Technical Standards Help

DOE Technical Standards are initiated and developed as a means to implementing DOE requirements when a disciplined technical methodology or criteria are needed and appropriate Voluntary Consensus Standard does not exist.

DOE Technical Standards are approved by the Preparing Activates senior line management, or in the case of DOE Functional Area Qualification Standards, approved by the DOE Federal Technical Capabilities Program Chair.

Several types of maintenance activities may need to be performed for DOE Technical Standards: new development, revisions to an existing standard, change notices, reaffirmations, and cancellations.

DOE Standards - DOE Standards are used to provide information on "how to" accomplish a task, develop a plan, format a document, describe a program, etc. DOE Standards, in general, are expected to be developed to meet the needs of multiple DOE programs and projects; as such, these documents will normally be coordinated with all TSP participants (through their designated TSM) as described in DOETSPP-5-2013.

DOE Handbooks - DOE Handbooks are used to provide general information on a variety of subjects (e.g., good practices and lessons learned; technical training fundamentals; basic science, engineering, and mathematics; etc.). DOE Handbooks may not include requirements statements. Coordination of DOE Handbooks is discussed in DOE-TSPP-5-2013.

DOE Specifications - DOE Specifications are prepared specifically to support repetitive acquisitions of products or items. These documents clearly describe essential technical requirements for purchasing material. The documents also provide receipt inspection criteria to determine that the material covered by the specification meets the need. DOE Specifications are coordinated in the same manner as DOE Standards (see DOE-TSPP-5-2013) and have provisions for limited use.

Phase 1 - Project Justification (15 business days) - The author submits the Project Justification Statement for reviewers to consider whether the project should go forward. The review consists of answering a question to indicate one's concurrence with the proceeding.

Phase 2 - Review and Comment (90 days total) - The author submits a first draft for review (60 days). TSMs assign SMEs to review the draft and submit comments. The TSM will then compile the comments that represent the organization's position to the author for consideration. In the second part of Phase 2, the author responds to comments submitted through Headquarters organization (30 days).

Phase 3 - Response Negotiation (30 days) - There is no comment submission for this phase. The author submits a redline showing changes in response to comments. The comment response report is posted in the References. During this 30-day period the reviewers have an opportunity to review the response to comments and discuss the author's resolution via email or telephone, of their comments with the author. Users who login see the following

Phase 4 - Concurrence (10 business days) - The author posts a markup showing the changes to the draft in response to reviewer comments and negotiated changes to the author's response. TSMs and SMEs who reviewed the original draft concur or non-concur with the revised draft.

Yes. Once any organization's Technical Standards Manager (TSM) has submitted the organization's official comments package, those comments are visible for all users. 

TSP Resources - contains Resources and Responsibilities for Technical Standards Managers.

TSP Tools - useful material for the preparing activities (PAs), TSM, and subject matter experts (SMEs), including how technical standards are processed and a collection of templates for document development.

References - link to Directives and NNSA Directives, DOE Forms, and other useful information.

Technical Standards Procedures - how to write, revise, or maintain a DOE technical standard or convert a technical standard to a non-governmental standard.

Reports - that are used in the Technical Standards Program.