The Board of Certified Safety Professionals (BCSP) is proud to announce our relocation from Champaign, Illinois to Indianapolis, Indiana. Since the early years of BCSP, the headquarters has been located in the Champaign-Urbana area. As we approach 50 years of not-for-profit service to safety practitioners worldwide, it is time to make ourselves more accessible to our certificants and to plan for the next 50 years of success.
In the spring of 2015, the Board of Directors determined that we were at capacity in our current headquarters building. They evaluated several options, including expanding our current building, moving to another location in Champaign, splitting our operations between two locations in Champaign, and moving the headquarters to another city. Ultimately, the Board of Directors felt that it was in the organization’s best interest to move the headquarters to another city.
In August 2015 we hired a relocation consulting firm to help determine the best location for BCSP’s headquarters. The firm interviewed BCSP regarding approximately 45 touchpoints for the organization and had us rank the importance of each point. They then sent out a Request for Proposal (RFP) to nine metropolitan areas. The RFP responses were weighted based on the touchpoints and the top locations for growth into the future were determined.
The consultants and BCSP representatives made site visits and met with the Economic Development organizations in the respective locations. The organizations presented their case for wanting BCSP to relocate to their cities, which was followed by visits to view possible building locations.
The consultants created a report of the pros and cons of each city, which was presented to the Board of Directors. Indianapolis scored well ahead of the other cities based on the touchpoints important to BCSP. Based on this, the Board of Directors voted unanimously to relocate to Indianapolis. We have located a building that we are confident will meet our current and future needs and we hope to complete the tenant improvements and relocate to the new headquarters building in late 2016.
As the demand for BCSP’s certifications continues to increase, relocation will provide the space and greater visibility needed for BCSP to continue to grow well into the future. In addition, it will allow easier access to and from BCSP Headquarters for the hundreds of certificants that we host each year during our required exam revalidation and item writing workshops. The new headquarters will give us the ability to host workshops, meetings, and visits in a much more efficient manner and give our certificants more opportunity to visit the headquarters.
We are proud to say that over two-thirds of the staff are relocating with the organization and we look forward to bringing in new members to the organization once we arrive in Indianapolis as well. We aspire to exceed your expectations as always and embrace the next 50 years of contributing to the safety field through our mission to set and certify technical competency criteria for Safety, Health, and Environmental practitioners worldwide; enhancing careers, advancing the profession, protecting the public.
