Continuing Professional Development (CPD)

To ensure that certificate holders maintain a high level of expertise both at the time of the examination and throughout their careers, each Associate or Certified Professional Constructor is required to maintain Certification status through a documented program of continuing education and service. This program is called the Continuing Professional Development (CPD) program.

Means of Obtaining Credit:

Certificants must earn 32 CPD credits per two-year period. Credits are awarded on a contact hour basis. That is, one hour of CPD activities (described below) is worth exactly one CPD credit. There are two ways of acquiring credit:

Education: 

All educational courses that pertain to the management of the construction process, from all reputable providers, can earn educational CPD credit. 

Educational is always earned at the rate of one credit for every one contact hour of educational content. A contact hour is generally considered to be 50 minutes of educational content. 

There is no limit to the number of educational hours you may submit in any two-year period: you may complete the entire requirement solely through educational credits if you like.

• Courses are considered to meet the CPD requirement if they can reasonably be assumed to enhance a constructor’s ability to manage the execution of construction projects. 

• Educational sessions at construction-industry associations’ conferences are an example of such courses, as are OSHA courses, university-level class work in construction science, etc. 

• However, a course does not need to be specifically targeted at constructors to be considered valid. For example, business administration and finance courses that are not exclusively meant for constructors (such as MBA courses, etc) would be worth credit in most cases. 

• ACs and CPCs should be prepared to justify a course’s relevance if its connection to construction is not obvious. If you have any questions about a particular course, please contact the CCC National Office.

• Providers are considered reputable if they can be reasonably assumed to consistently provide quality educational content. 

• CCC trusts certificants to choose quality providers, and providers do not need to be pre-approved or otherwise reviewed by CCC prior to being considered valid. 

• However, certificants should include documentation and contact information for all of their course providers, so that they can be verified if there is any need to do so.

Membership and Service: 

Certificants can earn CPD credit for attending meetings and conferences of construction industry associations (e.g. AGC, CIOB, ASA, etc), as well from performing community service for charitable associations. 

These credits are typically worth one CPD credit per hour of attendance, though it is possible to earn additional credits by holding leadership positions.

You may earn up to 12 credits per 2-year cycle in the Membership and Service category. The remaining credits must be earned through education.

• Attendance / Service: 

• Attending a conference or committee meeting as a member or guest, or doing volunteer service for a charitable organization, earns one credit per one hour of participation. 

• You may not claim Membership and Service credits for meetings in which you were financially compensated for your service, nor if you are claiming the same hours under the education segment.

• AIC Membership: 

• Membership in the American Institute of Constructors (AIC) is worth an additional one credit per year of membership. 

• This credit is earned regardless of the class of AIC membership, though you must be an AIC member in good standing for the entire year to qualify for this credit.

• Leadership:  

• If you hold a titled leadership role, such as Chair, Director, President, Treasurers, etc with a construction industry association board or committee, then your service earns one and one quarter CPD credits (1.25) per hour of meetings in which you acted in that leadership capacity. 

• This leadership “bonus” applies only to construction industry association work, and is not applicable to leadership service in charitable organizations.

CPD Review

Review Schedule:

• Certificants are reviewed every other year to verify that they have met the requirements of the CPD program. 

• Within every two-year period, the certificant must obtain a minimum  of 32 credits of CPD in areas specified by the AIC Constructor Certification Commission. 

• The 2-year Certification period begins on the January 1st immediately following the date the initial certification is issued, and ends on the December 31st exactly two years later. For example, the review period of CPCs who receive their certification on April 1st, 2010 would begin on January 1st 2011 and end on December 31st, 2012. 

• Credits from one two-year review period may not be carried forward to another succeeding two-year period.

Late Submissions and Deadline Extensions:

• Certificants may request deferrals and deadline extension if they have experience significant hardships that would reasonably prevent them from fulfilling the CPD requirements. 

• Examples of hardship include but are not limited to: long-term military service overseas, medical concerns, and extremely rural construction project assignments. 

• To request an extension, you must complete and submit a Deadline Extension Request (PDF) form, which is included in this packet, at least 30 days before the deadline. 

• Deadline extensions are evaluated on a case-by-case basis and filling out a deadline extension request does not guarantee that your request will be honored. 

Mandatory Audits:

• Ten percent of the ACs and CPCs completing each two-year certification period will be randomly chosen for an audit and required to submit their CPD Folders to the Commission along with physical documentation of all of their CPD credits. 

• Detailed instructions for the completion of the audit process will be provided to those selected to participate. 

• The remaining 90% of certificants will be required to sign statements attesting that the CPD requirements have been met by returning the reuired documents. 

• Notification of audit and statements for signatures will be sent to certificants no later than the August 31st immediately preceding the end of their certification period. 

• Attestation statements are due on of before the certification expiration date.