A2LA Accreditation: A Procurement Guide

A2LA — the American Association for Laboratory Accreditation — is one of the accreditation bodies that appears most often on calibration certificates, test reports, and vendor capability statements in the United States. For a procurement officer, lab manager, or research administrator evaluating a supplier, seeing ‘A2LA accredited’ on a quote answers one question (this body assessed the supplier against a recognized standard) but leaves several others open: accredited to which standard, for which specific methods, and does that scope actually cover what you’re buying. This guide explains what A2LA accreditation is, what it costs and involves, how to verify it, and how to weigh it against other accreditation bodies when comparing suppliers.

What is A2LA

A2LA (American Association for Laboratory Accreditation) is a nonprofit, third-party accreditation body founded in 1978. It is one of a small number of U.S. accreditation bodies recognized internationally through signatory status with the International Laboratory Accreditation Cooperation (ILAC) Mutual Recognition Arrangement (MRA) and the International Accreditation Forum (IAF) Multilateral Recognition Arrangement (MLA). That signatory status is what gives an A2LA certificate practical weight outside the U.S.: a test or calibration report issued under A2LA accreditation is, in principle, accepted by other ILAC MRA signatory accreditation bodies’ accredited labs without re-testing, which matters for suppliers or research programs operating across borders.

A2LA is not the only accreditation body operating in this space. ANAB (ANSI National Accreditation Board) and PJLA (Perry Johnson Laboratory Accreditation) are the other two most commonly seen on U.S. calibration and testing certificates, and NVLAP (National Voluntary Laboratory Accreditation Program), operated directly by NIST, covers a narrower, fixed list of test categories rather than general-purpose accreditation. None of these bodies accredit a supplier as generically ‘good’ or ‘compliant’ — each accredits a specific site against a specific standard, for a specific, published scope.

What standards A2LA accredits against

A2LA offers accreditation programs across several ISO/IEC conformity-assessment standards, not a single blanket certification. The programs most relevant to lab procurement and research-support buying decisions are:

ISO/IEC 17025 — testing and calibration laboratories. This is the standard behind most ‘A2LA accredited’ claims a procurement team will encounter on instrument calibration, environmental testing, materials testing, and analytical testing services. See CASRAI’s ISO/IEC 17025 guide for what this standard does and does not certify.
ISO 15189 (often paired with CLIA in the U.S.) — medical/clinical testing laboratories.
ISO/IEC 17020 — inspection bodies.
ISO/IEC 17065 — product certification bodies.
ISO/IEC 17043 — proficiency testing providers.
ISO 17034 — reference material producers.
ISO 20387 — biobanking facilities.

A supplier’s marketing materials will usually just say ‘A2LA accredited.’ A procurement evaluation needs the specific standard and, for ISO/IEC 17025 in particular, the specific scope — because ISO/IEC 17025 accreditation is granted method-by-method, not as a general statement that a lab is competent at testing or calibration in general.

What A2LA accreditation costs

A2LA does not publish a flat, universal fee schedule, because cost depends on the size of the organization, the number of test/calibration methods or standard operating procedures in scope, the number of sites, and the assessment time required. A2LA’s own guidance directs applicants to request a specific estimate rather than relying on a published rate card. Cost components buyers evaluating whether to pursue accreditation themselves (or comparing why a supplier’s pricing reflects accreditation overhead) typically include:

An application/enrollment fee.
An annual accreditation fee, generally scaled to scope size and organizational complexity.
Assessor time and travel for the on-site assessment, billed based on the assessor-days required to cover the requested scope.
Ongoing surveillance and reassessment costs, since accreditation is not a one-time event — it is maintained through periodic reassessment (commonly on an annual or multi-year cycle depending on the program) and requires a formal renewal before expiration.

Because of this variability, treat any specific dollar figure you see cited elsewhere online for ‘A2LA accreditation cost’ with caution unless it comes directly from an A2LA quote for your organization’s actual scope — the range for a single-method calibration lab and a multi-site testing operation with dozens of methods in scope is not comparable.

The accreditation process and timeline

A2LA’s published process for organizations pursuing accreditation follows a standard sequence common to ISO/IEC 17011-based accreditation bodies:

Application and document submission — the applicant submits its quality management system documentation, defines the scope it is requesting accreditation for, and pays the applicable fees.
Document review — A2LA reviews the submitted quality system and technical documentation for conformance before scheduling an on-site visit.
On-site assessment — an A2LA assessor (or assessment team, for larger scopes) evaluates the facility, personnel competency, equipment, method validation records, and quality system implementation against the standard. A2LA’s published guidance notes assessments are typically scheduled within about 60 days of an assessor being assigned.
Corrective action on nonconformities — if the assessment identifies nonconformities, the organization has a defined window (A2LA cites 30 days from the closing meeting) to respond with corrective actions before accreditation is granted.
Accreditation decision and certificate issuance — once nonconformities are resolved, A2LA issues the accreditation certificate and scope document.
Ongoing surveillance — accredited organizations undergo periodic reassessment to maintain accreditation; renewal document packages are generally due several months ahead of expiration (A2LA’s guidance references submitting initial renewal documents roughly six months ahead for full reassessment cycles, and roughly three months ahead for interim annual reviews).

For a supplier that already holds accreditation, none of this timeline is your concern as a buyer — what matters is confirming the accreditation is current and the scope covers what you’re purchasing, covered next.

