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Project Description
Parsons has been involved in the Ontario Drive Clean Program since its genesis by assisting the provincial government in setting up Ontario’s first-ever, mandatory vehicle emissions testing program on time, in just five weeks. In December 1998 and January 1999, Parsons implemented a quality assurance program and developed specialized scheduling programs to ensure station operators had time to meet inspection test requirements and to ensure inspectors could pass the training programs.
To this day, Parsons continues to do business with the ministry by managing three key areas of Ontario’s Drive Clean light-duty (LDV) and heavy-duty vehicles (HDV) emissions inspection programs:
Information management systems—Parsons is involved in the development and application of system-related programs; software; operations guidelines; and procedures for monitoring, storage, and maintenance. Parsons developed the proprietary Vehicle Inspection Process for Emissions Reduction (VIPER) data management software for Ontario and, to date, VIPER has processed more than 8.8 million vehicles. The Parsons IS team also manages all data and data transfer for other contractors and supports the Drive Clean Facility Help Desk, the Standard Operating Procedures Call Center, Drive Clean Facility Accounts, and training systems. In response to client needs, Parsons IS team designed, built and implemented a risk-based Audit Management System (AMS) in 2002 which prioritizes audit efforts based on a combination of electronic data triggers.
All Drive Clean Program training and certification—Parsons delivers and oversees the classroom and home-based, online distance learning of LDV program emissions inspectors, LDV program repair technicians, non-technical staff orientation, HDV emissions inspectors, and all other program trainers (train the trainer). In the Ontario emissions program alone, Parsons has accredited 3,027 inspection facilities and garages and has trained more than 20,000 inspectors and 4,666 repair technicians.
All LDV program and HDV program quality assurance/quality control (QA/QC) tasks—Parsons is involved in overt auditing of inspectors and facilities; covert auditing of inspectors, repair technicians, and facilities (LDV program only); record auditing; referee testing; and facility follow-up. As the QA/QC contractor, Parsons is responsible for ensuring and reporting on program integrity by monitoring program activities through scheduled and unscheduled audits. In order to better satisfy the client’s needs, Parsons introduced a Telephone Audit program during 2005 to enable QA/QC staff to quickly and efficiently address specific program issues.
Parsons’ involvement in the Ontario Drive Clean Program proves that Parsons yields results. During the first year (1999) of the program, pollutants from vehicles in the Drive Clean Program area dropped by an estimated 6.7 percent. By the end of the second year (2000), emissions that cause smog dropped by an estimated 11.5 percent in the Toronto and Hamilton areas. In 2002, Parsons began working with the ministry to expand the program area to address the entire southern Ontario smog zone, in which nearly 5.7 million vehicles are registered.
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