Turn the work you've actually done into a regulator-shaped CBA
CBA Pro interviews you about the projects you actually worked on, asking what your association looks for. It turns your CV and your answers into a formatted draft for you to review and improve, and a missing fact comes back as a bracket for you to fill. A free readiness grade re-runs on every edit, before any assessor reads it.
No card required. Everything you write on the free competency carries over when you upgrade.
- 1Select best experienceContinue
- 2Answer missing detailsNo credit
- 3Generate preliminary draft1 credit
- 4Review and improve1 credit
- 5Finalize draftOn demand
What actually stops people finishing a CBA
It is almost never the engineering. Four things come up in every conversation we have with applicants. Here is what V4.0 does about each.
The core loop
Five steps per competency, and the first two are free
Match your experience, answer its questions, get a draft, review, finalize. Matching and the interview questions use no credits, so you can see which project fits a competency, and what it will ask you, before any draft is made.
- One highlighted next action at each step
- Step back at any point. Nothing you have written is lost
- Paid actions show their credit cost under the button
- 1Select best experienceContinue
- 2Answer missing detailsNo credit
- 3Generate preliminary draft1 credit
- 4Review and improve1 credit
- 5Finalize draftOn demand
Built for your regulator
APEGA 3.2 is Finances and Budget. National 3.2 isn't.
Ask a general-purpose chatbot about “competency 3.2” and it will answer without telling you which framework it used. In CBA Pro your association decides the catalog, the count, the character limits and the guidance behind every review.
- 11 of Canada's 12 engineering regulators supported, each with guidance personalized to it
- APEGA runs its own official 22-competency prompt library
- APEGA's 8 Canadian-environment competencies are built into its guidance
APEGA
AlbertaCompetency 3.2
Finances and Budget
- 22 competencies required
- 400 / 1,800 / 400 characters per example
PEO
OntarioCompetency 3.2
Progressive Responsibility
- 34 competencies required
- 300 / 1,650 / 300 characters per example
Same code, different competency. Ask a general-purpose chatbot for “competency 3.2” and it cannot tell you which framework it answered from.
The headline promise
It didn't guess. That's the point.
Every draft is your own answers, formatted as a complete Situation, Action, Outcome sized to your regulator's character limit. Anything you haven't told it comes back as a bracketed placeholder for you to fill.
- No invented standard, clause, metric, date, employer or outcome
- A live character counter on every section, and no completion while one is over
- A guided wizard walks the placeholders one at a time
Situation / Action / Outcome
Writing…Situation
Action
Outcome
3 placeholders to fill
It didn't know the station name, the standard, or your measured clearance, so it didn't guess. That's the point.
Feedback on your own draft
Comments anchored to your exact words
Comments anchored inside the draft with a numbered chip at each mark, each carrying a suggested rewrite you can accept in one click, handed to you one job at a time rather than fifteen at once.
- Click a chip, its comment card scrolls into view
- “Use this wording in my draft” swaps the passage in place
- Track changes as a view you toggle: insertions green, deletions struck red
Action
I recalculated the horizontal curve and the team decided on the transition spiral length, then carried the chosen alignment through IFC.
Reviewer comment · Individual contribution
“The team decided” hides what you did. Assessors reject examples where the applicant's own decision can't be separated from the group's.
Placeholders first, comments second. The rail hands out one job at a time.
Two verdicts
See what is still thin while you can still fix it
A readiness letter grade that re-runs itself on your newest edits, and the 0 to 5 self-assessment rating you will actually put on the application, coloured against your regulator's published minimum. It describes your draft; your regulator still decides.
- The grade is free and re-runs on its own; the self-assessment uses one evaluation credit, only on success
- It names the version it graded, so the verdict is never stale
- It never inflates a rating to reach a minimum; it names the shortfall
Weakest section: Outcome
Graded on draft v5 · free, no credit spent
Self-assessment score
Below your regulator's minimum of 3. The shortfall is named, not rounded up.
Everything in CBA Pro V4.0
Each one has its own page with the detail, the demo and the reasoning behind how it works.
How CBA Pro compares
Most applicants weigh CBA Pro against ChatGPT, a colleague's advice, free samples or a course. Each comparison says plainly when the alternative is the better choice.
CBA Pro vs ChatGPT
Not a chatbot: a P.Eng CBA guide backed by real review data, personalized to your association, that never invents a fact.
Read the comparisonCBA Pro vs a colleague's advice
Advice helps. CBA Pro is there every time you sit down to write, and it keeps your validator independent.
Read the comparisonCBA Pro vs free CBA samples
Samples show the shape of a strong competency. CBA Pro helps you build yours from your own projects.
Read the comparisonCBA Pro vs Practice PPE Exams
A course with AI scoring, or a workspace that interviews you and drafts from your answers. Prices checked 26 September 2026.
