CSI CERTIFICATION SEASON HAS ARRIVED!
by Kevin O'Beirne, P.E., CSI, CCS, CCCA
Malcolm Pirnie, Inc. / CSI Buffalo-WNY Chapter Certification Chair

It’s time to register for the spring 2009 Construction Specification Institute (CSI) certification exams. This article presents some info on CSI’s certification programs and what’s new for the spring 2009 exams. The following CSI certifications are available: Construction Documents Technologist (CDT), Certified Construction Specifier (CCS), Certified Contraction Contract Administrator (CCCA), and Certified Construction Product Representative (CCPR)—information on each is presented below.

All exams are held during the week of March 30-April 4, 2009; the early-bird (reduced fee) registration deadline is January 30, 2009 and the final registration deadline is February 28, 2009. For complete information, see CSI’s certification website—which is chock-full of information, including free, downloadable study guides—at www.csinet.org/certification.


What’s New for Spring 2009

1. The standard construction documents on which the exams are based have changed. The spring 2009 exams are based on the AIA 2007 and EJCDC 2007 standard documents, and CSI’s SectionFormat/PageFormat 2007 (issued in March 2008). The spring 2009 exams are the first CSI exams based on these new documents.

2. Spring 2009 is the first time the CCS, CCCA, and CCPR exams are being administered through Prometric, Inc. The CCS, CCCA, and CCPR exams are no longer being offered in paper form. As in 2008, the CDT exam will also be administered through Prometric, Inc.

Info for the Buffalo-Western NY Chapter

CSI’s certification exams will again be offered at over 400 Prometric test centers nationwide. Our local Prometric test center is at 4927 Main Street, in the Snyder Place Shopping Center, Buffalo, NY 14226, (716) 565-0570; other test centers are located in other upstate New York and Pennsylvania cities, including Erie, Rochester, Syracuse, Vestal, and Albany. Test center locations can be viewed at www.prometric.com/CSI.

CSI’s Buffalo-Western New York (WNY) Chapter will again offer study/exam preparation courses online (“webinars”) free of charge for the CDT and CCCA exams, through Malcolm Pirnie, Inc. The study courses will be held during lunch hours from late January through late March; about eight CDT sessions/presentations are planned and six or seven CCCA presentations. To further assist participants in preparing for their exam, also included are free distribution by the Chapter/Malcolm Pirnie of a practice exam for each program, and a daily e-mail with the “CDT practice question of the day” with answers and related commentary provided the next business day. For more info on these free programs, contact Kevin O’Beirne, (716) 667-6667, kobeirne@pirnie.com.

Online, free CDT and CCS study courses are also offered by AEC Daily at www.aecdaily.com/csi. AEC Daily’s courses can be taken by the individual at any time convenient to you. On AEC Daily’s CSI page, select the course titled, “Construction Documents Education Program” for the CDT, and select “Construction Specification Education Program” for the CCS; each AEC Daily CSI course has eleven units. To access these courses, it is necessary to obtain a free AEC Daily online account.

Unfortunately, the Buffalo-WNY Chapter does not offer a study course for, and we are not aware of any online courses for, the CCPR exam.

Registration Information

Registration for the spring exams opened in September. Registration can be done online at www.csinet.org/certificatoin or via hardcopy (PDF) forms that can be downloaded from CSI’s certification website. Registration fees and deadlines are:

The registration fees listed above include a free study guide (which can also be downloaded for free at www.csinet.org/certifications) but do not include costs associated with acquiring other study materials, such as CSI’s Project Resource Manual textbook, or the CSI, AIA, and EJCDC standard documents on which the exams are based.

Applicants/registrants must use their legal name, as it appears on your government-issued photo ID that you will use to gain entrance to the exam, on your application and in all communications with CSI/Prometric.

Several weeks after submitting your application to CSI, you will receive a notice from CSI/Prometric via US Mail asking you to select your exam site, day, and time in the spring exam week. After your exam site, day, and time is successfully selected through Prometric, you will receive an exam site entrance letter (“entrance ticket”) from Prometric. Do NOT lose your entrance letter/ticket because it is required for your admission to the exam site on the day of your test.

Cancellation Policy:
Cancellations received by CSI up to 14 days before your scheduled exam date are eligible for a full refund; cancellations received by CSI between 14 and two days prior to the scheduled exam date are eligible for a 50 percent refund; and cancellations received by CSI less than two days before the scheduled exam are not refundable. Registrants have the option to reschedule their exam date or time at their Prometric test center, provided it is within the same testing week, and there is an available appointment at the test center. Deferment to a subsequent exam (i.e., in a different exam week) is not allowed by CSI; rather, a registrant seeking to defer to a different exam week must cancel their registration and re-register and pay the full fee for the subsequent exam.

Certifications

Advance your knowledge and career through CSI’s certification programs! For those who have thought, “There ought to be a ‘how-to book’ for, and ways to measure knowledge of, construction documents and the construction administration process,” this program is for you!

CSI certification is the key to increased knowledge and career advancement, whether you are a design professional, contractor, subcontractor, owner, product representative, or anyone else who works in the construction industry. Certification shows your commitment to excellence within the construction industry. It offers a substantive, flexible, yet practical education that can be applied directly to the job-at-hand.

With CSI certification, you become part of a select group of individuals with the CDT, CCS, CCCA, or CCPR designation associated with their name ... and you receive the industry-wide respect and recognition that goes along with it.

Learn more about CSI’s certification programs at www.csinet.org/certifications. All the exams are closed-book, multiple-choice, and administered via computer. CSI offers four exams/certifications:

1. Construction Documents Technologist (CDT). The introductory level, covering project delivery systems, construction documents, procurement (bidding or negotiating), construction administration, facility management, and more. The CDT exam is 100 multiple choice questions with a two-hour time limit. In spring 2008, seventeen people passed the CDT exam at the Buffalo-area exam site.

A CDT is required to take the advanced certification courses (CCS, CCCA, CCPR). The CCS, CCCA, and CCPR exams are each 200 multiple choice questions with a four-hour time limit. CCS, CCCA, or CCPR accreditation requires obtaining professional development hours accredited by CSI or by your state’s professional engineering licensing division, and payment of a tri-annual fee to CSI to keep the accreditation up-to-date. An individual may obtain more than one advanced-level certification. Information on the advanced-level certifications is presented below:

2. Certified Construction Specifier (CCS). This advanced level certification covers the preparation of construction documents and specifications, and requires knowledge of industry-standard formats by CSI, such as OmniClass, UniFormat, MasterFormat 2004, SectionFormat/PageFormat 2007, and CSI’s Project Resource Manual.

3. Certified Construction Contract Administrator (CCCA). This advanced level of certification covers procurement and construction administration in all its forms, and requires knowledge of project delivery systems and the contractual relationships associated with each, and knowledge of industry-standard documents such as AIA’s A101 Owner-Contractor Agreement; A201 General Conditions; and B101 Owner-Architect Agreement; and EJCDC’s C-520 Owner-Contractor Agreement; C-700 General Conditions; and E-500 Owner-Engineer Agreement; and CSI’s Project Resource Manual. After the CDT, the CCCA is CSI’s second-most-popular certification program.

4. Certified Construction Product Representative (CCPR). The advanced-level CCPR certification is for product representatives and covers the product representative’s role and responsibilities in the design, procurement, construction, and facility management phases of a project.

For more information on CSI’s certification programs, and the Buffalo-WNY Chapter’s associated programs, please contact Kevin O’Beirne at Malcolm Pirnie, Inc., (716) 667-6667, kobeirne@pirnie.com