IAS Personnel Certification Body Accreditation Meets
NIBS Better Building Workforce Guidelines
Third-party accreditation is required by federal agencies  

The International Accreditation Service (IAS) is offering required accreditation for Personnel Certification Bodies that provide certification to the Better Building Workforce Guidelines (BBWG) published by the National Institute of Building Sciences (NIBS).

The U.S. Department of Energy and the U.S. General Services Administration require third-party accreditation of Personnel Certification Bodies seeking to provide certifications under the Better Buildings Workforce Guidelines. The BBWG were developed to improve the quality and consistency of the commercial building workforce for key energy-related jobs. The BBWG include certification schemes for Building Energy Auditors, Building Commissioning Professionals, Building Operations Professionals, and Energy Managers.

The IAS accreditation program for Personnel Certification Bodies is based on ISO/IEC Standard 17024:2012 Conformity assessment –– General requirements for bodies operating certification of persons. Accreditation provides a global benchmark for personnel certification programs to ensure they operate in a consistent, comparable, and reliable manner worldwide.

Accreditation is a formal, independent verification that a program, institution, or company meets established quality standards and is competent to carry out specific conformity assessment tasks. For more than 50 years, accreditation has been the definitive global means to evaluate organizations. It is used by all the world’s major economies and many developing economies. For more information about IAS accreditation program for Personnel Certification Bodies, visit http://www.iasonline.org/

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A recognized accreditation body since 1975, IAS is a nonprofit, public benefit corporation. IAS is one of the leading accreditation bodies in the United States and a signatory to several international mutual recognition arrangements (MRAs). IAS accredits more than 800 organizations, including personnel certification bodies, testing and calibration laboratories, product certification agencies, management system certification bodies, inspection agencies, special inspection agencies, inspection programs for metal building manufacturers, metal building assembler inspection programs, fabricator inspection programs, training agencies, curriculum developers, field evaluation bodies, fire prevention and life safety departments, building departments, and building department service providers.