Commercial Building Workforce Development and Training
Workforce Guidance
The U.S. Department of Energy's (DOE's) Building Technologies Program (BTP) facilitated the development of industry-created commercial building workforce guidance to define consistent roles and responsibilities for energy efficiency professionals. The goal of this guidance is to provide a basis for developing and comparing new and existing training programs in the commercial building sector. This will help individuals identify opportunities to enhance their professional skills, enable industry to identify an appropriately skilled workforce, and allow training providers to ensure that they are providing the highest quality product possible. Additionally, the Job/Task Analyses (JTAs) created through this project will be used by the U.S. General Services Administration (GSA) to help meet the requirements of the Federal Buildings Personnel Training Act of 2010 (FBPTA).
Background
BTP identified six career fields as key to achieving the highest levels of energy efficiency in commercial buildings. Industry experts then developed workforce guidance for each of these career fields.
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Service Providers: Increase your value to potential clients by identifying relevant training to further enhance your professional skills in the commercial building industry
Building Owners: Increase your confidence in the cost savings of energy efficiency upgrades by ensuring service providers have the technical expertise to maximize the energy performance of your buildings
Property Management Companies: Ensure your staff continues to provide clients with the highest quality service
Policy and Program Administration: Spur the economy and job creation by encouraging workforce development that cultivates the skills required to improve commercial building energy performance
Financial Institutions: Increase investment confidence in energy efficiency projects and long-term building performance by validating the technical capabilities of an organization's workforce.
Unions: Help your members advance their careers by identifying training opportunities in the commercial building energy efficiency industry.
Training Organizations: Ensure your training curriculum is aligned to industry needs and imparts core competencies to provide high quality service to the commercial building energy efficiency industry.
Federal Buildings Personnel Training Act
On December 14, 2010, President Obama signed the Federal Buildings Personnel Training Act (FBPTA) of 2010 into law. The FBPTA directs GSA to consult with industry to identify core competencies and the methods necessary to demonstrate each core competency for federal personnel involved in "building operations and maintenance, energy management, safety, and design functions." Further, GSA, in consultation with industry, is charged with developing a comprehensive continuing education program to "ensure the operation of federal buildings in accordance with industry best practices and standards." Additionally, GSA and DOE, in consultation with industry and other federal agencies, are charged with developing a curriculum "relating to facility management and the operation of high-performance buildings." Contracted personnel involved in these federal facilities management tasks will also be required to receive training and to demonstrate the identified core competencies in a manner approved by the GSA Administrator.
Working with DOE, GSA is identifying core competencies by "cross walking" existing government, industry, professional, and academic facility management training programs. The results of the six JTAs will be used to help form the foundation of GSA's national program development.