The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) has developed the Quality Assurance Project Plan as an important tool for project managers and planners to document the type and quality of data needed for environmental decisions and to provide a blueprint for collecting and assessing those data. The QA project plan is the critical planning document for any environmental data collection or use because it documents how quality assurance (QA) and quality control (QC) activities will be implemented during the life cycle of a project, or task. EPA policy requires that all projects involving the generation, acquisition, and use of environmental data be planned and documented and have an Agency-approved QA project plan prior to the start of data collection. The QA project plan should be detailed enough to provide a clear description of every aspect of the project and include information for every member of the project staff, including data collectors, software users, and data reviewers. Effective implementation of the plan assists project managers in keeping projects on schedule and within the resource budget.

"December 2000." Microfiche.