The South African Council for the Project and Construction Management Professions is an established through the Project and Construction Management Professions Act 48 of 2000, hereafter referred to as ‘the Act’ to provide for the registration of professionals. According to Section 1 (xiv) of the Act, registration is defined as the assessment of competency of applicants for the purpose of registration under the Act and entering the names of the applicants who qualify into a register.

The Policy Document on the Statutory Regulation of The Built Environment Professions of 1999, which preceded the promulgation of the Acts that established the
Councils, outlined the functions of the Councils for the various Built Environment Professions, in terms of education, training and professional development. It states: “It is of critical importance that appropriate competency standards are set for each of the professions and that compliance with these standards in all aspects of the education, training and professional development is assured. It is clearly in the public interest that appropriate standards are set and maintained for all levels of expertise in the professions. Achievement of appropriate standards of competence in a profession is of public interest because there is then a formal basis for the objective judging of the suitability of a particular person to undertake specific work”.

Thus, the purpose of developing competency standards for the purpose of registration is to ensure that if a person is deemed competent and registered as a professional by the SACPCMP, they are able to undertake the work outlined in the gazetted Scope of Services for a particular profession.