2019 Federal Select Agent Program Inspection Report Processing Annual Summary

Inspection reports play a critical role in ensuring the safety and security of work with select agents and toxins. Timely feedback following an inspection is essential so that the Federal Select Agent Program (FSAP) can quickly get important information back to entities, therefore allowing the entity to promptly address any identified concerns.

The 2019 Federal Select Agent Program Inspection Report Processing Annual Summary, published in June 2020, provides an analysis of inspection report timeliness data during calendar year 2019. The analysis finds that FSAP continues to send nearly all inspection reports to entities within the program’s goal of 30 business days following an inspection, underscoring the program’s continued commitment to provide timely feedback.

Key findings for 2019 include the following:

• FSAP issued 193 final inspection reports in 2019 – with 97 percent overall (188/193) issued within the target timeframe of 30 business days. The average was 21 days.

• Among reports issued by CDC’s Division of Select Agent and Toxins (DSAT), 98 percent met this goal, and among reports issued by Division of Agricultural Select Agents and Toxins (DASAT), 95 percent met this goal.
• All 7 immediate action reports were issued within the target timeframe of 10 business days. The average was 8 days.
• For the small number of reports that were delayed (5 total), analysis by inspection type found that the most common inspections also continue to be the most commonly delayed report types (verification and renewal inspections).

FSAP will continue to assess this information on an annual basis, including looking at reasons for any delays in order to identify potential opportunities for improvement. The program remains committed to issuing final inspection reports within the target timeframe of 30 business days.