History

NAPT was officially founded in December of 1996. Beginning in 1993 the association's founder was already developing the awareness and relationships that have supported NAPT's mission.  

It was clear there was a need for an association dedicated to effective proficiency testing because of newly implemented standards set by the metrology community for accreditation standards both nationally and internationally. These requirements suggested that a responsive yet neutral and unbiased party, having non conflict of interest, was needed to manage the administration and coordination of proficiency testing.

 

One key finding was that the proficiency programs conducted at that time throughout the U.S. were limited in scope. More importantly, although there were many types of comparison programs being conducted across the world just a few allowed participation from the metrology community in an open format.

 

Round robins have been ably conducted by organizations such as NIST and NCSL, but this function was not institutionalized until NAPT's formation. NAPT is the first standing organization dedicated exclusively to providing ILC/PTs.

 

NAPT fills a gap in the U.S. accreditation and verification infrastructure. NAPT will not only provide verification of lab proficiency for the U.S. companies that participate, but will also serve as tangible evidence to other countries of U.S. metrology competence.