Rhode Island State Crime Laboratory Quality Assurance Officer

Rhode Island has used its Coverdell funding to embark on an accreditation readiness program. Rhode Island laboratories began the accreditation process with the Coverdell 2002 award. The exercise has required that the State Crime Laboratory at the University of Rhode Island and the State Forensic Science Laboratory at the Department of Health meet or exceed the required forensic laboratory standards that have been identified by international accreditation standards (ISO 17025). Effective April 9, 2007, the State Crime Laboratory was assessed and found to comply with the requirements of ISO/IEC 17025:2005 and forensic requirements for accreditation. That accreditation expired April 9, 2011. The Laboratory underwent an ISO audit inspection by FQS, Inc. in March of 2011 and was re-accredited for a second four year term: May 25, 2011 to May 25, 2015. The Laboratory will undergo an on-site audit by the ANSI-ASQ National Accreditation Board (ANAB) on March 9 & 10, 2015 for the purpose of renewing its ISO/IEC17025 accreditation for another four year period. To maintain accreditation, the Laboratory must be vigilant in quality control on a daily basis and submit to an annual audit by ANAB. It is necessary to have a Quality Assurance Officer available in the Laboratory for this purpose. As of January 2010 the Laboratory made this a full time position by using funds from the Coverdell appropriation and from the state budget appropriation to the Laboratory for its operation. The FY 2015 Coverdell award will fund this position from October 1, 2015 through the federal fiscal year which ends September 30, 2016 at 24.72960% of the current rate of pay with fringe benefits. The total cost of this position is $92,549 including $58,930 in salary and $33,619 in fringe benefits. The Rhode Island Public Safety Grant Administration Office will retain $2,542 in administrative funds to contribute to the salary and fringe benefits of the grant administrator.

nca/ncf