As described in the Program Advisory (PA) titled “A Comprehensive Guide to New and Ongoing Professional Development Opportunities in Ethics,” PA-22-05 (PDF), all ethics officials can work towards an annual PEP certificate. OGE designed the annual PEP certificate for ethics officials who are performing some or all functions of an ethics program at full competency and who wish to maintain their skills and stay current with policy changes and developing practices in the ethics profession. To learn more about the annual PEP certificate, please review the PEP Explainer (PDF).

Each year OGE hosts a variety of offerings that are eligible for PEP credits, such as virtual lectures on recent advisories, peer-to-peer and other workshops, DAEO meetings, networking events, community meetings, and recorded and interactive trainings on a wide range of ethics topics. Keep an eye out for future emails from OGE announcing these offerings to the ethics community. In addition, many existing virtual courses in the Institute for Ethics in Government's On-Demand Library have been labeled as eligible for PEP credits.

You can apply for your 2025 annual PEP certificate by completing the “Your 2025 PEP Certificate Submission” form any time before January 31, 2026. Please note that the form is updated at the beginning of every month, so if you attend a live offering, you may need to wait until the following month for it to be listed as an option on the form to select.