Prepare for REAC’s New Quality Assurance Re-Inspection Protocol
In line with its ongoing process of increasing quality control procedures on REAC inspections, HUD recently implemented a new Quality Assurance Inspection (QAI) process, which may be done within five days of the REAC inspection. Generally, within two business days of the contract inspection, a federal inspector may assess the certified inspector’s performance using the same inspection protocol and same sample used by the certified inspector.
Resident Notice Requirement
As part of this initiative, HUD told the certified inspectors to inform owners and management that they must notify residents of the inspection day and that for up to five days past the completion of the inspection a QAI may be performed that would require re-entry by a QA inspector to the same units inspected during the original inspection. Our Model Letter: Notify Residents of REAC Inspection, below, includes a statement that addresses the new resident notice requirements.
Same Buildings, Same Units
The primary goal of the QAI process is to improve inspector performance by way of identifying areas of additional training the inspector may need. For the QAI, only the buildings and units selected on the initial inspection will be subject to re-inspection. The federal QA inspector won’t have access to the original inspection report.
The new QAI process is similar to the process REAC had referred to as a Limited Quality Assurance Review in the past. The federal inspector effectively walks in the inspector’s shoes and inspects the exact same buildings and units to ensure the certified inspector is conducting the inspections according to HUD-REAC protocol.
With the new QAI process, however, the time frame for a re-inspection is clearly defined. In the past, a limited quality assurance review could occur weeks or months after the HUD-REAC inspection was conducted. Now, with HUD potentially following up within five business days, the federal inspector can more accurately assess the certified inspector’s performance. Site conditions at the re-inspections most likely will be the same.
Inspection Scores
Your initial inspection report will be placed on hold pending the outcome of the QAI. The new QAI process doesn’t create any new scoring metrics on QAIs. After the QAI, the site may receive either the original inspection report or, if the certified REAC inspector was found to be out of standard, then the Quality Assurance Inspection Report and its score; or the inspection can be excluded and another inspection ordered.