INTERAMERICAN METROLOGY SYSTEM
TECHNICAL COMMITTEE MEETING MINUTES
Montevideo, Uruguay
April 23-24, 1998

List of Attendees
Hector Nava Jaimes (CENAM Mexico, President SIM)
Ismael Castelazo (CENAM Mexico)
Oscar Harasic (OAS)
Luis Mussio (LATU Uruguay)
Steve Carpenter (NIST U.S.A.)
Hratch Semerjian (NIST U.S.A.)
Mauricio Frota (INMETRO Brazil) (INMETRO Brazil)
Leonor Gomez Barrera (CCCM Colombia)
Lester Hernandez Navas (CGN Guatemala)
Gustavo Rangugni (INTI Argentina)
Alan Robertson (NRC Canada)

Agenda
1) Introduction and Welcome
2) Approval of Agenda
3) Proposals for the operation of the Technical Committee
- Structure
- Purpose
- Membership and Terms
- Working Groups
4) Representation in the BIPM
5) Proposed Comparisons
6) Proposed Budget for CY1999
7) Date/Place of the next Technical Committee Meeting

1. Introduction and Welcome
Steve Carpenter (Chair) opened the meeting and welcomed all the participants.
It was noted that Alan Robertson's arrival was delayed because of a missed connection, and that he was expected to join the group around lunch time.

2. Approval of Agenda
The draft agenda was considered and approved. The Chair proposed to postpone any discussion of the SIM representation within BIPM until after the arrival of A. Robertson who had written a letter to the SIM members regarding this matter.

The Chair reminded everybody that he had mailed to the TC members about a month before the meeting information on the BIPM Document on "Mutual recognition of national measurement standards and Calibration certificates issued by national metrology institutes" (Ref. 1) and a "Plan and Strategy for Developing Chemical Metrology within SIM" prepared by NIST (Ref. 2). Members were also reminded of the letter from Alan Robertson (Ref. 3).

3. Proposals for the operation of the Technical Committee
This was the first meeting to organize the operation of the Technical Committee (TC), determine its membership and terms of reference, and its overall structure. It was proposed that the TC membership would include representatives from five subregions of SIM plus the SIM representative to the BIPM JCRMB. (This would require modification of the SIM Statute Article 30)

It was also proposed to form Technical Working Groups (TWGs) which would parallel the organization of the CIPM Consultative Committees. As a result, it was proposed to form nine TWGs on the following topics:

1) Electricity and Magnetism
2) Photometry and Radiometry
3) Thermometry
4) Length
5) Time and Frequency
6) Ionizing Radiation
7) Mass (including Force,Pressure and Volume)
8) Amount of Substance (Mol)
9) Acoustics and Vibration

It was concluded that there was no need for a TWG on Units. A TWG on Acoustics and Vibration was formed, even though there is no such Consultative Committee currently in existence; however, one is expected to be formed by BIPM shortly. It was also proposed to form a Legal Metrology WG and a Documentation WG.

All of the WG's will be reporting directly to the Technical Committee, and will operate according to the following guidelines:

a) Each WG will include representatives from each SIM region; other interested countries may also participate.
b) Each WG will meet at least once a year.
c) WG Chairmen are expected to attend the TC meeting to be held at the SIM General Assembly and submit an annual report.
d) TWG members must be technical experts in the area of interest, but they will represent their countries/institutions.
e) The first set of TWG chairs will be designated by the TC; subsequently, the Chairs will be proposed by the TWGs to the TC for approval.
f) The term of each TWG Chair will be limited to 3 years (with no renewals).
g) Uncertainty issues will be addressed by each TWG.

The Technical Committee identified several changes that need to be made to the Statute of SIM. The following two items need to be added to Article 31, as items (i) and (j):
(i) Provide guidelines for the conduct of comparisons and dissemination of comparison results.
(j) Coordinate the activities of the Technical Working Groups.

A document providing operational guidelines for the TGWs will be prepared (based on an existing NORAMET document) and will be added to the SIM statute as Annex C. (see Ref. 4)

It was also recommended that Article 31, Item (a) be modified as follows:
a) Promote closer cooperation between SIM and BIPM, to coordinate comparison activities, ensure efficient implementation and dissemination of results.

And adding under Article 4:
g) Working Groups

Action Item: Prepare formal Proposal on Statute Changes for consideration of the Council (TC Chair).

4. Representation at BIPM
Alan Robertson summarized the activities of the Joint Committee of Regional Metrology Organizations and BIPM (JCRMB), and the important role regional organizations (such as SIM) will play in implementation of activities described in Appendix C of the BIPM document (Ref. 1). He expressed his concern regarding the selection of SIM representative to JCRMB at the last meeting of the Council without a well defined process, and without a well articulated set of responsibilities for the SIM representative. Based on this discussion, three options were submitted for consideration of the TC:

a) SIM will be represented as a single region in the BIPM - JCRMB
b) Two independent regions will represent SIM (NORAMET and SURAMET) in the BIPM - JCRMB (since they are the only regions with members who are active members of BIPM)
c) Three representatives from NORAMET, SURAMET and SIM will be on JCRMB.

The voting was as follows:
3 votes for option one (SURAMET, CAMET, ANDIMET)
1 absent (CARIMET)
1 abstention (NORAMET*)
(*NORAMET delegate abstained because the region had not voted on this issue.)

Responsibilities of the representative of SIM to the BIPM - JCRMB were articulated as follows:
- represent SIM in the deliberations of the Joint Committee,
- present the views of SIM as expressed by the TC and the Council,
- inform TC and Council about JCRMB meetings and activities,
- serve a term of three years (non-renewable term, i.e., an institution can not serve consecutive terms)

Following this discussion, the TC voted unanimously in favor of having NRC of Canada to represent SIM in the JCRMB.

