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Suggested Citation:"Summation." National Research Council. 1995. User Participation in the Development of Standards: Summary of a Symposium. Washington, DC: The National Academies Press. doi: 10.17226/9200.
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SUMMATION

William W. Aird, Chairman FFC Consulting Committee on ConstructionSpecification

A standard is a measure or procedure that is accepted by a segmentof society as a basis of comparison or action. Standards can be classifiedin various ways; one way is by the type of organization that developedit (usually either a government regulatory agency like the EPA ora private standards organization like ASTM); another way is by thedevelopment process used (either a closed process involving a limitednumber of people or an open, consensus process aimed at developinggeneral agreement among the users of the standard); still anotherway is by the method by which it becomes accepted (either by governmentmandate or through voluntary usage). Thus, one broad group of standardsis commonly referred to as private, voluntary, consensus standards.

However, the distinction between various categories of standardsis not always clear. For example, if ASTM issues standards for measuringatmospheric pollutants, those standards, by definition, are private,voluntary, consensus standards. But, if those same standards arereferenced in EPA regulations, they become, in effect, mandatory,government standards.

For regulatory purposes, the government continues to develop andpublish numerous standards. However, for procurement purposes, theOffice of Management and Budget has indicated in Circular A-119 thatfederal agencies must use private sector consensus standards wheneverpossible in lieu of government standards. A complete transition toprivate standards is not currently possible because there are noprivate sector equivalents for many government standards. However,this is not a problem in the procurement of construction becauseprivate sector standard are available for most construction productsand systems used by federal agencies.

In adopting the policy of relying on private consensus standards,the federal government expects to save money in two ways: first,by reducing the number of government employees involved in producinggovernment standards, and, second, by minimizing the number of special (and more

Suggested Citation:"Summation." National Research Council. 1995. User Participation in the Development of Standards: Summary of a Symposium. Washington, DC: The National Academies Press. doi: 10.17226/9200.
×

expensive) parts and products the government purchases. Secretaryof Defense William J. Perry recently indicated that the defense industrialbase will shrink considerably in the near future and that the militarymust piggy-back on the commercial market for some products and services.Toward that end, he has reversed DODs longstanding policy of favoringthe use of government standards and military specifications; instead,agencies must now obtain a waiver if they wish to use a governmentstandard or military specification. Secretary Perry's decision ishaving widespread ramifications because DOD has published more standardsand guide specifications than any other federal agency.

The government's decision to use private standards has been widely applauded; however,knowledgeable procurement specialists and standards writers are awarethat there are potential pitfalls associated with the policy. Oneproblem is that private standards do not always provide for the specialneeds of the government. Another problem is that some standards arehighly technical and unless a person is thoroughly familiar withtheir provisions, they can be easily misapplied. The solution toboth of these problems is for government employees to be involvedin the development of private standards and specifications.

Of course, these same problems apply to private users of standards—particularly private architects and engineers—and the solution is the same as for government agencies; namely,for the private-sector users also to participate in the developmentof standards.

A few agencies and private design firms already participate in thedevelopment of standards, but they are the exceptions. There aremyriad reasons why most users do not participate in standard committees;the most important reasons are the high cost of travel, personnelshortages, and the failure of the standards community to show howusers would benefit from their participation in standards work. Whilea few standards organizations have discouraged user participationin their activities, most organizations welcome such participationand have expressed a desire for more participation.

In order to encourage user organizations—both public and private—to assign knowledgeable personnel to work on standards committeesand to provide funds for them to travel to standards meetings, seniormanagement and procurement personnel in user organizations must beconvinced of (a) the importance of standards and their impact onthe quality of the facilities they design or procure, and (b) thebenefits of participating in the standards-making process. The organizations that sponsored the symposium are in an ideal positionto undertake an educational/promotional program of this type.

