May/June 2019

PE Report
On the Way: Best Practices for License Mobility

Many NSPE members hold licenses in multiple states or seek additional licenses to increase business opportunities. Yet, PEs often face a challenging process when seeking initial licensure or comity licensure because of the lack of uniform rules from jurisdiction to jurisdiction.

Responding to these concerns, a committee of the National Council of Examiners for Engineering and Surveying is developing best practices to improve licensure portability, according to the April issue of NCEES’s Licensure Exchange. The committee’s goal is to help boards cut the processing time for processing applications and issuing licenses.

Licensure mobility is an increasingly significant topic of concern for NSPE members. According to the 2018 Engineering Outlook Survey, 45% of participants are licensed in more than one jurisdiction. Forty-seven percent of participants agree and 42% strongly agree that states should align licensing requirements to improve licensure mobility for professional engineers.

The committee’s recommendations include the following:

• Provide application instruction checklists and FAQs on the board website;
• Email applicants within a board-established number of days when submitted applications are incomplete or are missing NCEES Record transmittals;
• Use the NCEES Enforcement Exchange to check every application;
• Report all board disciplinary actions in the NCEES Enforcement Exchange;
• Expedite applications for PE licensure by comity and issue licenses in no more than a board-established number of days;
• Accept an NCEES Record to meet as many state application requirements as possible; and
• If possible, use the NCEES license and exam verification system.

The committee will provide the guidelines to the boards for review and feedback prior to the NCEES annual meeting in August.

NSPE supports the establishment and strengthening of uniform licensure laws in all jurisdictions, and endorses models, such as the NCEES Model Law, that promote uniform standards for licensure and comity among all jurisdictions.