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Operating Procedures manual or similar document and include the elements of a QAPjP. These documents should be available and referenced in the documentation and/or records for the analysis activities. The term "QAPjP" in this chapter refers to any of these QA/QC documents. The QAPjP should detail the QA/QC goals and protocols for a specific data collection activity. The QAPjP sets forth a plan for sampling and analysis activities that will generate data of a quality commensurate with their intended use. QAPjP elements should include a description of the project and its objectives; a statement of the DQOs of the project; identification of those in- volved in the data collection and their responsibilities and authorities; reference to (or inclusion of) the specific sample collection and analysis procedures that will be followed for all aspects of the project; enumeration of QC procedures to be followed; and descriptions of all project documentation. Additional elements should be included in the QAPjP if needed to address all quality related aspects of the data collection project. Elements should be omitted only when they are inappropriate for the project or when absence of those elements will not affect the quality of data obtained for the project (see reference 1) . The role and importance of DQOs and project documentation are discussed below in Sections 2.1 through 2.6. Management and organization play a critical role in determining the effectiveness of a QA/QC program and ensuring that all required procedures are followed. Section 2.7 discusses the elements of an organization's QA program that have been found to ensure an effective program. Field operations and laboratory operations (along with applicable QC procedures) are discussed in Sections 3 and 4, respectively. 2. 1 DATA QUALITY OBJECTIVES Data quality objectives (DQOs) for the data collection activity describe the overall level of uncertainty that a decision-maker is willing to accept in results derived from environmental data. This uncertainty is used to specify the quality of the measurement data required, usually in terms of objectives for precision, bias, representativeness, comparability and completeness. The DQOs should be defined prior to the initiation of the field and laboratory work. The field and laboratory organizations performing the work should be aware of the DQOs so that their personnel may make informed decisions during the course of the project to attain those DQOs. More detailed information on DQOs is available from the U.S. EPA Quality Assurance Management Staff (QAMS) (see references 2 and 4) . 2.2 PROJECT OBJECTIVES A statement of the project objectives and how the objectives are to be attained should be concisely stated and sufficiently detailed to permit clear understanding by all parties involved in the data collection effort. This includes a statement of what problem is to be solved and the information required ONE - 2 Revision 1 July 1992