Policy 30: Recertification through Continuing Professional Development Operating Procedure

All continuing professional development activities must occur within the three years (36 months) prior to the current certification’s expiration date, unless otherwise noted herein.
Certificants with multiple certificates will be awarded the same expiration date for all certificates.
Certification expiration dates will remain the same, regardless of any additional certification activity within a specific recertification period.
Activities undertaken to acquire CPD points for a particular certification may be used (in whole or in part) to acquire CPD points for other certifications if the activities are recognized as common to the certification practice areas in question.
Certificants must submit a completed recertification application form, a detailed listing of all earned CPD credits, and payment of the appropriate recertification processing fee to NICET prior to the certification expiration date. Any of these required materials postmarked/shipped after the certification expiration date will be considered by NICET as "late", and all affected certifications will be subject to established reinstatement procedures.
Information provided on recertification application forms will be reviewed for understandability, applicability, and comprehensiveness.
If additional documentation or clarification is required, the candidate will be notified and will be given a maximum response deadline to maintain their certification(s) in Active Status.
1. Certificants who exceed their current expiration date (or any NICET-approved expiration date extension) due to their failure to submit the requested additional documentation by the established response deadline must follow the established reinstatement procedures.
All fees for recertification will be as established by the NICET Board of Governors, and must be paid in advance.
1. Certificants with more than one active certification shall pay the base recertification fee and an incremental fee for each additional certification held.
2. The recertification fee is not refundable if recertification is denied.
Candidates who successfully complete the recertification requirements will be issued a certificate and approval letter/wallet card showing a new certification expiration date.
Failure to accumulate the required number of CPD points before the end of the current certification period will cause the certification to expire, unless otherwise noted herein.
Time extensions to the established certification expiration dates for valid civic responsibilities (i.e., military duty, jury duty, etc.) or for unforeseen family medical situations will be considered on a case-by-case basis. NICET reserves the right to require additional professional development activities to verify continued competence of the certificant if a time extension exceeds 18 months.
Reinstatement of an expired certification to Active Status after the expiration date requires the certificant to pay the requisite recertification fee, pay the reinstatement fee, and complete one of the following:
1. If within the first 18 months immediately after the latest established certification expiration date, provide documentation to support the required 90 CPD points acquired during the latest three–year certification period.
  1. If a candidate cannot document all 90 CPD points from within the three-year certification period, the candidate will be allowed to complete additional educational activities to make up the difference. CPD points for additional educational activities completed may not be used again for future recertification. This additional education documentation must be submitted within 6 months of the original certification expiration date.
2. If more than 18 months immediately after the latest established certification expiration date, the candidate must:
  1. Submit an updated work history describing all positions, duties and responsibilities held from the time of their last work history submission. Candidate must demonstrate at least 12 months of relevant work experience within the past three years, and meet all other current certification requirements. Detailed work experience must be demonstrated for each specialty area being reinstated, through a time allocation break-out.
  2. Submit newly verified Performance Measures for the highest certification level previously attained;
  3. Submit a new Personal Recommendation; and
  4. Apply for, with appropriate payment, and successfully complete the current written examination(s) for the highest certification level previously attained (not the highest level previously passed).
Note 1: Successful reinstatement of an expired certification to Active Status places the certification into the 3-year time period that would have gone into effect if the certification had not expired. If a 3-year time period was not originally assigned, a new 3-year time period will be established based on the date of application for reinstatement. For example, if the original certification was assigned a 3-year time period that expired on 7/1/2016 — the reinstated certification will expire on 7/1/2019.
Backdating of Certification
Certification renewal applications received after the certification expiration date will have a certification renewal period beginning with the date of approval and incur a gap in the certification dates.
Inactive Status may be requested by certificants with Active Status certification(s) upon renewal if a certificant is not actively working in their certification practice area(s) but is still active in their profession through education activities and/or other professional involvement.
1. Inactive Status may be requested for one or more certifications held.
2. Written documentation of unemployment, reassignment to work activities outside their certification practice area(s), long-term medical disability, etc. will be required at the time of application for Inactive Status.
3. Inactive Status certificants will receive a letter to acknowledge their status (but not a wallet card or wall certificate).
4. To maintain Inactive Status, at least 18 CPD points per three-year period must be acquired through additional education and/or advance the profession.
5. Inactive Status may be continued indefinitely in three-year periods by submitting payment of the Inactive Status fee along with documentation supporting the required additional education/professional activities.
6. Certification(s) will automatically expire unless maintained in Inactive Status or returned to Active Status.
7. Reactivation of an Inactive Status certification to Active Status requires the certificant to:
  1. acquire 30 CPD points in the most recent 12-month period,
  2. pay a reactivation fee and the appropriate proportional amount of the current recertification fee(s).
Retired Status may be elected by certificants with Active Status certification(s) at the end of the certification period if the certificant has attained the age of 55 and retires from all paid employment in and/or related to his/her certification practice area(s).
1. Retired Status requires the submission and acceptance of the recertification application, proof of age, proof of retirement (written statement from employer), and payment of the Retired Status fee.
2. Retired Status will be assigned to all certifications held.
3. Retired Status certificants will receive the NICET Newsletter.
4. Retired Status may be continued indefinitely for three-year periods by submitting payment of the "Retired Status" fee along with the Application for Continued Technician/Technologist Retired Status Certification.
5. If the certificant elects not to continue in Retired Status, all certifications of record will expire and all test and certification records will be deleted from the database. Reinstating expired certifications is then only possible by satisfying the criteria specified in Item 12.b. above.
Implementation of this policy began on January 1, 1996.
1. All active certificate holders were assigned a three-year certification expiration date.
2. All first-time certifications issued July 1, 1997 or later will carry an expiration date of three years after the issue date.
  Note: A certification practice area encompasses those activities associated with the certification awarded. For example, if you are certified in Highway Construction — that is your certification practice area. If you are certified in Fire Alarms Systems — that is your certification practice area. If you are certified in Industrial Engineering Technology — that is your certification practice area.
Certificants will be notified of their pending recertification date (by mail, email and/or text messaging) starting approximately 6 months prior to their certification’s expiration date.

