ISI announces West Coast Envision rating system verifier training

WASHINGTON D.C. — The Institute for Sustainable Infrastructure (ISI) is now accepting applications for the Verifier training session that will be held June 25 and 26 in Santa Ana, Calif. Verifiers are the backbone of ISI’s independent, third party project evaluation program, who contract with ISI through their places of employment to review and confirm the ISI Envision rating system Levels of Achievement, documentation, and scores provided by the project team.

The Envision rating system is a web-based assessment tool that helps infrastructure owners meet their sustainability goals and make decisions about the investment of scarce resources, including community priorities. Authorized ISI Verifiers evaluate and rate Envision project submittals. Infrastructure projects that undergo verification are assessed at several levels, and are eligible for awards based on the percentage of points the project earned. The resulting awards are rated with the Bronze, Silver, Gold, and Platinum levels.

ISI’s Envision provides a holistic framework for rating the community, environmental and economic benefits of all types and sizes of infrastructure projects. The rating system evaluates, grades, and gives recognition to public infrastructure projects to assess the sustainability indicators over the course of the project’s life cycle.

ISI was founded in 2010 by the American Society of Civil Engineers (ASCE), the American Public Works Association (APWA), and the American Council of Engineering Companies (ACEC), after these prominent organizations realized that the approximately 900 existing rating systems are either regionally based, or specific to a sector of infrastructure, such as roads, dams, or airports, but none feature an over-arching system for all types of infrastructure projects. To meet this need, ISI launched the Envision sustainable infrastructure rating system in April 2012 in partnership with the Zofnass Program for Sustainable Infrastructure at the Harvard University Graduate School of Design. ISI also collaborated with Federal agencies, universities, consultants, professional societies and municipalities, to develop and to thoroughly vet Envision with leaders of the global sustainable infrastructure community.

Applicants should send completed Verifier training applications to ISI by April 19 to be considered for the June 25-26 West Coast Verifier training class. Accepted applicants will be responsible for their own travel, hotel and a $250 training fee. A maximum of 20 applicants will be selected for training.

The Verifier training application for is available on the ISI website at www.sustainableinfrastructure.org.