From: Dan Schultz [dschultz@astm.org]

Sent: Thursday, August 02, 2001 8:56 AM

To: Barrett Miller

Subject: RE: Received

Good Morning, Barrett.

You question, will the "English XL hold a letter as to Precision and Bias (P&B) with ASTM" is not the correct question. No piece of apparatus holds a P&B at ASTM. P&B is intended to display the repeatability and reproducibility of the application of a method, not machinery. As such, ASTM does not certify, nor do methods containing P&B purport to "validate" the equipment or apparatus contained within them that may be used for the protocol. As such, there will never be a "certificate letter" issued from ASTM. When a P&B study has been completed, relevant numbers are placed in the  P&B section of the standard method, along with any appropriate accompanying text. A reference is also made to a research report filed here at headquarters that details the findings of the round robin study that produced the P&B. Research Reports are available to the public. If persons are interested in reviewing P&B for any given document, they should review the document first, and in doing so will ascertain whether or not Precision  and Bias data has been accumulated, and a research report filed. Presently, method F1679 does not contain a P&B statement.

Thank you.

Daniel A. Schultz, Manager

ASTM Technical Committee Operations

100 Barr Harbor Drive

West Conshohocken, PA 19428

610-832-9716