Exhibit I. Continuing Professional Development Points

Point Assignment to Continuing Professional Development Activity Categories:
1. Total points required in the 3-year period for each certification (see Notes 1 & 2 ) is 90 CPD points (100 percent)
2. Maximum points possible in each activity category:
  1. Active Practitioner/up to 24 points per year (72 points in 3 years) (80 percent)
  2. Additional Education/up to 72 points in 3 years (80 percent)
  3. Advance Profession/up to 45 points in 3 years (50 percent)
  4. Certification Activity/up to 90 points in 3 years (100 percent)
  5. Pass Special Exam/45 points (50 percent)
Note 1: When seeking recertification in more than one certification practice area, 90 points are needed for each certification. Dual counting of points is permissible in most categories where job assignments or point accumulation activities can reasonably be considered as useful or common to multiple certification practice areas. For example, one may be an active practitioner in more than one certification practice area during an employment period and may earn up to 24 points per year for each certification.

Note 2: The intent of Policy #14, "Qualifying Work Experience," applies to all facets of the recertification policy. The foundation of the NICET certification process is based upon work experience gained in the United States. Equally, the preponderance of CPD points for recertification must be acquired in the United States. This rule applies to "active practitioner" work experience and to all other point-accumulating activities.

Note 3: NICET reserves the right to request additional documentation of continuing professional development activities at any time.

Point Determination Within Specific Activity Category:

ACTIVE PRACTITIONER
An active practitioner is defined as a certificant whose primary employment results in significant time periods performing tasks that are directly associated with the technical aspects of the certification practice area(s). The certificant may function as a hands-on practitioner, as an immediate supervisor, or as a technical projects manager. Primary employment refers to the certificant's main job and is not dependent upon remaining with the same employer. Holding a regular second job (moonlighting) does not provide any active practitioner points even if the second job involves a different certification practice area.

Point Earning (Maximum of 24 in a one-year period):

24 points for the certification practice area when primary employment equals or exceeds 1000 hours or 120 work days (whichever occurs first) and involves relevant tasks/activities that occur on a regular basis during the employment period. (A work day is defined as 7 hours or more.)

When primary employment is less than 1000 hours or 120 work days, the points earned are calculated by one of the following formulas:

number of hours worked x 24
1000 hours

number of days worked x 24
120 days

Points claimed by these formulas are to be whole numbers only (round up to allow for all decimals).

