905 Quality Assurance Designee (QA Designee)

905.1 Certification Requirements For RESNET Certified Quality Assurance Designee

905.1.1 Quality Assurance Designees must meet all of the following experience requirements to be certified as a QAD:

905.1.1.1 Previous certification as a Home Energy Rater as stipulated in the standards; and complete one of the following as a certified Home Energy Rater:

905.1.1.1.1 Confirmed ratings on a minimum of twenty-five (25) homes, five (5) of which must have received quality assurance field reviews that pass the RESNET quality assurance checklist in accordance with the RESNET Standards, without significant non-compliance issues and complete QA Field reviews on a minimum of three (3) homes and QA file reviews on a minimum of six (6) homes under the supervision and mentorship of a certified Quality Assurance Designee; OR

905.1.1.1.2 QA Field reviews on a minimum of ten (10) homes and QA file reviews on a minimum of twenty (20) homes under the supervision and mentorship of a certified Quality Assurance Designee.

905.1.1.2 Pass the RESNET Quality Assurance Designee Competency Test with a minimum score determined by RESNET.

905.1.1.3 Successfully complete RESNET Quality Assurance Designee Training.

905.1.2 The requirements above must be met within twelve (12) months of passing the RESNET Quality Assurance Designee Test, or the individual must pass the test again prior to being recognized as a Quality Assurance Designee.

905.1.3 Submit an application to RESNET to be listed as a certified Quality Assurance Designee.

905.2 Professional Development for Quality Assurance Designees

905.2.1 All Quality Assurance Designees annually shall:

905.2.1.1 Document attendance at the RESNET Conference or 12 hours of RESNET approved CEUs;

905.2.1.2 Attend a RESNET Roundtable; and

905.2.1.3 Attend (either in-person or by reviewing the recording) all RESNET in-person or remote QAD update and training sessions.

905.2.2 A Quality Assurance Designee must renew annually with RESNET to maintain certification.

905.2.2.1 A QAD that does not complete the renewal for a given calendar year must have QAD annual Professional Development requirements verified with RESNET in accordance with these standards prior to reinstatement.

905.2.2.2 If two years have lapsed without a QAD completing the renewal requirements, the QAD must retake and pass the RESNET Quality Assurance Designee Test and complete a new application prior to reinstatement.

905.3 Quality Assurance Designee Relationship To QA Provider

905.3.1 All Quality Assurance Designees shall have a signed agreement with the QA Provider to be the QA Provider’s Quality Assurance Designee.

905.3.2 The Primary Quality Assurance Designee shall have an agreement that clearly indicates that they are accepting the role and responsibilities as Primary Quality Assurance Designee.

905.4 General Responsibilities of Quality Assurance Designees

905.4.1 Provide thorough Quality Assurance reviews to ensure that QA Providers submit accurate and current files to the RESNET Registry.

905.4.2 Complete all QA File and QA Field reviews for a Rating Quality Assurance Provider as required by these Standards.

905.4.3 Maintain higher knowledge of RESNET Standards to mentor RESNET Raters, RFIs, and Providers.

905.4.4 Serve as a liaison between RESNET and Rating Quality Assurance Providers, assisting with the following:

905.4.4.1 Confirm that Rating Quality Assurance Providers are informed of all changes to the RESNET ANSI and non-ANSI standards.

905.4.4.2 Querying RESNET on behalf of QA Providers if interpretive questions arise about technical or administrative issues regarding ratings.

905.4.4.3 Ensure that Rating Quality Assurance Providers are properly following all RESNET technical and administrative requirements set forth in these Standards or stipulated in formal interpretations issued by RESNET.

905.4.4.4 On behalf of RESNET, ensure that Rating Quality Assurance Providers are properly enforcing disciplinary actions for Raters/RFI's and/or adhering to any disciplinary actions imposed on a Provider by RESNET.

905.4.5 Maintenance of quality assurance files;

905.4.6 Field and file reviews of registered ratings.

905.4.7 QADs must report all significant non-compliance by a QA Provider to RESNET when it becomes known to the QAD so that RESNET may assist the QAD in working with a QA Provider to come back into compliance.

905.4.8 To the extent feasible, Quality Assurance Designees shall assist the Rating Quality Assurance Provider and RESNET with notifications to known clients when any Rating Quality Assurance Provider, QAD, Rater, or RFI have their accreditation or certification revoked or suspended.

