Shifting responsibility

The FEC issued its final guidelines in 2002, just before the EAC took over that responsibility.

The EAC issued its first set of guidelines in 2005, the EAC spokeswoman said. The two labs NIST approved this month were audited under both the 2002 and the 2005 guidelines, she said.

The EAC already offers an interim accreditation to testing labs whose operations were approved by the voluntary group under its 2002 guidelines but have yet to gain approval for meeting 2005 specifications. The interim certification is valid only through 2008.

SysTest and Wyle Laboratories Inc. in Huntsville, Ala., earned interim EAC accreditation in August 2006, the spokeswoman said. A third testing firm, Ciber Inc. in Greenwood Village, Colo., has been evaluated but has yet to gain the commission's approval, she said.