DOE Technical Standards Phases

Technical Standards Review in RevCom includes four primary phases. Following are descriptions of those phases and the users' [authors', Technical Standards Managers' (TSMs'), subject matter experts' (SMEs')] responsibilities.

NOTE: Processing CUI documents in Technical Standards RevCom follows a different process. Please see Processing CUI Standards for more information

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 concurrenc with 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 organizations (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 authors resolution, via email or telephone, of their comments with the author. Users who login see the following:

THIS IS NOT AN OPPORTUNITY TO COMMENT ON THE DRAFT

No RevCom action is necessary at this time.

This is an opportunity for reviewers to see the author's responses to their comments and if warranted, negotiate changes to the response via telephone and email communication, Please contact the PA (PA's name, phone number, and email address are listed).

For an effective Comment/Response Negotiation process, TSMs should assign this activity to SMEs who have commented on the draft.

The Comment Response Report is available in References and the redline is posted as the Entire Document (link above the title when you open the file).

Note that TSMs are asked to assign SMEs who commented on the draft to review the comment responses. The expectation is that reviewers who wish to discuss the responses will either call or send email to the author to negotiate changes to the responses.

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 nonconcur with the revised draft.

Note that this is not an opportunity to comment unless the reviewer does not concur with the revised draft and justifies nonconcurrence in the Notes box.

The Entire Document will be the updated redlined version of the draft. References will include a clean copy of the proposed final for publication.

Final Notes:
Participation in all phases of the process helps to ensure that the author receives valuable input from reviewers who will be implementing the proposed standards. The Technical Standards program works best when our authors, TSMs and SMEs participate fully in the RevCom process.