QAP Straight Talk

That’s A Wrap

by Chuck Hardy

NMEDA DIRECTOR OF QUALITY & COMPLIANCE

While most people want to forget 2020 ever happened, myself included, I don’t want to lose sight of some really amazing things that happened this past year for our association and specifically QAP. It might sound odd, but with the staff working from home for the most part, it allowed us to focus on some really important items that I am happy to say were a great success. For this article, I would like to wrap up this past year and go over some of the key improvements to the QAP and a little about what’s coming in 2021. In no specific order, here we go!

New QAP Audit Program Completes its First Cycle

In 2020 we completed our first cycle with the new audit program. I can tell from the feedback I have been receiving from our dealers that the new process has been a success. Dealers are telling me that they are learning more from these audits than they have in the past and that means we are on the right track. The audit should be a learning experience for the dealer. In 2020, about 85% of all audits were performed remotely, and while remote auditing was required to be put in place due to the COVID concerns, most dealers found that it was highly effective. Many dealers were surprised at how much could actually be accomplished remotely. While we hope to return to on-site auditing in 2021, one thing is for sure, remote auditing is here to stay.

New QAP Rule for Vehicle Conversions and New Vehicle Safety Review Posting Page

For years dealers complained about the array of WAV conversions on the marketplace that lacked available crash test data. There was no good system in place for conversions made by non-NMEDA members to identify what ones were crash-tested and what ones were not. Even scarier was that nothing prevented dealers from selling potentially non-FMVSS compliant conversions to customers. That all changed when the Regulatory Compliance requirement for the QAP Rules was put in force on July 1, 2020 and the NMEDA website was updated with the new posting page. After that time, all new conversions sold by dealers had to be posted by NMEDA. The new posting page shows all WAVs from NMEDA members, as well as a list of all non-member conversion companies and any of their WAVs that have been verified.

Complete Overhaul of the QAP Rules

By the end of 2020 staff completed a thorough review of the QAP Rules document looking for ways to streamline. The effort took the good part of the year to complete. Staff met at least once a month to go over every single section—every single word—in the QAP Rules and recommended changes to clarify the rule to be in concert with how the rule is applied in real life. Trust me when I say this was a very thorough review process. When staff had completed this work, the proposed changes were taken through a special task force, then QAP committee, and ultimately board of directors for approval. The new Rules were released to membership in January 2021. Most of the changes were non-substantive and were done to simplify the document to make it easier to read, while other changes include removing process notes and anything that were not actual rules.

And last but not least...

2021 QAP Guidelines Updates

The latest revision of the Guidelines has several key improvements. Section 1 (Make Inoperative) was rewritten to be more concise and to maintain accuracy with recent NHTSA rules changes. Section 16 (Hand Controls) was updated to include guidelines for the newer Hybrid style hand controls. Section 14 (Structural Modifications) replaced what was called “Lowered Floors” and now is a section that defines and provides guidelines for structural modifications performed by dealers. And finally, the Appendix C (Definitions and Terminology) was updated to include seven new definitions.

In summary, 2020 was quite a year for us to get a lot accomplished from a structural and procedural standpoint, and now we look ahead to this current year and what’s coming down the pike. Here are a few things you can look forward to in 2021...

QAPx Rollout

The long-awaited revision to QAP Express is just about finished and is coming in 2021. For anyone who doesn’t know what I am talking about, QAPx is a cloud-based application that dealers will use for processing QAP documentation. QAPx will handle processing of QAP documents like Final Inspection, Delivery, Make Inoperative, Weight Analysis, and the Label Reporting Form. Once you’re up and running on QAPx, you will no longer need to submit monthly label logs or reports. QAPx will also improve the efficiency of the annual audit. The audit firm will have access to all the label reporting forms and required QAP documents and will no longer need dealer involvement to conduct the initial ‘part one’ of the audit. That means that the only time needed from the dealer for the audit will be for the part two interview process and review of any action items. We are really excited to help our dealers process QAP documents more efficiently and we know once you see and use QAPx, you will be thankful too. Expect to hear more about the QAPx rollout as the year unfolds and for anyone currently using the ‘Docutrack’ system, don’t worry, that system is endorsed to process QAP and you will not be required to do anything differently.

New Website with Expanded Features

As you are probably aware, the new website was rolled out in late 2020. In 2021 we will continue to make improvements to the website that will include revised QAP training modules and additional information on compliance postings. You will also find that the QAP Rules will be found in a simplified index format, where the rules can be reviewed and navigated using hyperlinks. Hey, it may have taken us too long to get up with current technology, but we are getting there and we hope you will appreciate the new functionality and usefulness of our revised website.

So that my friends is a wrap on 2020, and some insight to what’s coming in 2021. You know our whole conference has changed as we co-locate with ADED, and with all the news about the COVID vaccines and possible herd immunity I am really hoping we can meet again in person this September at the conference. I know I am not alone in saying that we all miss seeing you face-to-face and hope that day is coming soon! Thank you for your patience over this past year, thank you for sticking with us on remote auditing, and thank you for doing the work you do for the public and for people with disabilities that rely on you to help them with mobility solutions. This is the best job I have ever had and it’s because I work for people like you that put it all on the line to help others. Thank you and see you all soon!