By Joe Vollbracht, EVP
Certification Board Member

So, you have just passed your exam and been notified that you are now AACE certified — congratulations, and welcome to an elite field of professionals that boast remarkable backgrounds across the cost engineering field. Take time to pat yourself on the back for a significant accomplishment, but also start planning on maintaining your credential, for it is limited in time and will expire in three years if you do not take steps to preserve it. You have worked hard to attain your certification, so do not let it lapse.

You may ask: why do I need to recertify? I passed the test, right? Recertification is necessary to verify your continuing competency in your certification’s body of knowledge and a testament that you have continued to retain your expertise in your credentialed field. It is not difficult to recertify, and you may choose from two options to maintain your AACE certification for an additional three-year term.

One option you have to maintain your certification is by exam. This path requires you to take and pass the exam again, prior to your current expiration date. It requires you to go through the application process as a new examination candidate, except that eligibility requirement documentation is not required, including clearance and an access voucher code to schedule the exam at a Kryterion testing center. You are given one opportunity to pass the examination in order to recertify your active credential for an additional three years. You must take and pass your re-examination before your credential expires in order to avoid removal from the certified directory.

A second option (the most popular and easiest method) to recertify is through continuing education units (CEUs). Choosing this option requires the accumulation of 12 CEUs over a three-year certification period, which is earned through various activities in four separate categories. You must submit an application to recertify by CEUs prior to your credential expiring to avoid removal from AACE’s certified directory and lose the opportunity to continue to use your AACE designation.

From the moment you are certified, or recertified for an additional three-year term, you can keep track of your activity or CEUs within your AACE profile by following the steps in the Recertification Guide that can be found at https://web.aacei.org/certification/recertification/recertification-by-ceus

 When you are ready, you can simply submit, make payment, and wait for staff review and approval. You may submit your application for recertification up to six months prior to expiration of your credential. Keep in mind that any CEUs you wish to claim must be completed during your certification evaluation period. If you do not submit your recertification application by your credential’s expiration date, your certification will be placed in a six-month grace period. This grace period is designed to allow additional time to submit your application, not earn CEUs.

For all categories, it is important to pay attention to the CEU value column when calculating CEUs in the following table. The CEU value represents how many CEUs you can potentially receive credit for during your current recertification period.