Recent activities by the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency through the Biosystems Fields Initiative, as well as by the Departments of Defense and Energy, indicate an increased emphasis on field-scale deployment and evaluation of bioremediation, with a supportive role for laboratory-scale testing. Due to the complex nature of contaminated soil and the variety of soil bioremediation techniques, the application and evaluation of bioremediation as a field-scale technology has not been consistent from site to site. An approach that takes into account site -specific characteristics that can be utilized for all sites and for all forms of bioremediation would provide the regulatory and user communities with a consistent and useful tool.