In a key step toward further professionalization of the commissioning field, ANSI, the American National Standards Institute, has accredited the Building Commissioning Certification Board’s Certified Commissioning Professional (CCP) credential.
The determination is based on compliance with International Standard ANSI/ISO/IEC 17024:2012, which codifies how certifications should be built. In addition, ANSI recognized the BCCB’s adoption of the Job Task Analysis and Eligibility Requirements of the Commercial Workforce Credentialing Council (administered by the National Institute of Building Sciences). ANSI has now validated the quality of the BCCB’s CCP designation.
CCP is an individual certification, affirming the credentialed person’s skills and adherence to the Building Commissioning Association’s Essential Attributes. G/BA Vice President and commissioning team leader John Villani holds the CCP credential; the firm is also a Certified Commissioning Firm under the Building Commissioning Certification Board’s program for companies.
Villani, a Director at Large on the Building Commissioning Association’s International Board of Directors, was one of a group of about a dozen industry experts selected to work with the Department of Energy and the Commercial Workforce Credentialing Council on the development of the relevant ANSI standard (specifically, the Job Task Analysis section). Accreditation by ANSI has also allowed the BCCB to receive recognition under the DoE’s Better Buildings Workforce Guidelines program, which helps federal agencies (and the contractors who serve them) respond to the Federal Buildings Personnel Training Act, as well as the Veterans Skills to Jobs Act. (The Better Workforce Guidelines Program is a set of voluntary guidelines intended to improve the quality and consistency of commercial building workforce credentials in the fields of building energy auditing, commissioning, operations, and energy management.)
Villani says, “The commissioning industry is at a pivotal point, with commissioning now finding its way into codes—specifically the IECC 2012 and 2015. While this may seem a big step forward, it is also a volatile time with regard to what a ‘certified’ commissioning provider means and who can provide these services. Due to ANSI accreditation, G/BA is optimistic that the level of rigor and standard of care represented by the CCP credential will remain very high and will closely follow commissioning industry best practices, such as the BCxA’s.”
BCxA Board President Bruce Pitts concludes, “ANSI accreditation, and the globally recognized CCP certification it administers, is a major distinction for a commissioning provider’s comprehensive commissioning portfolio of knowledge, skills, and abilities.”
