CBA
Personal Continuing Professional Development Competencies (7.1–7.3) in the CBA
Published September 27, 2026
Category 7 of the CBA, Personal Continuing Professional Development, has three competencies: the development you have completed (7.1), the gaps you have identified (7.2) and your plan to close them (7.3). The assessor’s ratings must average at least 3 across the three, the same bar as the technical category. None of them is a Canadian-environment competency.
The category applies at every regulator that uses the 34-competency framework: PEO, EGBC, APEGS, Engineers Geoscientists Manitoba (EGM), Engineers Nova Scotia, APEGNB, Engineers PEI and PEGNL. APEGA’s 22-competency framework has no category 7. The strongest submissions tell one connected, dated story: how you found a gap, what you did about it and what comes next.
- Three competencies, 7.1 to 7.3. The assessor’s ratings must average at least 3 on the 0–5 scale, and no competency should be rated 0.
- With only three ratings, one weak example hurts: a 2 needs a 4 elsewhere to keep the average at 3.
- Evidence can be formal (courses, certificates, conferences) or self-directed (technical reading, standards study), plus mentoring and committee work, with dates and what you applied.
- APEGA (and NAPEG and Engineers Yukon applicants, who complete APEGA’s CBA) has no category 7. Quebec’s program has a similar competency, rated by your supervisor.
- One development thread can support all three competencies if each example has its own actions and outcome.
How category 7 is scored
| Regulator | Competencies | Pass rule |
|---|---|---|
| EGBC, APEGS, EGM, Engineers Nova Scotia, APEGNB, Engineers PEI, PEGNL | 7.1 to 7.3 | Average of 3; no competency at 0 (at APEGS a 0 fails the category) |
| PEO | 7.1 to 7.3 | Average of 3; each competency at least 1 |
| APEGA (also NAPEG and Engineers Yukon applicants) | None | No category 7 in the 22 competencies |
| OIQ (Quebec; not a CBA) | “Manage one’s professional development”: three elements | Each element at least 2, rated by your supervisor on a separate scale |
PEO’s August 2026 applicant guide spells out what the levels mean for this category. At 3, you have completed sufficient CPD, your gap analysis is adequate with weak areas adequately assessed, and your CPD plan is adequate and addresses your knowledge gaps. At 2, the gap analysis is marginal and the plan leaves some gaps unaddressed. At 1, you have completed only a few activities and the plan is missing or inadequate. The assessor’s rating is the one that counts.
What counts as professional development
The 7.1 indicators name two kinds of evidence: participation in community, technical, industry or professional association committees and task forces, and a variety of self-directed and formal activities that keep you current, with progress reported to the people who need to know. In practice:
- Formal: courses, certificates, workshops, conferences and in-house technical training.
- Self-directed: studying a new edition of a code or standard, technical papers and design guides.
- Mentoring: being mentored by a senior engineer, or mentoring students and junior staff.
- Committees and task forces: technical, industry, association or community.
For each activity, note the date, the hours, what you learned and where you used it. A list of certificates with no application is weak evidence. Keeping a log as you go makes the three examples much easier to write; see how training records support CBA evidence and professional development for engineers in Canada for choosing activities.
The three competencies, one at a time
The official wording comes from the shared system’s indicator list. The examples are illustrative, written for this guide, and follow one structural engineer’s development thread; do not copy or adapt them. Each fits the 300 / 1,200 / 300-character limits (Situation / Action / Outcome) published by APEGS, EGM, Engineers Nova Scotia and PEGNL; PEO’s form allows 300 / 1,650 / 300.
7.1 Professional development activities
Official wording: “Demonstrate completion of professional development activities.”
What it asks for: committee and task force work, and self-directed and formal development that keeps you current, reported to the people who need to know. Assessors look for several activities over time, relevant to your field, completed on stated dates and applied at work.
Common mistakes: a list of courses with no dates or application, only mandatory company training, or activities unrelated to your practice.
Illustrative example (structural engineering)
Situation: In 2024 my firm took on more multi-storey wood-frame buildings, but my design experience until then had been in concrete and steel.
Action: Between January and May 2024 I completed a 24-hour university continuing-education course on wood design to CSA O86 and passed its assignments. I studied the standard’s connection clauses and worked through two past calculation packages with a senior engineer. In June I attended a one-day seminar on building code changes for wood buildings. I applied what I learned to the connection design of a four-storey residential building, which my supervisor reviewed, and gave a lunch-and-learn on common connection checks to five colleagues. I logged each activity, its hours and where I applied it in the development record my supervisor reviews quarterly.