However, if such a program is undertaken, it is unlikely to causeusers to invest large amounts of money and time in standards activities.At best, the program might result in modest increases over currentlevels in user

Suggested Citation:"Summation." National Research Council. 1995. User Participation in the Development of Standards: Summary of a Symposium. Washington, DC: The National Academies Press. doi: 10.17226/9200.
×

participation in standards work. Therefore, a parallel effort isneeded to reduce the cost to users of their participation. One wayof reducing such costs would be for users to pool their efforts sothat every user need not monitor every standard being produced orrevised; by coordinating their involvement in standards activities,users could ensure some minimal level of user participation in allimportant standards committees, without overburdening any one organization.As with the educational program, the organizations that sponsoredthe symposium would be the ideal group to undertake this coordinationeffort.

Actions that standards-making organizations could take to reducethe cost of user participation also were discussed during the symposium;specifically:

  • Reduce the number of standards committees in which users need toparticipate by eliminating duplicative standards. Admittedly, thismight be difficult to accomplish since standards organizations earnconsiderable money from the sale of standards and are reluctant todiscontinue a standard. One partial solution would be for the AmericanNational Standards Institute (ANSI) or the National Institute ofBuilding Sciences (NIBS) to appoint a commissioner or committee (similarto the old Construction Standards Board of ANSI) to identify standardsthat should be eliminated and to assign responsibility for the remainingstandards to different organizations—without, if possible, financiallydevastating any organization. Standards that are used infrequentlyought to be cancelled automatically.

  • Conduct meetings of standards committees by teleconferencing. Teleconferences would reduce the number of times members would needto attend out-of-town meetings, which would reduce the amount oftime members would need to be out of the office and cut their transportationand lodging costs for meetings.

  • Accelerate the standards development process in order to reduce theelapsed time required to produce a standard. The current five-to-seven-yeardevelopment cycle seems excessive and results in time being wastedeach time a new draft is produced as participants try to “get backup to speed.”

  • Use telecommunications networks to disseminate data, exchange comments,and obtain approvals of standards. Many standards organizationsalready rely heavily on the mail to disseminate information in orderto reduce the number of meetings they hold. As more people subscribeto modern electronic mail systems, which are faster and more convenientthan regular mail, standards organizations

Suggested Citation:"Summation." National Research Council. 1995. User Participation in the Development of Standards: Summary of a Symposium. Washington, DC: The National Academies Press. doi: 10.17226/9200.
×
  • should use them to speed up the development process and further reducethe number of meetings needed.

The symposium was very successful in that it highlighted a seriousproblem in the standards field, identified the major causes of theproblem, and generated a number of ideas for solving the problem.However, all of the effort involved in organizing the symposium,and all the thoughtful comments and writings provided by the participants,will have been for naught unless the follow-up actions discussedabove are taken by the sponsoring organizations.

Suggested Citation:"Summation." National Research Council. 1995. User Participation in the Development of Standards: Summary of a Symposium. Washington, DC: The National Academies Press. doi: 10.17226/9200.
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Suggested Citation:"Summation." National Research Council. 1995. User Participation in the Development of Standards: Summary of a Symposium. Washington, DC: The National Academies Press. doi: 10.17226/9200.
×
Page 38
Suggested Citation:"Summation." National Research Council. 1995. User Participation in the Development of Standards: Summary of a Symposium. Washington, DC: The National Academies Press. doi: 10.17226/9200.
×
Page 39
Suggested Citation:"Summation." National Research Council. 1995. User Participation in the Development of Standards: Summary of a Symposium. Washington, DC: The National Academies Press. doi: 10.17226/9200.
×
Page 40
Suggested Citation:"Summation." National Research Council. 1995. User Participation in the Development of Standards: Summary of a Symposium. Washington, DC: The National Academies Press. doi: 10.17226/9200.
×
Page 41
Suggested Citation:"Summation." National Research Council. 1995. User Participation in the Development of Standards: Summary of a Symposium. Washington, DC: The National Academies Press. doi: 10.17226/9200.
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Page 42
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