Accreditation for Voting Equipment Testing Laboratories

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Accreditation for Voting Equipment Testing
Laboratories

• Gordon Gillerman
• Standard Services Division Chief
• gordon.gillerman_at_nist.gov
• http//www.nist.gov/nvlap

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What is Accreditation?

• Accreditation - 3rd partly attestation of
  laboratory competence
• Standards and Handbooks
• ISO/IEC 17025 and NVLAP Handbook 150 General
  Requirements
• NVLAP Handbook 150-22 Voting System Testing
  Laboratory Specific
• Accreditation is not product certification
• Laboratories test develop data
• EAC certifies attestation of voting system
  conformity

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NVLAP Accreditation

• Accreditation process includes
• Evaluation of laboratory quality documentation
• on-site visit by a technical assessor(s), with
  expertise in the voting standards, and a quality
  systems lead assessor
• typically 3 to 4 days
• Labs are accredited to a core set of set methods
  derived from the voting system standard
• Objective evidence during assessment is
  documented using checklists developed

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NVLAP Accreditation

• Methods of gathering objective evidence include
• Observations
• Interviews
• review of documentation
• witnessing of testing
• Nonconformities cited against specific
  requirements in the standard.
• Labs correct all nonconformities before
  accreditation
• NVLAP accredited laboratories are recommended by
  NIST for inclusion in the EACs accreditation
  program
• NVLAP accreditation is renewed annually with
  on-site visits occurring the 1st and 2nd years,
  and every other year thereafter.

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Program Actions

• Labs may request to expand their scope of
  accreditation
• add standards (aka test methods)
• additional on-site visit may be needed to assess
  labs competency
• Monitoring visits may occur to verify a labs
  competency for cause
• Outside entities may bring issues to NVLAPs
  attention.
• In most cases a monitoring visit would address
  specific concerns
• If an accredited lab should prove unable to meet
  the accreditation requirements then accreditation
  would be suspended or potentially withdrawn

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Core Test Methods

• Federal Election Commission FEC Voting System
  Standard of 2002 (VSS-2002), including the Help
  American Vote Act (HAVA) requirements and the
  Election Assistance Commission (EAC) Voluntary
  Voting System Guidelines of 2005 (VVSG-2005) for
  core test methods involving
• a. Technical Data Package Review
• b. Physical Configuration Audit (including
  examination of
• hardware components for safety,
  usability/accessibility,
• maintainability/operability of the equipment
  and operational
• validation against user documentation

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CORE Test Methods

• c. Source Code Review
• d. Witness Build and System Information Testing
• e. Functional Configuration Audit including the
  operational testing of hardware and software
  components and validation against user
  documentation)
• f. System Integration Testing (including
  validation of accuracy, reliability, other high
  volume tests, and validation of processes and
  tools provided to support the election
  operation) and
• g. Telecommunication and Security Testing.

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Laboratory Accreditations Role in Voting System
Certification
Voting System Vendor
EAC Certified Voting System List
Certification
Equipment
Accredited Voting System Testing Labs
Voting System Purchaser
Test Results
accreditation
NVLAP and EAC