Quality Assurance Sessions
Join a collaborative discussion on the future of quality assurance in the NFRC certification process. The series kicks off with an introductory session to help frame the topic, followed by focused roundtables for manufacturers, inspection agencies, and laboratories. The series concludes with a report-out of insights, recommendations, and next steps. Together, these conversations will explore how to maintain performance integrity while identifying opportunities for a more efficient and predictable certification lifecycle.
Download the roundtable discussion topics here:
1:00 PM · Quality Assurance and Verification Testing: Opening the Conversation
Grand Ballroom
For nearly 40 years, PCP certification has centered on thermal validation testing, and it has worked well. This session sets the stage for the afternoon’s structured roundtable conversations about whether thermal validation testing remains the best way to ensure performance integrity or if a redesigned quality assurance model could achieve the same outcome more efficiently and predictably.
NFRC Staff: Scott Hanlon, Director, Residential Programs
3:15 PM · Manufacturer Roundtables: Quality Assurance & Verification Testing
Grand Ballroom
This session gives manufacturers a direct seat at the table to weigh in on a proposed shift in how product performance is assured, from testing concentrated at certification to a distributed quality assurance model across the five-year cycle. You’ll work through five concept questions covering new product validation, ongoing QA methods, and how much friction the current process creates for your organization. Your table’s consensus, and any dissenting views, get captured and carried into tomorrow’s findings summary. Preview the discussion questions.
NFRC Staff: Steve Urich, Director, Quality Assurance · Scott Hanlon, Director, Residential Programs · Melissa Graham, Program Administrator
3:15 PM · Inspection Agency Roundtables: Quality Assurance & Verification Testing
Salon A
Inspection agencies have long been central to reviewing test data and bringing certification recommendations to staff, and this session is your opportunity to help shape what that role looks like under a redesigned quality assurance model. You’ll discuss how your review function could work under a 20% annual testing cycle, whether QA reviews could align with your existing in-plant inspection visits, and what a defined role would look like at a timed checkpoint. The goal is a system that preserves program integrity while working better for everyone involved. Preview the discussion questions.
NFRC Staff: Michelle Scism, Sr. Manager, Quality and Accreditation · Jen Padgett, Program Administrator
3:15 PM · Laboratory Roundtables: Quality Assurance & Verification Testing
Salon B
Labs have built their NFRC practice around thermal validation testing, and this session starts by acknowledging that directly before opening a technical conversation about what maintains program integrity going forward. You’ll be asked the questions you’re best positioned to answer: whether cut-up testing is a sufficient ongoing QA tool, whether a timed checkpoint can establish early performance confidence, and what conditions would need to be met to protect NFRC’s credibility. This is a chance to shape the technical foundation of the proposed model directly. Preview the discussion questions.
NFRC Staff: Dennis Anderson, Sr. Manager, Programs
8:00 AM · Quality Assurance Wrap-Up: Where We Landed
This session will bring all participants back together to review key insights from the previous day’s Quality Assurance breakout discussions. We’ll share how manufacturers, laboratories, and inspection agencies responded to the five concept questions, highlighting areas where perspectives aligned and diverged. The goal is to reach a shared understanding of next steps, grounded in what all three groups shared.
NFRC Staff: Scott Hanlon, Director, Residential Programs