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NEWS AND INFORMATION
(GREENBRIER, AR): On July 28th, 2006 Codes & Standards Assessments (CSA) celebrated the launching of its newest contractor qualification service at the George S. Mickelson Education Center in Sioux Falls, South Dakota. Guests for the event included staff members Scott Lacey and Rita Lacey of CSA, Terry Ausman of ACT, Dana Wohlwend and Joy Lebert of Southeast Technical Institute. Participants taking assessments at the center employees of Total Fire Protection in Brandon, SD: Donnie Sites, Jason Doherty, Wayde Snyders, and Michael Postma. The Total Fire Protection employees were taking tests at the South Dakota location to qualify for projects in the jurisdiction of Phoenix, Arizona. CSA's new agreement with ACT, Inc. means that Total Fire Protection is no longer required to fly employees from South Dakota to Phoenix to sit for the assessments. This not only saves travel expenses, but travel time from other projects. Because these particular assessments are based on national fire protection standards, they will be recognized by other jurisdictions as evidence of qualification. Although CSA's current assessments are targeted around designers and installers of fire protection systems, they can develop and administer a variety of other qualification topics around a users needs. Traditional CSA services involved a partnership with the local fire department in which CSA develops the assessments around the needs of the specific jurisdiction. The local department then proctors over the assessment delivery. However, many jurisdictions including smaller rural departments were limited by available office staff to properly proctor assessments, says Scott. Upon successfully passing an assessment the candidate receives a high quality PVC ID card that can include the company name and the individual’s photo along with a certificate for framing or project submittals, says Rita Lacey CSA’s Assessment Manager. Early in 2006 ACT, Inc. signed an agreement with CSA's leading assessment software developer, Questionmark, Inc., to allow seamless Internet delivery of the assessments. The newest agreement between CSA and ACT further extends the CSA delivery model to deliver a full line of assessments at over 230 professionally proctored test centers across the United States and Puerto Rico, says Terry Ausman Director of ACT’s Workforce Development Division. Although CSA had evaluated other nationally available proctoring agencies, none meet up to CSA standards for high stakes test administration. One was more like a shack than a testing center. ACT's staff, reputation, quality facilities, accountability, formalized review, and quality implementation program ensures that CSA customers get the best service available, says Scott. ACT also provided an Internet based scheduling feature. Once CSA approves a participant’s simple on-line request for assessment, the individual processes the payment and all scheduling on-line through ACT. The participant or a supervisor uses the Internet to view available locations and times. They can make the appointment right then. Any schedule changes can be made on-line the same way until two days before the original test appointment. In addition, some ACT centers are open evenings and weekends, allowing even greater flexibility to the contractor’s busy schedule, says Terry. CSA has been delivering fire protection qualification assessments for fire marshals since March 2002, toward the goal of ensuring that contractors are qualified to complete the installation of critical life safety equipment. CSA offers qualification assessments in fire alarms, sprinklers, underground fire mains, fire extinguishers, and others. Assessments for kitchen hoods, residential combination domestic/fire sprinklers, and special suppression systems are currently under development for release this year. CSA can incorporate a jurisdictions’ existing test, or create a new test for Internet delivery at no cost to the jurisdiction. In addition to evaluating contractor qualifications, CSA provides third-party technical reports and plan review services, says Scott. CSA is currently in the process of formalizing assessments to satisfy new qualification requirements for Iowa that go into effect October of this year, says Scott. Additional information on CSA assessments and services, or ACT can be found at www.CSAexams.com or by calling the CSA office at (501) 679-3345.
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