The only lab test needed is a simple, quick, and inexpensive biocompatibility test to determine if there are any substances present that would be toxic to the microbes, thus preventing them from doing their job. Once the site is inoculated, the microbes quickly adapt to their new environment and begin the break down of the pollutant. The speed with which this occurs is relative to the density of the needed microbe population. In the case of The Oppenheimer Formula , that amounts to well over 100,000,000,000 microbes per gram of product and since growth of the microbes is exponential, the pollutant is quickly and efficiently degraded, resulting in a faster closure of the site. This means that heavy equipment, if needed at all, is on site for a shorter period of time.
Labor is needed for a shorter period of time.
All of this translates into money saved and equipment and labor that, rather than being tied up on job 1, are ready to begin job 2. In both cost and time, the savings are considerable. They indicate that, all things being equal, the results achieved are the same. The problem with these studies is that, as any working engineer or field personnel will tell you, all things are seldom, if ever, equal. Read these studies carefully.