Certification Program Updates for Government Employees

By Bob Rude, PE, CVS-Life – Chairman, SAVE International Certification Board

The SAVE International Certification Board recently made changes to the Certification Program to benefit all employees of government agencies who are managing value programs. The highlights of these changes are below:

• Certification Fees
  • The fee for converting an existing AVS to the VMA certification is $50 USD for SAVE members and non-members.
  • The fee for the VE Refresher Course, including both parts, is now reduced from $150 USD to $50 USD. This is the recommended course for those candidates who have previously taken both the Module I and II courses prior to applying for the CVS certification exam, but not required.
  • The fee for all three parts of the Instructor Training course is now reduced from $250 USD to $45 USD.
  • The application fee to apply for the CVS certification exam is set at the SAVE member rate for government employees working in the management of an active value program for their agency. The applicants do not have to be a SAVE member to receive this discounted fee. However, we encourage them to become members when seeking the CVS certification.

• Existing AVS Certifications
  • Prior to June 30, 2020 a CVS applicant who previously obtained the AVS certification does not have to convert the AVS certification to the VMA certification prior to submitting their CVS application. However, we recommend the candidate should study the new materials that have changed in the new Certification Program. The new material topics are contained in the VE Refresher Course noted above.

• CVS Application “Learn” – Program Manager Credit
  • Value Program Managers and Project Managers will receive four certification points (CPs) for each full year of value program management employment, regardless of whether they serve full-time or part-time in their value program role. This means that any government value program employee can now earn eight CPs in two years.

• CVS Application “Share”
  • Credit will now be given for Value Methodology presentations given both internally to their organization and externally to other agencies or groups.

We believe the new certification process is a more responsive and direct pathway for the CVS candidates.

The details surrounding these highlights are addressed in the latest edition of the SAVE Certification Manual available on the SAVE website at www.value-eng.org/Certification.