October 19, 2001

Mr. Robert L. Stephenson, II, MPH
Director, Division of Workplace Programs
CSAP
5600 Fishers Lane
Rockwall II, Suite 815
Rockville, MD 20857

Dear Mr. Stephenson:

Following are the comments of the Drug and Alcohol Testing Industry Association (DATIA) on the proposed standards for determining the validity of urine specimens collected under the Mandatory Guidelines for Federal Workplace Drug Testing Programs. DATIA is a 1,000+ member non profit national trade association representing the entire spectrum of service providers in the drug and alcohol testing industry, including consortia, third party administrators, specimen collectors, medical review officers, laboratories, and testing equipment/product manufacturers. DATIA's comments on behalf of its constituency are based upon input from DATIA’s members, Legislative & Regulatory Committee, and Board of Directors.

The proposal specifically requested comments on requiring that validity testing be conducted on all urine specimens for Federal employees. DATIA supports this proposed revision. With the increase in specimen tampering, it is important that validity testing be performed to protect the integrity and purpose of the Federal drug-testing program.

Regarding Section 2.6 (a), DATIA feels that Medical Review Officers (MRO) should be required to complete a formal training course and pass an examination to demonstrate proficiency in providing MRO services in accordance with the guidelines. With the new role of conducting verification interviews for adulterated and substituted specimens, along with the MRO’s current duties, DATIA feels that the revision should include requirements such as CFR 49 Part 40 to ensure that all MROs are qualified to make the difficult decisions that they must make on each non-negative result.

Another comment on the proposed revisions concerns Section 2.6 (b), which states “The MRO shall cancel the result for any agency’s urine specimen that is not collected or tested in accordance with these guidelines.” DATIA suggests providing a list of “fatal flaws” in the collection process that will require the test to be cancelled. The way the guidelines read now may lead to tests being cancelled for minute collection errors that have no adverse affect on the testing process.

DATIA commends your efforts to establish concrete guidelines to be followed for all testing of federal employees and Department of Transportation (DOT) covered employees. We believe that the addition of new definitions and mathematically simplifying cutoff levels will help to alleviate previous confusion in conducting validity testing. DATIA is also pleased to see that the guidelines, when applicable, conform to the DOT CFR 49 Part 40 regulations released earlier this year. Service agents who provide drug and alcohol testing under DOT CFR 49 Part 40 and the Mandatory Guidelines for Federal Workplace Drug Testing will be able to provide much more consistent services when they have conforming requirements to follow.

We appreciate the opportunity to provide comment on the proposed validity testing guidelines. These guidelines are very much appreciated and will help to protect the integrity of the testing process. Should you have any questions on these comments, I can be reached at 800-355-1257 or lshelton@datia.org.

Sincerely,

Laura E. Shelton
Executive Director