The Institute has prioritized accreditation by the American National Standards Institute (ANSI) as a key objective for its professional certification program. ANSI accreditation requires that the program meet stringent global standards of ISO 17024 – an international standard which specifies criteria for personnel certification bodies. To this end, the standards and credentialing best practices of ANSI and ISO 17024 require research and ensuing data to inform the decision-making body on the certification scheme to include eligibility and exam content.
The Institute appointed a Practice Analysis Panel of 12 senior practitioners and stakeholders to spearhead the development of a comprehensive Practice Analysis Survey. The Commission released the Panel’s survey in August/September 2019 and received over 1,200 responses. A survey methodology was used to assess the frequency with which mid and senior level leaders in public procurement perform a range of responsibilities and the perceived importance of those responsibilities; in essence, validating what tasks professionals should be able to perform and the knowledge they need to accomplish those tasks. The data gleaned from this research informed the Commission on decisions related to eligibility (initial certification and re-certification) and exam content. Key conclusions from the survey include the following:
- Most of the responsibilities listed in the survey are performed by at least 75% of the public procurement professionals who responded.
- Professionals who have fewer years of experience in the profession, and those who have not attained a formal degree or certification, are less likely to perform many of the outlined responsibilities than their more experienced or educated peers.
- Many highly experienced and highly performing public procurement professionals reported that they do not have a bachelor’s degree.
- Only 19% of surveyed public procurement professionals believe that a bachelor’s degree or higher formal qualification is critically important as an eligibility requirement for the NIGP-CPP certification.