Great Lakes Air Deposition Program

Quality Assurance Project Plan (QAPP) Guidance and Links

What is a QAPP?
A Quality Assurance Project Plan documents the planning, implementation, and assessment procedures for a particular project, as well as any specific quality assurance and quality control activities. It integrates all the technical and quality aspects of the project in order to provide a "blueprint" for obtaining the type and quality of environmental data and information needed for a specific decision or use. All work performed or funded by the GLAD program that involves the acquisition, interpretationof environmental data must have an approved Quality Assurance Project Plan.

Project Management
The tools and links below will assist managers of sponsored projects in completing reporting requirements and QAPPs for projects funded through the Great Lakes Commission's GLAD program.

QAPP Review Checklists
QAPPs should include the components listed in the Review Checklists linked to below. Depending on the nature of the project, one or several of these Review Checklists will apply. If you are uncertain which of the below QAPP categories applies to your project, consult your Project Officer.

The Primary Data Collection QAPP Review Checklist is available for your use in completing a QAPP for projects involving field sampling and laboratory analyses.. The checklist is based on the elements in EPA Requirements for QA Project Plans (QA/R-5) (EPA, 2001a).

Projects that involve the production or application of environmental models will need to prepare a QAPP in compliance the GLAD program's Modeling QAPP Checklist, based on the U.S. EPA's Requirements for Research Model Development & Application Projects.

For projects that consist mainly of secondary data compilation and analysis, you may be able to follow the simpler Secondary Data QAPP Checklist.

For projects with a major geospatial data component should refer to the Geospatial data and environmental monitoring crosswalk extracted from EPA's guidance document (see below).

Note that the Great Lakes Commission Project Offices will use these checklists when reviewing QAPPs, so it is advisable to use them in developing your QAPP to ensure no elements are missing.

Other Resources/Links:

Quality Assurance Project Plan Training (Powerpoint slides) - This powerpoint slide training is designed for individuals responsible for environmental data operations and who may be involved in prepared, reviewing and/or approving QA Project Plans (Created by EPA).

Quality Management Tools - QA Project Plans - This links to a U.S. EPA web page with references, training materials, examples and other online resources for completing Quality Assurance Project Plans.

Guidance for Geospatial Data Quality Insurance Project Plans
This document is one of the U.S. EPA Quality System Series documents. These documents describe the EPA policies and procedures for planning, implementing, and assessing the effectiveness of the Quality System. Guidance for Geospatial Data Quality Insurance Project Plans is intended to help geospatial professionals who are unfamiliar with the contents of QA Project Plans develop a document that meets EPA standards. A crosswalk of content elements for geospatial data with those for environmental monitoring is included in Appendix D of the document. This guidance document describes the type of information that would be included in a QA Project Plan by anyone developing a geospatial project or using geospatial data for EPA.

QAPP Requirements for Secondary Data Research Projects
This document provides example guidance by the QA Managers in EPA’s National Risk Management Research Laboratory. Its focus is on secondary data research projects which involve the gathering and/or use of existing environmental data for purposes other than those for which they were originally collected.