How do you know if you have satisfactorily addressed each item on MassDEP’s audit checklist before you send off your report? Usually, an unaffiliated reviewer is able to identify items you and your team may have overlooked or just not explained thoroughly.

Those who have participated in the LSPA’s Peer Review Program know that an outside reviewer can add significant value to the final report, and provide a hedge against future issues.

One applicant noted:

The LSPA Peer Review program is an indispensable tool for the sole and small practitioner.  I personally rely on the LSPA Peer Review program and do my best to persuade my clients to allow me to use it, as part of reducing their (and my!) risk of an audit. 

The LSPA’s Peer Review Program provides LSP members an opportunity to have the content and presentation of certain MCP Reports and Opinions reviewed by another LSP prior to filing with MassDEP. The Reports and Opinions included in this program are:

• Permanent or Temporary Solution filings,
• Phase Reports,
• Periodic Reviews of Temporary Solutions, Immediate Response Action and Release Abatement Measure Completion Reports, and
• Downgradient Property Status submittals.

The peer review is intended to have the same level of detail as a MassDEP Level 1 audit conducted using MassDEP’s screening form. The reviewing LSP (Reviewer) reviews the document along with the tables, figures and supporting data, and completes the appropriate MassDEP BWSC Technical Screening Audit Form. The Reviewer also provides the LSP with comments about the presentation of the information, indicating areas of the document that might benefit from more discussion or additional clarifying information. This review, however, does not include a substantive evaluation of the LSP’s decisions such as the adequacy of the assessment of nature and extent of contamination or the appropriateness of conclusions reached based on the Site data.

The Reviewee will have the substantial benefit afforded by having another set of eyes review the work presentation prior to its submission to MassDEP.

Reviewers commit to completing their work within two weeks, or sometimes shorter, of receiving the documents. Reviewers receive no fee for their services, but LSPs using the service are requested to make a $200 donation to the LSPA Scholarship Fund. All inquiries and reviews are handled in strict confidence. An Agreement for the Review is required between the Reviewer and the Reviewee to memorialize the agreement for strict confidentiality.

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More information about the program can be obtained by emailing the LSPA Executive Director, Wendy Rundle, in confidence, at [email protected] or by calling her at 617-417-4351.