Professional Certification Program
The Certified GEOINT Professional (CGP) program launched in 2016 with the goal to help close the skills gap for GEOINT specialty disciplines.
As of March 2024, USGIF continues to temporarily and voluntarily suspend the Certified GEOINT Professional (CGP) program. USGIF is currently reviewing the future of the CGP program.
If you have already earned a CGP credential, then congratulations! Take that achievement with you, promote it, and use it to the benefit of your career.
Please read below our Frequently Asked Questions (FAQ) to gain a better understanding of our reasons for this decision and how we will implement the program suspension.
Frequently Asked Questions (FAQ)
A: While the initial premise of the CGP program was sound, we have not seen the demand for these certifications materialize the way we had hoped, either in private sector or public sector hiring or procurement practices. In light of this, USGIF believes our effort to advance the tradecraft and build a pipeline of talent would be better focused on different programs, such as high school industry credentials and our accreditation of GEOINT Certificate and degree programs for colleges and universities.
Moving forward, USGIF will work with the GEOINT community to identify alternative approaches to ensure a robust and skilled talent pipeline of GEOINT professionals, leveraging our GEOINT Essential Body of Knowledge (EBK) to guide those activities. We will apply what we learned through the development and implementation of our CGP programs and from community feedback to competency-focused learning opportunities offered in USGIF’s professional and workforce development training programs.
A: This decision only impacts the Certified GEOINT Professional (CGP) Certification for GIS & Analysis Tools (CGP-G), Remote Sensing & Imagery Analysis (CGP-R) and Geospatial Data Management (CGP-D). The Essentials certification (CGP-E) will continue to be offered to USGIF accredited programs (only) as a measure of self-examination to help recent graduates’ self-improvement in GEOINT competency areas.
A: Given the many rapid and exciting changes of GEOINT, we plan to revisit our CGP program in two years to determine if there are changes in demand signals for these certifications that would justify continuing it at that time.
A: Regardless of when you earned your certification, it will continue to be valid while USGIF reviews the CGP program.
A: Yes, USGIF will continue to maintain the digital badges for all the current earners for the next three years and cover the annual maintenance fees associated with your badge renewal.
A: USGIF is covering all the fees associated with your annual digital badge maintenance (third party annual maintenance) while it continues to review the CGP program.
A: No. USGIF will automatically extend your CGP credential without proof of PDUs. We however encourage you to continue to seek professional development opportunities.
A: No, we are pausing our testing as we continue to review the future of the program.
A: No, USGIF is continuing those programs. USGIF Collegiate Accreditation is independent of the CGP program.
