Performance data on the latest certification exams

Successfully completing UPPCC certification exams in May 2011 were 206 individuals, including 150 who earned the CPPB certification and 56 who earned the CPPO. To date, 8,632 CPPB and 2,009 CPPO certifications have been awarded by the UPPCC.

The Certified Public Purchasing Officer (CPPO) and Certified Professional Public Buyer (CPPB) are globally recognized credentials offered exclusively by the Universal Public Purchasing Certification Council (UPPCC).

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 has released key performance data from the May 2011 examinations:

Overall Scoring/Passing Rates. Seventy-one percent of the 79 total candidates who tested for the CPPO passed while 63 percent of the 240 candidates who tested for the CPPB passed. Mean passing scores for CPPB candidates were 34 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. For CPPO, the average completion time was 2.73 hours with a range from 3.5 hours maximum to 1.28 hours minimum. For the CPPB, the average completion time was 2.65 hours with a range from 3.5 hours maximum to 0.93 hours minimum.

Candidate Preparation. UPPCC reports that a high percentage of candidates indicated, via a post examination survey, spending between three and six months preparing for their respective examinations (see Table 1). The organization also reports that in reviewing candidates as a whole, those who indicated spending between three and six months preparing experienced the highest rates of passing compared to other time frames of preparation; however, in evaluating CPPO candidate performance, preparation times of six months or more, as indicated by high passing rates, appeared to be the optimal time frame (see Graph 1).

Passing Rates and Public Entity Types. UPPCC reports that when comparing passing rates for both examinations with various entity types; state agencies experienced the highest rates of passing at 70% followed by Counties and Higher Education at 67% (see Graph 2).

Testing for both credentials is offered via a network of professional testing centers twice annually in May and October.