The BIPM Agreement in its "Technical supplement to the Agreement" provides specific responsibilities to the Consultative Committees and the Regional Metrology Organizations (RMOs) such as SIM, especially as it relates to the "Recognition of Calibration Certificates" (T.11). To meet the needs of T.11 in the BIPM Agreement, the TC decided to form a Quality System WG, with the charge to study how T.11 can be implemented and extended to non-BIPM members. It was also recommended that WG should consider the use of organizations such as IACC in implementation of T.11. Similar to the other WG's, QSWG will have at least one member from each of the SIM regions.

A discussion ensued regarding the leadership of the Technical Working Groups. The following countries were assigned the responsibility to chair the TWG's:

The Chairmanship of the Quality Systems Working Group was assigned to INMETRO.
Action Item: NMI Representatives will designate chairs and members for each WG.

5. Proposed Comparisons
The following comparisons and related activities were considered for CY1999 and subsequent years:
- Chemical measurements (5 comparisons) - $30K was requested for materials preparation
- Hydraulic pressure (1 comparison) - $15K is requested for piston gage characterization and shipping.
- Mass comparison - The measurements are expected to be completed in FY1998. $75K is requested for data analysis and report preparation.
- New comparisons are proposed for measurements of Flow, Force and Acoustics (microphones, accelerometers)
- Temperature - comparison of fixed points is completed; SPRT round robin needed
- Viscosity - finished

Action Item: Submit Formal Proposals for each comparison activity and designate lead laboratory. (NMI Representatives and WG Chairs)

6. Proposed Budget for CY1999
Oscar Harasic explained that the budget for the current year (CY1998) was $600K, and it was planned to be spent as follows:

It was pointed out that only $400K was allocated for metrology related activities; the last three items totalling $200K were in support of other activities.

It was agreed that the CY1999 budget would be formulated in terms of the following items:
Coordination                (For meetings, General Assembly, tickets, per diem, etc)
Travel                         (For short visits of less than 6 months)
Regional Programs       (Training visits of more than 6 months)
Publications
Equipment Purchases
Personnel Support         (International and local - for consultations)
Miscellaneous

Oscar pointed out that if more than $35K is given to a single institution, then an Agreement of Execution needs to be signed. For more than $10K, a Memorandum of Understanding is needed; for less than $10K, only a letter is required.

There will be a set of workshops for training in chemical metrology (see Ref. 2). The training will be provided by CENAM, NIST and NRC staff. There will be two workshops in 1998, and three in 1999. Materials for all the workshops will be developed this year ( and therefore are budgeted for in the CY1998 Budget).

Those planning to attend the workshops should have the appropriate background (educational background and hands-on experience in analytical chemistry), and should be nominated by each institution as their key personnel for a technical area. Attendance at each workshop will be limited to twenty; 15 slots will be reserved, based on capabilities and committment to develop a chemical metrology program; another 5 slots will be reserved to ensure regional representation as much as possible.

Letters should be sent by each NMI, providing:
- The name of the nominee
- Information on the qualifications of the person (educational and professional experience)
- Information on the chemical metrology programs of the country (or on their plans to develop one, if a chemical metrology program does not currently exist)
- Willingness and ability to provide further training to others in their laboratory/country, and indicate what other countries in their region they will transfer the knowledge.

It was agreed that $120K would be allocated for the three chemical metrology workshops to be offered in CY1999 (assuming 20 attendees per workshop, $2,000 average support per attendee).

In addition, the following items were considered for the CY1999 budget:

In CY1999, the target budget figure for the metrology activities will be $700,000; accreditation and ANSI activities will be accounted for separately.

For the comparison activities, it was agreed that SIM-OAS would provide airfare support; the participating laboratories will provide per diem and labor support as part of their contribution to the comparison exercises. Specifically, the SIM-OAS Budget will cover only the following costs:

- Air fare (only) - for transport of artifacts or coordination meetings
- Shipment costs of equipment
- Preparation costs
- Publication and dissemination costs
- Cost of artifacts or reference materials to support comparisons

Proposed budget items include:

ANDIMET and CAMET have proposals for equipment purchases. These proposals should be sent to Steve Carpenter; the TC will make a decision based on their relevance to the comparisons and other factors.

The TC should publish criteria and schedules sufficiently ahead of the budget cycle decision points.
Budget submittal is due June 15th

Detailed proposals for
- comparisons
- training courses
- missions
- workshops
- equipment purchases

are due to the TC or PDC (wherever appropriate) by May 15th.

The TC and PDC will review proposals; they will develop draft budget requests, and will send copies to the TC and PDC members and the GC members.

Action Items:
- Send nominations for Chemical Metrology Workshops to the Technical Committee Chair(NMI Representatives)
- Send budget proposals to OAS by June 1st (Council, TC and PDC Chairs)
- Send proposals for equipment purchases to Tech, Cmtee Chair by May 15th (NMI and Regional Rep's)

7. Date/Place of the next Technical Committee Meeting
It was proposed to have the next meeting of the Technical Committee on July 20th or 21st in Albuquerque, NM in conjunction with the National Conference of Standards Laboratories (NCSL) Meeting, which will occur on July 19-23, 1998. This would give the opportunity for the Committee members to get acquainted with the instrument manufacturers and new measurement methods used for calibrations. An suggested alternative was to hold the meeting during the week of July 6th in Washington, DC in conjunction with the CPEM Meeting. The Chair will consider these options and will notify the members of the date and place of the next meeting.

Action Item: Announce Date/Place of next TC Meeting (TC Chair)

Prepared by: H.G. Semerjian