How to Fill Out and Submit the NCEES Professional Reference Form

The NCEES professional reference form is completed by five people you nominate through your MyNCEES account, and the form itself is filled out by each reference, not by you. After you enter their contact and licensure details, NCEES emails each person a secure link to a confidential evaluation of your engineering or surveying competence and character. They submit it directly to NCEES, and your dashboard updates as each one comes in.¹

Who You Can Nominate

You need five references who know your work directly and can speak to both your technical ability and your professional character.² Two rules are firm:

If you are an engineering applicant, at least three of the five must be engineers currently licensed in the United States. If you are a surveying applicant, at least three must be licensed U.S. surveyors.¹
None of the five may be related to you by blood or marriage.¹

The other two references do not have to hold a license, but they still need direct knowledge of your work. Former supervisors, project managers, and colleagues from another discipline who oversaw your contributions on joint projects are common choices.

If you plan to transmit your Record to more than one state board, check whether any of those boards require more licensed references or references covering specific years of experience. Building your list around the strictest requirement from the start avoids rework.

Information to Gather Before You Start

Have the following ready for each reference before you open MyNCEES. Any mismatch stalls the request, because NCEES delivers the form by email and verifies the licensure details you enter.

Full legal name and a professional email address the person checks regularly.
For each of the three licensed references: the state or jurisdiction, license number, and license expiration date.
The dates of your professional relationship and how you know each other, whether they supervised you directly, worked alongside you as a peer, or observed your performance in another capacity.

Contact each person before you enter them. A short message explaining that NCEES will send them a secure link, what the form asks, and roughly how long it takes prevents the request from sitting unread in an inbox.

Sending the Request Through MyNCEES

Log into MyNCEES and open the Professional References section of your Record application. For each of the five, enter the contact details, licensure information, and the parameters of your working relationship. Review each entry, then click send.

NCEES generates a secure email to the reference containing a unique link and completion instructions.¹ Accuracy at this step matters more than speed. If the licensure information you enter does not match what NCEES has on file, or if your relationship dates conflict with what the reference reports, the mismatch can trigger a manual review of your whole file. Double-check every field.

What Your Reference Fills Out

When your reference clicks the link, they reach a confidential evaluation form. It asks them to assess your technical competence, ethical standards, and professional character based on their direct knowledge of your work. They also confirm the licensure details you entered and verify the dates and nature of your relationship.

They complete the required fields, sign electronically, and submit. The evaluation goes straight to NCEES; you never see what they wrote, and they cannot see what you wrote about them or what any other reference said. That confidentiality is deliberate, so state boards receive candid assessments. Your dashboard updates in real time as each submission arrives.

NCEES recommends that you notify and follow up with your references to make sure they received the email and respond to it.¹ This is where most applicants lose time. A brief, polite check-in a few days after you send the request goes a long way. If two weeks pass with no response, reach out again.

Tracking Status

Your MyNCEES dashboard shows the state of each request. It starts as Pending after you send it and moves to Received once the reference submits the form. A request that sits in Pending too long can expire, and you will need to send a new one to a new entry rather than editing the old one.

NCEES staff review completed references for completeness and authenticity. All five must show Received and remain current before you can transmit your Record to a state board.¹

Keeping References Valid

Each completed reference is valid for 12 months from the date NCEES receives it.¹ After that window closes, an expired reference blocks any transmittal. To refresh one, add a new entry in the system; the reference will receive a fresh link and complete the form again.

Because the clock runs on each reference separately, timing matters. If you plan to apply in more than one state over the course of a year, try to get all five completed in a tight window so they expire around the same time. Staggering them over many months means your earliest reference may lapse before your last one is even submitted.

Practical Tips to Avoid Delays

The reference step is simple in outline and routinely the slowest part of completing a Record. A few habits help:

Ask each person before you enter them in MyNCEES. Confirm willingness, current license status, and the best email.
Send all five requests in the same week so their 12-month validity windows stay aligned.
Follow up within a week. Corporate spam filters sometimes catch automated messages, so verify the link arrived.¹
Keep a backup name or two in mind. If someone does not respond or their request expires, you can move quickly to a replacement.
Time the reference process close to when your Record is otherwise ready to transmit, so the 12-month clocks are working for you rather than against you.

References are the only part of the Record that depends entirely on someone else’s schedule. That is exactly why they deserve the most planning up front.

1
NCEES Knowledge Base. Professional Reference FAQs
2
NCEES. Records Program