Read the comparisonNot your regulator's system
CBA Pro is independent software for preparing your competencies. You prepare them here, then enter your final text in PEO's application form, APEGA's competency assessment tool, or the Competency Assessment system that Engineers and Geoscientists BC operates for EGBC, APEGS, Engineers and Geoscientists Manitoba, Engineers and Geoscientists New Brunswick, Engineers PEI and PEGNL.
Guidance built in for your association
- PEO
- 34 competencies with PEO's own character limits
- APEGA
- APEGA's own 22-competency framework, with its 8 Canadian-environment competencies built into the guidance. NAPEG and Engineers Yukon applicants use it too
- EGBC
- 34 competencies with the Competency Assessment system's limits
- APEGS
- 34 competencies with the Competency Assessment system's limits
- EGM, NB, NS, PEI, NL
- The Competency Assessment system's 34 competencies, at its character limits
- OIQ (Quebec)
- Not supported yet: OIQ assesses experience in its own format
One-time pricing. No subscription.
Pick the plan that matches your regulator's competency count. Upgrades are pay-the-difference, so nothing you write on a smaller plan is lost.
CBA Pro
Progression
For APEGA's 22-competency framework, with Word and PDF export so your drafts leave the app ready to paste in.
- 22 competencies
- 45 preliminary draft credits
- Export to Word & PDF
Pay in 4 with Klarna
4 × $49.25*
- The first payment today, then one every 2 weeks
- The same plan, open as soon as you pay
*See Canadian payment terms. (Klarna, opens in a new tab) A higher initial payment may be required for some consumers.
Pay now
Card
LinkOne-time, upgrades pay the difference
You'll create your account and check out on certnova.cbapro.ca.
What you get
- Everything in Foundation
- Branded Word / PDF export, per competency
- CV import: turn your résumé into a structured evidence base
- Points, streaks and league credits worth real money
- 20% off a human P.Eng review
Not ready to pay? Run one full competency free.
Every step, on a real competency, with no card, and every word carries over when you upgrade.
Trusted by P.Eng applicants across Canada
Sadegh Behboudian
“Using CBA Pro by CertNova Software Solutions helped me get my P.Eng. approved on the first attempt without any CBA rejections. What surprised me most was that the challenge wasn't my experience, it was how to present it properly. Having the right structure and guidance made the entire process much more manageable. Definitely saved me time and avoided the usual back-and-forth revisions.”
5 months ago
M. Ibrahim
“This was a wonderful experience. Hossein and Jenny were very helpful and prompt to reply to my emails and questions. Hossein got on a call with me before enrolling just to answer my questions. The review for my CBA questions was detailed, thorough with clear direction on what needs to be done to improve, which made it very easy for me to fix my answers. They gave me a time for looking into my CBA questions. They ended up delivering earlier than promised. Finally, they are very fairly priced. Definitely recommend their service for anyone looking to get someone to assess their CBA answers.”
2 months ago
Nahal Nobahar
“I recently used this service to review and strengthen my competency submissions for my P.Eng. application, and I had a very positive experience. Reza and the team provided detailed and thoughtful feedback on my existing drafts, helping me clearly understand what was missing and what needed improvement to meet the expectations of the P.Eng. assessment process. They didn't just correct wording, they guided me on how to better structure my responses, highlight my individual contributions, and align my examples with the required competencies. What I found especially valuable was their ability to point out gaps in my explanations and suggest exactly what kind of technical details, context, and outcomes should be included. Their feedback made it much easier to refine my responses and present my experience in a clear, concise, and professional way. Overall, this service was extremely helpful for improving both the quality and clarity of my submission. I would recommend it to anyone who is working toward their P.Eng. designation and wants expert guidance to strengthen their application.”
7 months ago
More P.Eng licensing support
CBA Pro is part of a full toolkit for getting your P.Eng in Canada.
CBA Starter Hub
New to the CBA? Start here for the essentials.
Learn moreCBA for P.Eng
The support hub for writing your competency examples.
Learn moreCBA Writing Consulting
Work 1-on-1 with an expert on your submission.
Learn moreCBA Rejection Support
A CBA already returned with comments? A licensed P.Eng reads the flagged competencies with you.
Learn moreNPPE Exam Prep
Preparing for the NPPE? See the full guide.
Learn morePricing
Compare every CertNova plan and service.
Learn moreCBA Pro FAQ
CBA Pro is Competency-Based Assessment software for P.Eng applicants in Canada. It takes one competency at a time through five steps: match the right work experience, answer interview questions drawn from that competency's own indicators, turn your answers into a formatted Situation, Action, Outcome draft sized to your regulator's character limit, run a reviewer pass over it, and finalize. It then grades the result and gives you the 0 to 5 self-assessment score your text supports.
No. CBA Pro is independent software for preparing your competencies. PEO uses a PDF application form, APEGA runs its own competency assessment tool, and Engineers and Geoscientists BC operates the Competency Assessment system used by EGBC, APEGS and four other associations. You prepare each competency in CBA Pro, then enter the final text in your regulator's system.