How to verify an A2LA-accredited supplier

Do not accept ‘A2LA accredited’ as a checkbox on a vendor questionnaire or a logo on a quote. Verify it directly:

Use A2LA’s public directory. A2LA maintains a searchable public directory of accredited organizations (accessible from A2LA’s own site) where you can look up a supplier by name or certificate number and confirm the accreditation is currently active, not expired or suspended.
Check the scope, not just the certificate. Every A2LA-accredited organization has a published scope of accreditation listing the specific standards, methods, parameters, and ranges covered. A supplier can be validly A2LA accredited and still be performing the specific test or calibration you need entirely outside that published scope. Request the current scope document and confirm the exact method, parameter, and range you need is listed.
Confirm the certificate matches the performing site. Accreditation is granted to a specific site (and sometimes a specific set of field/mobile locations listed on the scope). A parent company’s accreditation does not automatically extend to every branch or subcontracted site.
Check the expiration and reassessment status. An accreditation certificate has a defined validity period and is maintained through periodic surveillance; a certificate that’s technically unexpired but flagged for open nonconformities in A2LA’s public record is a different risk profile than a clean one.
For international use, confirm ILAC MRA relevance. If test/calibration reports need to be accepted by a customer or regulator in another country, confirm that A2LA’s ILAC MRA signatory status (or the specific program’s inclusion in that arrangement) actually applies to the standard and scope in question.

CASRAI’s companion guide on verifying ISO/IEC 17025 accreditation before you sign walks through this scope-verification process in more depth, since ISO/IEC 17025 is the standard behind most A2LA supplier accreditation claims procurement teams encounter.

A2LA vs. other accreditation bodies: what actually differs

For a buyer, the practical differences between accreditation bodies (A2LA, ANAB, PJLA, NVLAP, and equivalents outside the U.S.) are narrower than marketing materials sometimes suggest. All ILAC MRA signatory bodies are assessed themselves — by ILAC peer evaluation — against the same underlying standard for accreditation bodies, ISO/IEC 17011, which is part of why their accreditations carry equivalent international recognition. What differs in practice:

Industry/scope focus. Some accreditation bodies have deeper assessor bench strength in particular sectors (e.g., forensic testing, construction materials, biopharma) than others, which can affect assessment quality and turnaround for a specialized scope.
Program breadth. NVLAP, for instance, only accredits a defined, published list of test categories — if a supplier’s needed test isn’t on that list, NVLAP isn’t an option regardless of preference.
Cost and scheduling. Fees and assessor availability vary by body and by region; this is an operational, not a technical-rigor, distinction.

What should not differ, if both bodies are genuine ILAC MRA signatories accrediting to the same standard and the scope genuinely covers your need, is the underlying technical credibility of the accreditation itself. Evaluate suppliers on documented scope match and current, verifiable status — not on which accreditation body’s name is more familiar to your team.

Procurement checklist: evaluating an A2LA-accredited supplier

Confirm the accreditation is current (not expired/suspended) via A2LA’s public directory, not just the supplier’s stated claim.
Request the current scope of accreditation document and confirm it lists the exact standard, method, parameter, and measurement range you need.
Confirm the accreditation applies to the specific site that will actually perform the work, not just the supplier’s parent organization.
If cross-border acceptance of results matters, confirm ILAC MRA signatory status applies to the relevant program.
Build accreditation-scope verification into your recurring vendor-requalification cycle, not just the initial onboarding — scopes and status can change between assessments.
Where a supplier’s accreditation doesn’t cover the full scope of work you need, ask directly whether the uncovered portion is subcontracted to another accredited lab, and verify that lab’s accreditation separately.

Lab-supply and calibration-service distributors vary in how directly they surface this information — some publish accreditation certificates and scopes alongside product listings, others require a direct request. LAC Health is one example of a lab-equipment and calibration-service distributor in this space; as with any supplier, the same verification steps above apply regardless of which distributor or accredited lab you’re evaluating.

Frequently asked questions

What is A2LA?

A2LA (American Association for Laboratory Accreditation) is a nonprofit, third-party accreditation body that assesses testing, calibration, inspection, certification, and reference-material-producer organizations against ISO/IEC conformity-assessment standards (most commonly ISO/IEC 17025 for testing and calibration labs). It is an ILAC MRA and IAF MLA signatory, giving its accreditation international recognition.

What are A2LA accredited laboratories?

An A2LA-accredited laboratory is a specific site that A2LA has formally assessed and confirmed meets the requirements of a given standard (typically ISO/IEC 17025) for a defined, published scope of test or calibration methods. Accreditation is not a general statement of quality — it applies only to the methods and parameters listed on that lab’s current scope of accreditation, which is searchable through A2LA’s public directory.

How much does A2LA accreditation cost?

A2LA does not publish a fixed price list; cost depends on the size of the requested scope (number of methods/SOPs), number of sites, and assessor time required, and typically includes an application fee, an annual accreditation fee, and assessment/assessor costs. Organizations considering accreditation should request a specific estimate from A2LA rather than rely on a generic figure, since costs for a single-method lab and a multi-site operation with a broad scope are not comparable.

Is A2LA the same as ISO 17025?

No. ISO/IEC 17025 is the international standard that defines the competence requirements for testing and calibration laboratories. A2LA is one of several accreditation bodies that assesses laboratories against that standard and issues accreditation certificates confirming conformance for a specific scope. Other bodies (ANAB, PJLA, NVLAP for defined categories, and international equivalents) accredit against the same standard.

A2LA Accreditation: What It Covers and How to Evaluate an A2LA-Accredited Supplier

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