905.5 General Responsibilities For Primary Quality Assurance Designees
The Primary QAD shall have ultimate responsibility, on behalf of the QA Provider, for fulfilling the requirements listed below and shall be the single point of contact to RESNET regarding all Quality Assurance matters.

905.5.1 Continuous maintenance of quality assurance files, including:

905.5.1.1 Field and File Quality Assurance reports;

905.5.1.2 Records of QA findings, corrective action and discipline;

905.5.1.3 Oversee the certification of new Raters and RFIs through their probationary period;

905.5.1.4 Reviewing the QA Provider’s compliance with the items on the Annual Rating Quality Assurance Provider Report checklist annually for the purpose of verifying a QA Provider’s compliance with the individual requirements for QA Providers set forth in the RESNET Standards;

905.5.1.5 Provide an attestation to the accuracy of the Field and File Quality Assurance reports and the records of QA findings, corrective action and discipline, for inclusion in the Annual Rating Quality Assurance Provider Report.

905.5.2 The Primary QA Designee may, at his or her discretion, delegate the work required to create and maintain the items listed in 905.5.1 to other Quality Assurance Designees working for the Rating Quality Assurance Provider. However, the responsibility for the completion, accuracy and reporting of these items may not be delegated and remains with the Primary QAD.

905.5.3 The Primary QAD shall work with the QA Provider to jointly decide on appropriate disciplinary action based on the QA Provider’s policy and procedures manual.

905.6 Corrective Action For QA Providers, Raters, And RFIS

Corrective Action is a mandatory action to be taken to correct an error(s) in energy modeling files, rating files, field protocols or to correct administrative issues.

905.6.1 Corrective action directions can be initiated by the Quality Assurance Designee (QAD), RESNET Quality Assurance Staff or Rating Quality Assurance Provider in response to error(s) found when performing a rating file review, field review, QAD requirements or RESNET requirements upon HERS: Raters, Rating Field Inspectors, QAD’s or Rating Quality Assurance Providers. The recipient of a corrective action must perform the corrective action or risk disciplinary action.

905.6.2 If the recipient refuses to take corrective action, the requested action may be taken by the requestor to ensure rating files are accurate.

905.6.3 Multiple instances of non-compliance with QA File and/or QA Field review for a Rater or RFI shall trigger an increased rate of QA File reviews or QA Field reviews.

905.6.4 When in the course of quality assurance file or field review, in a twelve (12) month period from January 1st through December 31st, the Quality Assurance Designee determines that three or more rating files consecutively fail file and/or field QA review or that field work (e.g. testing or inspections of minimum rated features) is being completed inaccurately or incompletely, the following, at a minimum, shall occur:

905.6.4.1 The Rater shall be placed on probation;

905.6.4.2 If the noncompliant ratings are due to errors found in QA File review, the Rater’s next three (3) ratings submitted following completion of the probation corrective action plan shall receive QA File review and shall not count toward the required minimum 10% of file QA;

905.6.4.3 When appropriate (e.g. the HERS Rater/RFI previously struggled with field compliance, a piece of equipment is used in the rating that is not commonly found in the market or used by a builder, field test results are out of typical range for the market, etc.), a QA Field review shall be completed by the Quality Assurance Designee on a minimum of one of the ratings that were out of compliance. Where QA Field review of the specific dwelling is not possible, the next available unit shall receive a QA Field review;

905.6.4.4 If the noncompliant ratings are due to inaccurate or incomplete field work, the Rater and/or RFI Field QA shall be increased by 1 rating for low-volume Raters/RFIs or 2 ratings for all other Raters/RFIs.

905.6.5 If additional noncompliance or major errors are discovered during the period of increased File or Field QA, the Quality Assurance Designee shall review 100% of the next five (5) rating files submitted or field inspections conducted. If noncompliance or major errors continue to be discovered, the Rater may be suspended in accordance with the Provider’s written HERS Rater/RFI disciplinary procedure.

905.6.6 A Quality Assurance Designees will conduct an evaluation using the RESNET QA Review Checklist to determine if the file or field QA review complies with the RESNET Standards or needs corrective action.

905.6.7 Under the supervision of the Quality Assurance Designee, non-compliant rating(s) shall be corrected in order to come into compliance with RESNET technical Standards.

905.6.8 The Quality Assurance Designee shall develop and implement a coaching action plan for the HERS Rater that addresses the underlying problems that led to the non-compliant rating. The coaching plan shall include mentoring the HERS Rater.