V4.0 is a rebuild rather than an update. The biggest changes: a five-step workspace with one highlighted next action at each step, reviewer comments anchored to the exact words they refer to with one-click rewrites, a submit-readiness grade that re-runs itself on your newest edits, version history that keeps every draft and every editing round, CV import that leaves unclear fields blank for you to fill rather than guessing, and regulator-specific frameworks including APEGA's own official 22-competency set.
No. CBA Pro interviews you about your own work, asking what your association looks for, and turns your CV and your answers into a formatted draft for you to review and improve. It shows you where information is still missing: anything you haven't given it comes back as a bracketed placeholder for you to fill. It is held by a rule against inventing a project, inflating a role, adding an outcome or claiming a standard. Every fact comes from you, and you decide the final wording.
CBA Pro supports 11 of Canada's 12 engineering regulators and personalizes the guidance to yours: the competency catalog, the count, the character limits and what its assessors expect. PEO, APEGA, EGBC and APEGS each have their own guidance, and the associations that use the Competency Assessment system (EGM, Engineers and Geoscientists New Brunswick, Engineers Nova Scotia, Engineers PEI and PEGNL) get its 34 competencies at its character limits. APEGA uses its own 22-competency framework, which NAPEG and Engineers Yukon applicants also complete. OIQ in Quebec assesses experience in its own format, which CBA Pro does not support yet.
CBA Pro is not a chatbot. It is built for the P.Eng CBA: backed by data from real CBA reviews, personalized to your association, and held by a harness that keeps it ethical. It interviews you about your own projects, formats only what you tell it and never invents a fact; anything it cannot confirm becomes a placeholder for you to fill.
One-time pricing, no subscription: Foundation is $97 CAD for 10 competencies, Progression is $197 for 22 competencies with Word and PDF export, and Professional is $297 for all 34 with the full final report. Upgrades are pay-the-difference, so nothing you write on a smaller plan is lost. There is also a Free plan that runs one full competency end to end.
Yes. The Free plan gives you one complete competency, every step, including the reviewer pass, the submit-readiness grade and the self-assessment score, with no credit card. Everything you write on it carries over if you upgrade.
Regulators require that the experience and judgment in your CBA are genuinely yours. EGBC, EGM, Engineers Nova Scotia and Engineers PEI prohibit using AI to create or embellish examples, and PEO's application says that if you used AI tools you take full responsibility for the accuracy and authenticity of what you submit. CBA Pro is built to stay inside these rules: it doesn't create or embellish examples. It interviews you about your own work and formats only what you provide, so every fact in your draft comes from your CV and your answers, and you review and own every word. Unknown facts become placeholders, never guesses. No regulator endorses CBA Pro, so read your own regulator's rule before you start.
Yes, to start a competency fresh. A returned competency is often better rebuilt from the experience than patched, so start again from step 1 with a better-matched project and the assessor's comments in mind. CBA Pro does not fix or rewrite the competencies you already wrote: for help with the assessor's comments on those, CertNova's CBA Rejection Support is the right service.
Yes, as a separate service. A licensed P.Eng can read your finished competencies line by line through CBA Draft Review, at a flat price by competency count, and buying a paid CBA Pro plan gives you a discount code for it. That service's record: 40+ CBAs reviewed since June 2025. No rejection reported back to us. It is the review service's record, not a CBA Pro statistic.
In short
CBA Pro is CertNova's Competency-Based Assessment software for P.Eng applicants in Canada. Each competency runs through a five-step workspace: rank the applicant's own recorded work experiences against the competency (free), answer interview questions drawn from that competency's indicators and reviewer expectations (free), turn those answers into a formatted Situation, Action, Outcome draft sized to the regulator's character limit, run a reviewer pass with comments anchored to the draft text and one-click rewrites, and finalize. Every competency then receives a submit-readiness letter grade that re-runs on the newest edits and a 0 to 5 self-assessment score measured against the regulator's minimum. The grade is free; the self-assessment uses one evaluation credit, charged only on success. The applicant's association sets the competency catalog, count, character limits and assessor expectations the guidance is personalized to; APEGA uses its own official 22-competency framework, and OIQ's Quebec format is not supported yet. CBA Pro does not create or embellish examples: it formats only what the applicant provides, and any fact the applicant has not supplied appears as a bracketed placeholder rather than a guess, so the substance of the submission is always the applicant's own. CBA Pro is independent software, not a regulator's system, and no regulator endorses it: applicants prepare their competencies in CBA Pro and enter the final text in their regulator's form or portal. Pricing is one-time with pay-the-difference upgrades: Foundation $97 CAD (10 competencies), Progression $197 (22, with Word and PDF export), Professional $297 (34, with the full report), plus a Free plan covering one complete competency.
Start the first one tonight
One full competency, end to end, free. If it doesn't make the rest of your CBA look manageable, you have lost an evening, not a submission cycle.
Already have competencies written elsewhere? CBA Pro starts new ones from an interview about your work; for the ones you have, send one to a licensed P.Eng for a free read.