ASTM's Board of Directors adopted plans, in the fall of 2004, to launch the Interlaboratory Study Program (ILS) as part of their continuing pursuit of excellence in standards development. Responding to the need for standards in the marketplace to be of known and documented quality, a commitment was made to fund the development of the ILS Program. This commitment means that ASTM has been able to assist those technical committees for which the prospect of implementing an interlaboratory study was either administratively daunting or financially impossible. The ultimate goal is to enhance the quality of ASTM standard test methods by aiding the Technical Committees as they develop Precision Statements backed by high quality laboratory data.

In order to support the committees in their efforts to produce precision statements for their test methods, so as to incorporate at least a repeatability statement, the ILS Program is available to assist with the following areas:

• Designing an Interlaboratory Study
• Identifying potential samples
• Soliciting volunteer laboratories
• Finding an available supplier
• Contracting with a distributor
• Reviewing laboratory instructions

• Reimbursing shipping expenses
• Collecting data
• Analyzing data
• Producing a draft precision statement
• Compiling information for the Research Report
• Recognition of participating labs