905.6.8.1 Record any findings requiring corrective action to the files, or warranting disciplinary action, and report these to the QA Provider

905.6.8.2 Enforce corrective action for any errors found in a QA Provider’s rating files

905.6.8.3 If a Rater or RFI refuses corrective action, Quality Assurance Designees are required to report any non-compliance to the Provider and report it to the RESNET Registry

905.7 Failure Of A QAD To Fulfill Responsibilities

It is the expectation of RESNET that Quality Assurance Designees fully comply with all the requirements set forth in these Standards. Discovery of one or more areas of non-compliance via the RESNET QA process, reporting by a QAD as part of the QA Provider’s QA process, or in the course of RESNET’s research of an ethics or consumer complaint will result in RESNET working with the QAD to come back into compliance. However, on occasion, there may be instances where actions by a QAD are truly egregious and, as such, would be deemed to be “significant non-compliance”. This Section seeks to define the thresholds when actions by a QAD are deemed to be significant non-compliance, thereby requiring that other QADs or the Rating Quality Assurance Provider report the significant non-compliance to RESNET and additional action by RESNET may be taken.

905.7.1 Significant non-compliance by Quality Assurance Designees shall include, but not be limited to, the following:

905.7.1.1 Failure to comply with multiple individual requirements for QADs, or requirements impacting multiple Raters, RFIs, and/or ratings, as set forth in the RESNET Standards and enumerated in a RESNET Quality Assurance Checklist;

905.7.1.2 Failure of a Quality Assurance Designee to comply with the RESNET Standards of Practice, Code of Ethics, or Conflict of Interest Disclosure;

905.7.1.3 Failure to follow a Provider’s written Rater and RFI disciplinary procedures for known or obvious non-compliance with the RESNET Standards, Standards of Practice, Code of Ethics, or Conflict of Interest Disclosure;

905.7.1.4 Failure to report significant non-compliance to RESNET.

905.7.2 The QAD may appeal an Action taken by RESNET under this Section using the Appeals procedures stipulated in Section 912 of these Standards.

905.8 Types Of Probation For Quality Assurance Designee

905.8.1 Confidential Administrative Probation. Results from violations found through a Quality Assurance Designee’s QA process, RESNET quality assurance monitoring, or through the RESNET complaint resolution process. Probations resulting from these violations shall remain confidential between RESNET and the QAD. These violations may include but are not limited to:

905.8.1.1 Failure to submit to RESNET any material information required to be submitted by the Quality Assurance Designee, in accordance with obtaining or maintaining accreditation;

905.8.1.2 Failure to comply with a QA Provider’s Policies and Procedures as they pertain to Rater Quality Assurance outcomes and disciplinary tracking;

905.8.1.3 Failure by Primary QAD to report a change in status of any QAD to RESNET;

905.8.1.4 Failure to adhere to requirements for quality assurance of Raters and RFIs, such as RESNET Quality Assurance checklist, that causes a deficiency in the QA of one or more Raters or RFIs;

905.8.1.5 Failure to adhere to requirements to oversee Rater and RFI certification and recertification;

905.8.1.6 Failure to provide timely notification to RESNET regarding a Rating Quality Assurance Provider who fails to enforce corrective action requirements for Raters or RFIs having non-conforming QA results;

905.8.1.7 Failure to use the most recent version of RESNET Accredited Software within the prescribed time frame.

905.8.1.8 Failure to adhere to one or more administrative and documentation/reporting provisions of the RESNET Standards.

905.8.1.9 Failure of the Primary QAD to ensure the accuracy of a QA Provider’s Annual Report pertaining to the Field and File Quality Assurance reports and the records of QA findings, corrective action and discipline;

905.8.2 Disciplinary Compliance Probation. More serious compliance violations found through a Quality Assurance Designee’s QA process, RESNET quality assurance monitoring or through the RESNET complaint resolution process. These violations may include but are not limited to:

905.8.2.1 Failure to correct the terms of a confidential administrative probation during the time period defined in the issuance of probation;