Outcome: My supervisor’s review of the connection design had only minor comments, and I have since designed the wood connections on two more projects.
7.2 Identify training needs
Official wording: “Demonstrate awareness of gaps in knowledge and areas requiring future development.”
What it asks for: a gap analysis of your knowledge and skills, and the weak areas that need more training. Assessors look for a method (comparing your skills with what your role requires), input from others, named gaps and priorities.
Common mistakes: vague gaps (“I need to improve my technical skills”), personal traits that belong in 5.6, or gaps with no link to your work.
Illustrative example (structural engineering)
Situation: In my December 2023 performance review, my manager said the firm expected more wood-frame work in 2024 and asked me to assess my readiness to design it.
Action: I listed the design tasks on our last three wood projects and rated my experience with each as none, supervised or independent. I compared the list with comments from my recent design reviews and asked a senior engineer to check my ratings. I found three gaps: connection design to CSA O86, the building code requirements for wood buildings, and fire resistance of exposed timber. I ranked them by how soon our projects would need them, and noted that my concrete and steel design skills were not a gap.
Outcome: My manager agreed with the three gaps and their priority, and they became the basis of my 2024 development plan.
7.3 Professional development plan
Official wording: “Develop a professional development plan to address gaps in knowledge and maintain currency in field of practice.”
What it asks for: a plan to train in your weak areas, using self-directed and formal activities that also keep you current. It looks forward but must still be real: a plan you wrote and are following, with dates and progress. PEO’s August 2026 guide rules out hypothetical situations.
Common mistakes: a plan with no dates, intentions with nothing started, or a plan that does not match the gaps in your 7.2 example.
Illustrative example (structural engineering)
Situation: In January 2024 I wrote a 12-month development plan to close the three gaps my manager and I had agreed on and to keep current with code changes in my field.
Action: For each gap I set activities, target dates and a way to show progress: the wood design course by May, a seminar on code requirements for wood buildings by June, supervised connection design on a live project by September, and a fire-resistance webinar with self-study of the relevant standard annex by November. For currency, I added reading our office’s code-change bulletins and one technical seminar each quarter. I set quarterly check-ins with my supervisor and updated the plan at each one; in July I moved the fire-resistance item forward because a project needed it.
Outcome: By December 2024 I had completed every item except one quarterly seminar, which I carried into my 2025 plan with new goals on mass timber design.
CPD does not stop at licensure
Category 7 is also practice for what comes next. In June 2026 PEO’s Council approved a CPD Program of 12 hours a year for licence holders, pending an amendment to the regulation, and the Northwest Territories’ Act in force since March 1, 2025 mandates continuing professional development. A log you start now serves both your CBA and your licence.
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Try CBA ProFrequently asked questions
How many hours of professional development do I need?
The indicators set no hours target. PEO’s rating guide asks for “sufficient” CPD at level 3, together with an adequate gap analysis and plan. EGM’s old 48-hour requirement belonged to its legacy intern program and does not apply to CBA interns.
Does committee or volunteer work count?
For 7.1, yes: the indicators name community, technical, industry and professional association committees and task forces. Describe what you contributed and learned. It is evidence of development, not engineering experience; APEGS, for example, does not count volunteer work toward its 48 months.
Can I use a graduate course or degree I took while working?
It can count as formal development if you explain what you learned and how you applied it. Credit for graduate study toward your experience months is a separate rule that varies by regulator; see how co-op, master’s and PhD credit works.
Do APEGA applicants write category 7?
No. APEGA’s 22 competencies sit in six categories with no category 7, and the same applies to NAPEG and Engineers Yukon applicants who complete APEGA’s CBA.
Official sources
- Competency Assessment System — Engineering competencies and generic indicators report (September 2026)
- PEO — CBA Applicant Guide, including Appendix B rating guide (August 2026)
- EGBC — Competency Assessment Guide for Engineering Applicants and Trainees (revised April 2024)
- APEGS — Competency Assessment Guide for Candidates and Validators (Version 23, November 21, 2025)
- OIQ — Programme d’accès à la profession, volet pratique (practical component)
- PEO — 578th Council meeting update (June 2026)