ADDITIONAL EDUCATION
Additional education is defined as efforts undertaken to advance, broaden, or enhance the certificant's technical knowledge and job skills. These efforts may range from taking a college course for a grade to a less formal company sponsored in-house training session. NICET does not pre-approve courses, seminars or other training efforts for CPD points. It is the responsibility of the certificant to assure that such activities meet the NICET requirements, particularly the requirement that the additional education constitutes professional development for that individual; in other words, it must increase the certificant's knowledge — not merely cover what should already be known.
1. Point Earning (Maximum of 72 in the 3-year period):
  1. college credit courses:
    1. 15 points per semester hour;
    2. 10 points per quarter hour.
  2. offerings such as workshops, seminars, distance learning (online courses), technical presentations at meetings, in-house employer training, and training sessions:
    1. 1 point per contact hour.
      Note: A contact hour is defined as a 50 to 60-minute period devoted to the learning effort of new material. Fractional points are not recognized — a stand-alone 30-minute session has no point value; however, a course of two 30-minute sessions has a value of one point.
ADVANCE PROFESSION
Advance profession is defined as volunteer or for-hire activities such as providing certification practice area expertise to assist committees, task forces, and the like to reach their objectives; making presentations at meetings of others who seek to increase their knowledge of the certification practice area; writing technical research or position papers pertinent to the certification practice area for publication/distribution; serving as an instructor for a training/educational offering pertinent to the certification practice area; participating actively in career day, science fair and related events; writing acceptable NICET certification examination questions; serving on an educational institution curriculum development advisory committee; and participating in professional membership organizations which contribute to the advancement of the certification practice area or the professional role of the engineering technician and the engineering technologist.
1. Point Earning (Maximum of 45 in the 3-year period):
  1. Active Committee/Task Force Service
    An active committee/task force is defined as one conducting technical business by way of activities such as one or more meetings per year, one or more reports/position papers issued per year, one or more studies/surveys underway per year, etc. Service on an educational institution curriculum development advisory committee is considered to be relevant committee/task force service, as is serving as a NICET Subject Matter Expert (SME). Point earning is as follows:
    1. 1 point per month as an officer of an active committee/task force.
    2. 0.5 point per month as a participating member of an active committee/task force.
    3. Up to 15 points as a NICET SME for specific task assignment/session.
  2. Presentations
    A presentation is defined as the preparation and subsequent audio, visual, and/or written delivery of technical information or information about the profession to others who are seeking to advance, broaden, and enhance their knowledge and/or job skills. Point earning is as follows:
    1. 15 points for being the author or co-author of a technical paper or instructional materials for a course.
    2. 5 points for delivery of your paper or presentation to an audience at a scheduled meeting.
  3. Course Instructor
    A course instructor is defined as a person who meets with and directs a technical educational effort designed for a particular type of student. (A first time offering of a course by an instructor is also covered under 1) and 2) of the "Presentations" category above.) Point earning is as follows:
    1. 1 point per each contact hour when conducting a training course.
    2. 15 points per semester hour (10 points per quarter hour) when serving as the instructor for a scheduled course in a post-secondary educational institution.
  4. Career Day Presenter A career day presenter is defined as a person who meets with and explains to students the various aspects of careers in engineering and engineering technology; serves as a judge at a science/engineering fair; is an active volunteer in an Engineers Week event; is an active volunteer in a MATHCOUNTS contest; or actively participates in other related activities. Point earning is as follows:
    1. 1 point per participation day, to a maximum of 10 points during the three-year period.
  5. Professional Society Activity
    Professional society activity is defined as involvement with organizations that exist to promote technical knowledge and techniques pertinent to the certification practice area or that exist to unify individuals in a particular career area. Involvement is further defined as activities which are not specifically covered by the "Active Committee/Task Force Service" category above. Point earning is as follows:
    1. 1 point for each year of a society membership held (up to 3 points per society), to a maximum of 12 points. (Caution — a local and a national membership in the same society can only provide 3 points.)
    2. 1 point for each meeting attended, to a maximum of 15 points.
CERTIFICATION ACTIVITY
Certification activity is defined as the efforts required to upgrade a NICET certification and/or achieve a certification in a related practice area
1. Point earning is as follows (maximum of 45 in the 3-year period):
  1. upgrade in the certification practice area:
    1. 90 points for achieving an upgrade of the NICET certification during the 3-year certification period
    2. 45 points for meeting a higher-level exam requirement (but certification not achieved) during the 3- year certification period;
    3. 15 points for passing one examination within a multi-part standard examination package (but not all parts of the examination package are passed)
    4. 1 point for each NICET work element passed during the 3-year certification period that can be used to meet the higher level exam requirement (but full exam requirement not met).
  2. certification in a related practice area:
    1. 30 points for each NICET certification achieved (initial or upgrade) during the 3-year certification period;
    2. 15 points for meeting a higher-level exam requirement (but certification not achieved) during the 3- year certification period;
    3. 5 points for passing one examination within a multi-part standard examination package (but not all parts of the examination package are passed)
    4. 0.5 points for each NICET work element passed during the 3-year certification period that can be used to meet the higher-level exam requirement (but full exam requirement not met).
  3. 15 points for each NICET-recognized certification achieved during the three-year certification period
SPECIAL WRITTEN EXAMINATION
The special written examination is defined as the current written examination designed specifically for the actual certification practice area and certification level (grade).
1. 45 points for passing the appropriate NICET special examination for the certification practice area.