905.8.2.2 Deliberate failure to report non-compliance of QA Providers, Raters, and/or RFIs to RESNET;

905.8.2.3 Ethics or compliance complaint(s) investigated and validated by RESNET against a Quality Assurance Designee;

905.8.2.4 Failure to follow complaint resolution process and/or disciplinary procedures;

905.8.2.5 Deliberate failure to follow a Provider’s Rater and RFI Disciplinary procedures.

905.8.2.6 Deliberate failure to apply the appropriate RESNET Standards while performing QAD responsibilities;

905.9 Suspension Of Quality Assurance Designees

905.9.1 Any certified Quality Assurance Designee may have their certification suspended. These violations may include, but are not limited to:

905.9.1.1 Quality Assurance Designee has had more than one (1) Disciplinary Probation violation within a three-year period;

905.9.1.2 Deliberate failure to report significant non-compliance of QA Providers, QADs, Raters, and/or RFIs to RESNET;

905.9.1.3 Failure to correct the terms of a Disciplinary Probation during the time period defined in the notice of probation;

905.9.1.4 Failure to adhere to requirements for quality assurance of Raters and/or RFIs that causes a major deficiency in the QA of one or more Raters and/or RFIs, such as falsifying records, or misrepresentation of qualifications for RESNET approved programs;

905.9.1.5 Submission of false information to RESNET in accordance with obtaining or maintaining certification of QADs, Raters, or RFIs and/or accreditation of QA Providers;

905.9.1.6 Misrepresentation of any certification status in marketing materials, or services offered or provided, for which the QAD does not possess the appropriate RESNET accreditation or certification;

905.9.1.7 Knowingly registering fraudulent ratings to the RESNET Registry;

905.9.1.8 Willful misconduct by QAD, defined as an intentional disregard of any provision of the RESNET Standards, which a Party knew or should have known if it was acting as a reasonable person, but shall not include any error of judgment or mistake made in good faith.

905.9.1.9 Violation of RESNET’s Whistle Blower Protection Policy as specified in section 911.

905.9.2 A Quality Assurance Designee shall at a minimum be placed on suspension if they have any Disciplinary Probation violations within twelve months of reinstatement from a suspension.

905.9.3 Prior to reinstatement, the Quality Assurance Designee shall successfully resolve the issue(s) that resulted in the Quality Assurance Designee being suspended and inform RESNET in writing as follows:

905.9.3.1 That the issue(s) has(have) been successfully resolved;

905.9.3.2 State the steps taken to resolve the issue(s);

905.9.3.3 State the steps that will be taken to prevent the issue(s) from occurring again in the future

905.10 Revocation Of Quality Assurance Designees

905.10.1 Any Quality Assurance Designee certified by RESNET may have their certification revoked in any of the following circumstances:

905.10.1.1 A Quality Assurance Designee has had more than one (1) Disciplinary Probation violation within a five-year period;

905.10.1.2 In the event that deficiencies stipulated in a notice of suspension have not been remedied within the period set forth in such notice;

905.10.1.3 Quality Assurance Designee that elects not to renew or fails to meet renewal requirements;

905.10.1.4 Upon expiration of a QA Designee’s right to appeal a suspension of certification pursuant to Section 912 of this chapter or the conclusion of the appeals process in which a Quality Assurance Designee’s appeals are unsuccessful;

905.10.1.5 Fraudulent Activity, including but not limited to:

905.10.1.5.1 Falsifying inspections, data, files, reports and other documents or information;

905.10.1.5.2 Registering ratings for EEPs or other programs knowing that inspections were not completed as required by the program (example – checklist inspection not completed, but registering the home as ENERGY STAR qualified);

905.10.1.5.3 Deliberately allowing non-certified persons to perform inspections, testing and ratings;

905.10.1.5.4 Deliberately allowing suspended or revoked Raters or RFIs to perform inspections, testing and/or ratings;

905.10.1.5.5 Colluding with Provider(s) or other QAD(s) to by-pass RESNET requirements;

905.10.1.5.6 Colluding with QA Provider(s) or other QAD(s) to price fix

905.10.1.5.7 Severe violation of the Code of Ethics;

905.11 Probation/Suspension/Revocation Due Process Of Quality Assurance Designees

905.11.1 Quality Assurance Designees have the right to appeal a probation, suspension or revocation action in accordance with Section 912 of this chapter.

905.11.2 Failure to maintain adequate knowledge of the RESNET Standards will not be considered a defense in the appeals process.

905.11.3 For any QAD who has had their certification revoked or suspended in accordance with this chapter, RESNET shall inform the QAD’s Providers, Raters, RFIs, program administrators, rating software suppliers and any affected EEPs.