President’s Message – November/December 2023

By Rob Stewart, CVS-Life, FSAVE, PMP, PMI-RMP – President, SAVE International

I am excited to share with you several developments related to SAVE International upcoming events.

The first concerns the inaugural USAV (U.S. Advocacy for Value) Day on November 16, 2023, in Louisville, KY. This event will focus on promoting and improving value program for government agencies within the U.S. Everyone, including those from private industry, is welcome to attend and folks from government agencies in other countries will find this event invaluable.

This will be a hybrid event, consisting of both an in-person gathering coupled with virtual forums. This was done to make the event more accessible to public agencies.  It will feature both networking opportunities (for in-person attendees) and several forums that will focus on topics related to maintaining effective value programs. Panels for each forum will comprise folks representing public agencies. We strongly encourage everyone to attend in person if possible. For more information, including details on the program, visit www.value-eng.org/2023USAVDay.

Forum topics will include:

• Use of VM on Projects
• Application of VM to Organizations
• Relationship and Integration of VM to Other Agency Programs
• Promoting VM in the Public Sector

In addition, the Value Champion Award will be presented to the individual efforts of a government official in furthering VM within their organization.

We currently have over 60 individuals from many federal, state, and local agencies who plan on attending and who will be sharing information about their value programs. Government agencies that have so far committed to attend:

• U.S. Army Corps of Engineers
• U.S. State Department, Overseas Building Operations
• U.S. Army Combat Capabilities Development Command Aviation & Missile Center
• California Department of Transportation
• Oregon Department of Transportation
• Washington Department of Transportation
• Minnesota Department of Transportation
• New York City, Office of Management and Budget
• Southern California Metropolitan Water District
• Sound Transit
• Town of Gilbert, Arizona
• U.K. Ministry of Defense

We expect to attract participation from additional agencies. If you represent a government agency in the U.S. and are interested in participating on a forum panel, please contact SAVE at info@value-eng.org.

The second update concerns changes to the Certification Board. SAVE is making significant changes to the educational curriculum to better align with the certification Core Competencies along with the certification program. These changes will require modification of many aspects of the existing certification process. The SAVE Board of Directors has discussed this issue for some time and has concluded that it is in the best interests of SAVE, its members, and future certified professionals, to move forward with these changes, and they will require significantly more effort than is realistic for a volunteer organization to manage in a timely manner.

Effective November 1, 2023, all SAVE certification activities will be transferred to a new Certification Advisory Panel that will continue with current certification business as they make changes to the certification process. The Panel will undertake new initiatives, to align certification to better serve the needs of SAVE and its members.

The SAVE Board has selected three experienced Certified Value Specialists to initially serve on the Certification Advisory Panel. These include:

• Laurie Dennis, PE, CVS®-Life, FSAVE
• Ginger Adams, IAF-CPF^TM, CVS^®-Life, FSAVE
• Anna Bremmer, CVS®, LEED-AP

Laurie will serve as Director of Certification. These individuals will be focused on developing and implementing the following initiatives:

• Update the Certification Board Charter
• Update the Certification Board Operations Manual
• Update the Certification Program Manual
• Update the CVS and VMA Exams to align with the VM Guide
• Review and determine the most effective approach to deliver exams
• Develop an online PDU tracking / application system
• Update certification requirements and/or new certifications

The SAVE Board extends our sincere appreciation to all our outgoing Certification Board Directors for their service and dedication to SAVE.

For the time being, all current certification applications, testing, and tracking will continue under the existing system. Rest assured the Certification Board will be communicating on a regular basis about any changes and sufficient time will be allotted to ensure that everyone involved has the time needed to adjust to these changes.