects lessons learned during the testing experience.
Test/Quality Assurance Plan
Once vendors and their products are identified for a particular test event, a test/quality assurance plan is developed by the verification organization and agreed to by EPA and the vendors. Sometimes, a generic verification protocol is developed prior to testing. The test/quality assurance plan is based on the protocol. Other times, the test/quality assurance plan is developed first, prior to testing, and a generic verification protocol is developed after verification is complete.
If a technology is tested in the field, the test site is generally identified when the test/quality assurance plan is developed so that the plan can be tailored to a particular test location.
Verification Testing
Verification testing can be conducted for one product or for a group of similar products at the same time. To conserve resources, ETV has often evaluated technologies within a given category in groups when there were multiple vendors.
According to the schedule specified in the test/quality assurance plan, and agreed to by all parties, the verification center and vendors finalize the arrangements for testing. With assistance from the participating vendors, the verification organization tests the equipment using the procedures outlined in the test/quality assurance plan. Audits of the test event are conducted by EPA and the verification organizations. Rigorous quality assurance evaluations of the resulting test data are performed in accordance with the plan, the center-specific quality management plan and the ETV Quality Management Plan (PDF) (84 pp, 744 KB).
Verification Report and Statement
When testing and data analysis are completed, a draft verification report and a summary statement (2 to 7 pages) are developed by the verification center for each product tested. The report and statement are reviewed by EPA, the participating vendors and peer reviewers; and EPA management approves the final report and statement. EPA management and the verification center sign the verification statement. The final report and statement are published on the ETV Web site.
Outreach
The technology vendor is solely responsible for outreach activities related to the performance verification of their product. However, companies and products that have been verified by ETV are posted on the ETV Web site and have been included in other ETV outreach materials. EPA and ETV verification centers have conducted on-going outreach to inform audiences about the activities of the program and the availability of performance verification information to aid in decision making.
| See Also |
|---|
| Fact Sheet: EPA's Environmental Technology Verification Program (2 pp, 1.4 MB) (EPA/600/F-08/012) May 2011 |
| Verified Technologies |
| Verification Centers |
| ETV Quality Management Plan (PDF) (84 pp, 744 KB) (EPA/600/R-08/009) January 2008 |
| Environmental Technology Verification Program, Policy Compendium (PDF) (38 pp, 220 KB) (EPA/600/R-08/025) February 2008 |
| U.S. EPA Environmental Technology Verification Program (ETV) Guidelines for Proper Use of the ETV Name and Logo (PDF) (15 pp, 646 KB) (EPA/600/R-08/029) March 2008 |
| U.S. EPA Environmental Technology Verification Program, Purpose of Verifications and Use of Program Name and Logo (PDF) (1 p, 33 KB) March 2008 |
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