Innovative field characterization and monitoring technologies are often slow to be adopted by the environmental engineering/consulting community because of concerns that their performance has not been proven by an independent testing body, and/or they have not received the EPA's blessing on a regional or national level. The purpose of the EPA Environmental Technology Verification (ETV) Site Characterization Pilot, a joint effort between EPA and DOE, is to accelerate the acceptance of technologies that reduce the cost and increase the speed of environmental clean-up and monitoring. Technology verifications that have been completed or are underway include: in situ technologies for the characterization of sub-surface hydrocarbon plumes, field- portable GC/MS systems, field-portable X-ray fluorescence analyzers, soil sampling technologies, field-portable PCB analyzers, analyzers for VOC analysis at the wellhead, and decision support software systems to aid site sample collection and contaminant plume definition. The verification process follows a somewhat generic pathway. A user-community need is identified, the vendor community is canvassed, and relevant, interested companies are selected. A demonstration plan is prepared by the verification organization and circulated to participants prior to the field activities. Field trials are normally held at two geologically or environmentally different sites and typically require one week at each site. Samples (soil, soil gas, water, surface wipe etc.) provided to the vendor at the demonstration include site-specific samples and standards or performance evaluation samples. Sample splits are sent to a pre- selected laboratory for analysis using a reference method. Laboratory data are used for comparison with field technology results during the data analysis phase of the demonstration.