The American National Standards Institute (ANSI) and Interstate Renewable Energy Council (IREC) invite certificate-awarding entities that develop and administer energy efficiency and renewable energy programs to apply for participation in a Pilot Accreditation Program. Successful participants will be awarded accreditation under a program designed to provide quality assurance to the programs. Assessment to this new Standard will also provide third-party verification to students, funders, policymakers and others that certificate programs have demonstrated meeting the requirements for issuing a market-valued certificate.

Certificate programs will be evaluated against the draft IREC Standard 14732: 2012,General Requirements for Renewable Energy and Energy Efficiency Certificate Programs. The Standard describes curriculum, administrative, personnel, facilities, and equipment requirements for certificate programs involved in the training of the energy efficiency/weatherization and renewable energy workforce.

ANSI and IREC will follow the evaluation process outlined in the international standard ISO/IEC 17011, General Requirements for Accreditation Bodies Accrediting Conformity Assessment Bodies. This process includes using specially trained assessors to review documents submitted by applicants against defined requirements, conduct on-site assessments of all applicants, and make recommendations to the body responsible for making the accreditation decision.

Organizations interested in pursuing accreditation during the Pilot should complete the Pilot Program Application, now available on the ANSI-IREC program page on the ANSI website. Applications will be accepted until January 17, 2012. Pilot participants will be selected based on a review of documentation demonstrating conformance with the published pilot criteria, at the sole discretion of ANSI and IREC.

Program contacts:
Diana Singhavong (DSinghavong@ansi.org)
Pat Fox (patfox@irecusa.org)