Identify the named professional and basis
Ask who will act as the Qualified Person, which current city category or credential supports that role, and whether another person will review or submit any portion of the work.
Seattle BEPS professional role
Seattle BEPS Qualified Person: role, independence, and scope questions
Understand the Seattle BEPS Qualified Person role, the benchmarking-verification independence rule, and what building owners should clarify before requesting a scope.
Important role boundarySeattle states that BEPS reporting must be completed by a Qualified Person. The entity performing BEPS benchmarking verification cannot be the same entity that maintains and submits the building's annual benchmarking report.
How to use this guide
Verify the exact scope.
Seattle BEPS introduces a professional role that is separate from ordinary annual benchmarking support. The Qualified Person supports required BEPS verification and reporting under the city rule. An owner should not assume that every benchmarking consultant, engineer, contractor, or energy service provider qualifies for every BEPS task.
The first useful procurement step is a responsibility map: annual benchmarking maintenance, BEPS benchmarking verification, greenhouse-gas reporting, owner authorization, optional analysis, and later emissions-target work. Ask the provider to identify the individual, credential basis, employing entity, and any independence limitation before work begins.
Qualified Person scope
Verify the person, entity, task, and handoff.
A broad claim of BEPS support is not enough. The written scope should connect a named professional role to the current city requirement and separate it from annual benchmarking work.
Separate annual benchmarking from BEPS verification
Map the entity maintaining and submitting annual benchmarking and the entity performing BEPS benchmarking verification. Preserve the city's stated independence boundary.
Define the first-interval deliverables
State the covered buildings, data and document review, benchmarking verification, greenhouse-gas report, portal actions, owner review, corrections, and evidence of submission included.
Keep later services optional and explicit
Separate future emissions-target planning, alternative compliance paths, audits, design, installation, incentives, or implementation from the first reporting scope unless the owner deliberately includes them.
Common questions
Understand the service before comparing firms.
Short answers grounded in public program and federal guidance. The written scope still controls each engagement.
Does every Seattle benchmarking provider qualify as a BEPS Qualified Person?
Do not assume that. The city rule defines Qualified Person requirements and assigns specific BEPS work to that role. Ask the provider to identify the named individual and current basis before contracting.
Can the same entity submit annual benchmarking and perform BEPS benchmarking verification?
Seattle's published instructions state that the entity performing BEPS benchmarking verification cannot be the same entity that maintains and submits the building's annual benchmarking report. Confirm the current rule and map the two entities in writing.
Does hiring a Qualified Person transfer compliance responsibility away from the owner?
No. Professional support does not remove the owner's need to confirm coverage, authorize access, review the work, retain records, and meet the applicable city requirements. Define the provider's submission role and the owner's approvals explicitly.
Before hiring
Questions worth asking every finalist.
- Who is the named Qualified Person, and what current city-defined basis supports that role?
- Which entity maintains and submits annual benchmarking, and which performs BEPS benchmarking verification?
- Which buildings, records, corrections, GHG calculations, portal actions, owner reviews, and proof of submission are included?
- Which later target planning, audits, design, implementation, or alternative-path work is separate?
- How will access, editable files, assumptions, unresolved issues, and final records return to the owner?
Primary source
Seattle BEPS program ↗Confirm the requirement before choosing help.
This directory is independent and cannot determine what a particular building must do.