NASA recently published an administrative change (Change 2) of NPD 8730.1C, Metrology and Calibration that went into effect on May 19, 2016. The implemented changes were developed through the Metrology and Calibration Working Group (MCWG) and are intended to provide increased flexibility to centers implementing the policy.

The policy statement in the basic revision of NPD 8730.1C — released on June 27, 2011 — required NASA calibrations to be compliant with ANSI/NCSL Z540.3-2006 while allowing “legacy” calibrations to remain compliant with ANSI/NCSL Z540.1-1994 (R2002).

Attachment B (B.2) of that revision stated:

“The calibration requirements of ANSI/NCSL Z540.3 may be exempted for legacy MTE that is calibrated in accordance with ANSI/NCSL Z540.1- 1994. Legacy MTE consists of individual items, and all like items of identical technical description, make, and model, that are listed in the organization's existing MTE register at the release date of this NPD.”

Change 2 of NPD8730.1 expands that policy statement to permit the use of Z540.1, Z540.3 or ISO/IEC 17025: 2005 for all calibrations, both legacy and new. The MCWG evaluated all three standards and concluded there is no technical risk associated with implementation of any of them.

This administrative change enables centers to select the calibration standard that best suits their needs for calibrations performed either on center or outsourced to third-party calibration labs.

“This flexible approach ensures technically sound and cost-effective management of NASA calibrations,” said Kenny Matthews, Metrology and Calibration program manager.

See NPD 8730.1C