Building a Unified ISO/IEC 17025 Quality System for WEQAA Laboratories: EVARA’s 18-Month Implementation

EVARA Group has launched an eighteen-month, Kingdom-wide program to design and activate a unified Quality Management System (QMS) for the laboratories of the National Center for Prevention and Control of Animal and Plant Pests and Diseases (WEQAA). Aligned with ISO/IEC 17025 and Saudi Vision 2030, the program strengthens national veterinary and plant-health surveillance by standardizing governance and documentation, validating and verifying test methods with defined uncertainty budgets and traceability chains, and elevating staff competency through role-based training, authorizations, and periodic re-assessment. In parallel, EVARA is tightening equipment and sample-flow controls—from calibration and preventive-maintenance schedules to chain-of-custody, storage, and data-integrity practices—while embedding a culture of continual improvement via CAPA routines, internal audits, risk and opportunity registers, management reviews, and KPI dashboards. Digital enablement underpins the whole effort, with disciplined document control and LIMS integration to ensure end-to-end traceability and reliable reporting.

Delivery proceeds in overlapping waves: a diagnostic and design phase establishes the baseline and the unified QMS blueprint; system build develops the quality manual, SOP suite, method packages, PT plans, and uncertainty frameworks; competency and culture are advanced through structured curricula, coaching, and internal-audit capability; pilot activation brings the system live in representative sites alongside LIMS and document-control rollout; and the final phase extends the model across the network, compiles evidence, conducts mock assessments, and closes actions ahead of formal accreditation. Success will be measured by high method readiness and PT performance, strong authorization coverage, near-perfect adherence to calibration and maintenance, full version control of active procedures, and on-time audit closure—tangible indicators that the QMS is not just written but working. EVARA’s role spans end-to-end leadership—from diagnosis and design to hands-on implementation and accreditation readiness—so the standards are embedded in daily practice and sustained well beyond the audit.