May 2013 Administrative Report: UPPCC Releases Key Performance Data

November 21, 2013 -The Certified Public Procurement Officer (CPPO) and Certified Professional Public Buyer (CPPB) are globally recognized credentials offered exclusively by the Universal Public Procurement Certification Council (UPPCC). The certification programs systematically raise the level of professionalism within the public procurement profession by offering recognition to those individuals who meet an established standard of competency for public procurement demonstrated through a rigorous application process and superior examination performance.

Earlier this year, the UPPCC announced that 340 individuals successfully completed the May 2013 certification exams, including 240 who earned the CPPB certification and 100 who earned the CPPO. To date, 9,325 CPPB and 2,309 CPPO certifications have been awarded by the UPPCC.

Obtaining either UPPCC certification requires the candidate to demonstrate, through an application process, that they meet specific requisites, which includes education, procurement related coursework/training and public purchasing employment experience. A comprehensive written examination (specific to each certification) is required to confirm the candidate's mastery of a variety of public procurement concepts found in the UPPCC Body of Knowledge.

The UPPCC recently released key performance data from the May 2013 examinations:

Overall Scoring/Passing Rates
The UPPCC reports that 70% of the 142 total candidates who tested for the CPPO passed while 66% of the 362 candidates who tested for the CPPB passed. Mean passing scores for CPPB candidates were 22 points higher than for CPPO.

Testing Time
The total testing time permitted for both examinations is 3.5 hours. This equates to a total of 210 minutes for 190 questions (175 operational or scored and 15 pre-test questions); or on average 1 minute and 10 seconds for each test question.

The UPPCC reported that for CPPO, the average completion time was 2.79 hours with a range from 3.50 hours maximum to 1.23 hours minimum. For the CPPB, the average completion time was 2.64 hours with a range from 3.5 hours maximum to 0.83 hours minimum.

Exam Content & Candidate Preparation 
Content for both the CPPO and CPPB examinations are dictated by the 2008 UPPCC Body of Knowledge (BOK). A total of 10 domain areas comprise the BOK and are as follows:

1. Administration Aspects of Purchasing

2. Procurement Requests

3. Solicitation and Evaluation of Bids/Proposals

4. Supplier Analysis

5. Negotiation Process

6. Contract Award and Administration

7. External/Internal Relationships

8. Materiels Management

9. Human Resources/Personnel

10. Forecasting and Strategies

The UPPCC reports that for both CPPO and CPPB, candidates performed the best in Domain 6: Contract Award & Administration. CPPO candidates performed the poorest in Domain 2: Procurement Requests. Conversely for CPPB, exam candidates overall had the most difficulty in Domain 5: Negotiation Process (see Table 1).

UPPCC reports that most candidates indicated, via a post examination survey, spending between one and three months preparing for their respective examinations (see Table 2).

The organization also reports that CPPO candidates who indicated spending three to six months preparing experienced the highest rates of passing compared to other timeframes of preparation; however, in evaluating CPPB candidate performance, preparation times of one month or less, as indicated by high passing rates, appeared to be the optimal timeframe (see Graph 1).

Passing Rates and Public Entity Types
UPPCC reports that when comparing passing rates for both examinations with various entity types; those candidates employed by K-12 Schools experienced the highest rates of passing at 72% followed by Counties at 70% (see Graph 2).

Testing for both credentials is offered via a network of professional testing centers twice annually in May and October. The UPPCC will continue to accept applications for the May 5-17, 2014 testing window under the current certification eligibility requirements through December 31, 2013. Applications submitted after January 1, 2014 through the application deadline of February 3, 2014 (February 18 with a $50 late fee) will be evaluated under the new eligibility requirements.

The Universal Public Procurement Certification Council (UPPCC) is an independent entity formed to govern and administer the Certified Public Procurement Officer (CPPO) and Certified Professional Public Buyer (CPPB) certification programs. The CPPO and CPPB programs are highly regarded and respected among procurement professionals and employers involved in the public sector. To date, the UPPCC has certified well over 10,000 professionals primarily within the US and Canada as well as in other nations around the globe.