Performance data on the latest certification exams

Successfully completing UPPCC certification exams in May 2012 were 208 individuals, including 151 who earned the CPPB certification and 57 who earned the CPPO. To date, 8,921 CPPB and 2,125 CPPO certifications have been awarded by the UPPCC. (See complete list of May certificants on page 28.)

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). 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.

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 2012 examinations:

Overall Scoring/Passing Rates. Sixty-one percent of the 94 total candidates who tested for the CPPO passed, while 57 percent of the 264 candidates who tested for the CPPB passed. Mean passing scores for CPPB candidates were 36 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 2.70 hours with a range from 3.5 hours maximum to .75 hours minimum. For the CPPB, the average completion time was 2.63 hours with a range from 3.5 hours maximum to 1.05 hours minimum.

Exam Content. 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:

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 and Administration. CPPO candidates performed the poorest in Domain 4: Supplier Analysis and Domain 8: Materiels Management. Conversely, CPPB candidates had the most difficulty in Domain10: Forecasting and Strategies.

Candidate Preparation. UPPCC reports that most candidates indicated, via a post examination survey, spending between three and six months preparing for their respective examinations. The organization also reports that CPPO candidates who indicated spending one month or less preparing experienced the highest rates of passing compared to other timeframes of preparation; however, in evaluating CPPB candidate performance, preparation times between one and three months, as indicated by high passing rates, appeared to be the optimal timeframe.