NIBS, ASTM and RCI Agree to Avoid Duplicating BECx Efforts

The National Institute of Building Sciences, Washington, D.C.; ASTM International, West Conshohocken, Pa.; and RCI Inc., Raleigh, N.C., issued a joint statement July 11 announcing their intent to avoid duplication of efforts relating to their respective building enclosure commissioning (BECx) programs.

NIBS is rolling out a series of new BECx certificate modules as an education component of an agreement with ASTM to create a joint certificate in BECx. The first three two-hour, face-to-face pilot modules were unveiled in April during the fifth BEST Building Enclosure Science & Technology Conference in Philadelphia. A BECx workshop with additional modules is scheduled for Building Innovation 2019: The National Institute of Building Sciences Seventh Annual Conference and Expo in January 2019 in Washington.

Building on that, ASTM will work with NIBS to develop e-learning versions for each module. ASTM will leverage its expertise in multimedia services and provide access to the modules through its online learning management system.

In addition, RCI, in partnership with Orlando, Fla.-based Professional Testing Inc., a certification and examination development company, is developing certifications for the various BECx roles as defined by ASTM. RCI’s goal is to develop full-scope certifications for each area to advance the level of quality and standards across the U.S. BECx industry. These certifications will be developed in accordance with accreditation requirements of ISO/IEC 17024: Conformity assessment–General requirements for bodies operating certification of persons. To achieve this objective, RCI has adopted a broad, industrywide collaborative approach to ensure all impacted stakeholders’ needs have been taken into consideration. The first step will be to invite industry experts to serve on the Job Task Analysis working groups to be hosted at the University of Wisconsin, Madison, in October.