Oklahoma Department of Agriculture

Laboratory Services

Tanna KilpatrickQuality Assurance Manager

The Road to Accreditation

• Why are we working toward accreditation to ISO 17025? – Working toward umbrella system to satisfy

multiple programs– Decreasing revenues, decreasing budget,

increased need for efficiency

The Road to Accreditation

• What about the cost?– Major push toward compliance in FY13 when we

were awarded the FDA grant– Discontinuation of funds after the first year – Funded, accredited section of the lab

The Road to Accreditation

• Roadblocks and support – Funding is a problem• State of OK invested a lot of money to build a new lab

but funds are not available for accreditation• Proposal to legislature to increase funds

– Major source of support • Our Leadership!

– Buy-in was a problem• Initial resistance has been eased with training and

implementation of the umbrella quality system