PEO CBA Examples: All 34 Competencies, Explained
PEO assesses your engineering experience against 34 competencies across seven categories. This guide breaks down what each category is looking for and shows how to write strong Situation-Action-Outcome examples, with a real approved CBA example you can download for reference.
For learning only. Do not copy or submit any example as your own work.
What are the 34 PEO competencies?
PEO's Competency-Based Assessment evaluates 34 competencies grouped into seven categories: Technical Competence (10), Communication (3), Project and Financial Management (5), Team Effectiveness (2), Professional Accountability (6), Social, Economic, Environmental and Sustainability (5), and Personal Continuing Professional Development (3). Each competency must be demonstrated with one example from your own experience.
Is there a CBA example for each competency?
No single public document gives an approved sample for all 34 competencies, because each applicant's experience is unique. The strongest approach is to study how an approved example is structured, then write your own example for each competency using Situation, Action, and Outcome.
How long should each competency example be?
Each example has a Situation, Action and Outcome. PEO's PDF application form allows up to 300, 1,650 and 300 characters (the portal's limits aren't published), so keep the Situation and Outcome brief and put most of the detail in what you personally did, including the engineering judgment involved. Avoid padding and job-description language.
The seven PEO competency categories
PEO's 34 competencies are organized into seven categories, with one example for each competency. Each category must reach a minimum average rating of 3 (2 for Project & Financial Management and for Social, Economic, Environmental & Sustainability), and six professional standards competencies (1.1, 1.6, 1.9, 2.3, 5.1, 6.2) have their own minimums.
| # | Category | What assessors look for |
|---|---|---|
| 1 | Technical Competence | Application of engineering knowledge, analysis, design, and problem solving |
| 2 | Communication | Clear written and verbal communication with technical and non-technical audiences |
| 3 | Project & Financial Management | Planning, scheduling, budgeting, and managing engineering work |
| 4 | Team Effectiveness | Working with, coordinating, and leading others |
| 5 | Professional Accountability | Taking personal responsibility for engineering decisions and work |
| 6 | Social, Economic, Environmental & Sustainability | Considering broader impacts of engineering decisions |
| 7 | Personal Continuing Professional Development | Taking part in professional development activities, identifying your training needs and keeping a development plan |
Get a real approved PEO CBA example
- A full approved PEO CBA example with identifying details removed
- Situation, Action, and Outcome (SAO) breakdowns for each competency example
- Annotations showing where personal responsibility and engineering judgment appear
- Notes on how the example aligns experience to competency indicators
- A short guide on how to use the example ethically
We'll email the example and a short guide on how to use it ethically.
What you'll learn for each competency
How to structure SAO
Learn how Situation, Action, and Outcome make each competency example clear.
How to show personal responsibility
See how to explain what you personally did, not just what the team did.
How engineering judgment appears
Understand how decisions, constraints, trade-offs, and reasoning are shown.
How outcomes are written
Learn how strong examples end with measurable or specific outcomes.
How competencies are aligned
See how a real submission connects experience to competency indicators.
How to cover all 34
Plan your examples so every competency category has strong evidence.
Use the examples to learn, not to copy
Examples are for learning only. Your CBA must be based on your own engineering experience. Do not copy, reuse, or submit someone else's work.
- Use them to understand structure and depth.
- Use them to compare clarity against your draft.
- Use them to learn how assessors read examples.
- Do not copy language, projects, or outcomes.
- Do not submit someone else's work as your own.
CertNova helps you understand the requirements, organize your experience, identify gaps and get feedback on your own draft. Your examples stay your own work.
Why strong experience still gets flagged
Too descriptive
The answer describes the project but not the competency.
Not enough personal ownership
The assessor cannot see what the applicant personally did.
Missing engineering judgment
Decisions, constraints, risks, trade-offs, or reasoning are unclear.
Weak outcome
The result is vague, generic, or not connected to the action.
Poor competency alignment
The example does not clearly address the expected indicators.
Gaps across the 34
Some competency categories have thin or missing evidence.
What do you want to do next?
Choose your next step and we'll point you to the right support.
Ready to write your own CBA?
CBA Pro helps you build your submission competency by competency with guided prompts, Situation-Action-Outcome structure, competency alignment, and self-assessment support.
- Guided competency writing
- Situation, Action, Outcome structure
- Work experience matching
- Self-assessment support
- Validator collaboration
- Optional expert review
CBA Pro helps you structure and improve your own experience. It does not replace your responsibility as the applicant.
Already have a draft? Get expert feedback before you submit.
CBA Review
For applicants who already wrote their CBA and want practical feedback before submission.
Get My CBA ReviewedRejected CBA Support
For applicants who received a refusal or competency-gap feedback from PEO.
Fix My CBACBA Writing Consulting
For applicants who want guided 1-on-1 support while completing their CBA.
Book ConsultingFrequently asked questions
PEO assesses 34 competencies across seven categories. You must provide evidence for each, demonstrating your experience through specific examples.
Yes: PEO requires one work example per competency, 34 in total. You can base several examples on the same project, but each write-up must be tailored to the competency it supports.
You can download a free, real approved PEO CBA example from CertNova. It is anonymized and provided for educational use only, to show how a strong submission is structured.
No. Examples are for learning structure, tone, and depth only. Your CBA must reflect your own engineering experience, decisions, and outcomes.
SAO stands for Situation, Action, and Outcome. You describe the situation, the specific action you personally took (including engineering judgment), and the measurable or concrete outcome.
The most common reasons are being too descriptive, not showing personal ownership, missing engineering judgment, and weak or vague outcomes that don't connect to the action.
Yes. CBA Pro guides you competency by competency across all 34, helping you map your experience and self-assess each example before submission.
PEO's August 2026 guide says not to describe hypothetical situations or work done by colleagues or your team. If you use AI tools, you must accept full responsibility for the accuracy and authenticity of what you submit.
Each example needs exactly one validator with first-hand knowledge of the work, and one person can validate all 34. For work done in Canada the validator must have been a licensed P.Eng. when the work was carried out.
PEO's PDF application form allows 300 characters for the Situation, 1,650 for the Action and 300 for the Outcome. PEO's portal guide mentions a character limit for each example but doesn't publish the numbers.
Summary for quick reference
PEO's Competency-Based Assessment evaluates 34 competencies grouped into seven categories: Technical Competence, Communication, Project and Financial Management, Team Effectiveness, Professional Accountability, Social, Economic, Environmental and Sustainability, and Personal Continuing Professional Development. Applicants give one Situation-Action-Outcome example from their own experience for each competency (PEO's PDF form allows 300, 1,650 and 300 characters), emphasizing personal responsibility, engineering judgment, and outcomes. The same project can support several competencies if each write-up is tailored, and PEO's August 2026 guide rules out hypothetical situations and work done by colleagues or the team. CertNova provides a free anonymized approved PEO CBA example for educational use and CBA Pro to help applicants map their experience and self-assess their own examples across all 34 competencies.
Thirty four competencies is a lot to get right on your own.
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Cover all 34 competencies with confidence
Download the approved example to see what strong looks like, then write your own with guided support.