All data access and exchange relationships must be governed by agreements that meet Partners’ legal and programmatic obligations for sharing data. The Trading Partner Agreement (TPA) is intended to document and formalize the business processes and contractual aspects related to the exchange of data across the Exchange Network. It allows the parties to declare that they have a vested interest and commitment to making the relationship and the data exchange work and provides a vehicle to define the points of contact within their organizations with responsibility for managing a successful information exchange.
In some cases the required components of a TPA may already be met by programmatic documents and in that case a reference to the existing language location in those documents can be used to satisfy the TPA. When other agreements cover only some of the required components, an “umbrella” TPA could be implemented to identify and aggregate the relevant controlling documents along with inclusion of the missing components, under a single reference source. In all cases, the existing document(s), a hybrid, or a newly developed TPA must be in place within six months after the data exchange is initiated. Please see the information below for more information on how to develop a TPA for your exchange.
Components of a TPA
| Required | Optional |
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Tools for Developing a TPA
- Sample Trading Partner Agreements
- Facility and Beaches Data Exchange – NH DES
- Safe Drinking Water Information System (SDWIS) – MA DEP
- Homeland Security – MI DEQ
- NH-ME Lab Data Exchange – ME DOH
- Heartland Emergency Response Exchange