CLPEX Chat Board

Our agency is in the process of thinking about getting accreditation under 17020. We are aware of the 2020 mandate for Federal facilities to have their accreditation in place. In March of 2016, I heard in a webinar that there was an expected date of 2025 for State and Local forensic service providers to have their accreditation in place. What I cannot find is anything in writing that specifically says that the 2025 deadline is in effect.

We do receive Federal money for one of the programs we have. We know that the accreditation process takes some time and we want to make sure we have ours before the Feds decide to not provide funds anymore to those agencies who do not have their accreditation in place.

I have searched the internet quite extensively and I can only find references to the Federal 2020 deadline. Does anyone know of or have anything they could sent me that talks about State and local agencies and when they are expected to have theirs?

Any information would be greatly appreciated. Thank you

Here is one press release, but this details a 2020 deadline for federal labs:

https://www.justice.gov/opa/pr/justice- ... ic-science?

Not sure about this '2025 deadline'.

Some states have already mandated accreditation.

As timbo states, it would be up to each state (or locale) to mandate accreditation by any timeframe. I don't think the federal government can make that mandate about local labs. They can (and as the aforementioned document indicates) require their agents to only use accredited labs for service.

The best way to check this out would be to contact your local prosecuting attorney or the state attorney general's office for more information.

*Edit: Wanted to make sure this was for US-based agencies, not world-wide.