To earn a Professional Engineer license in Colorado, you need a qualifying engineering degree, a set number of years of progressive engineering experience under a licensed PE, passing scores on two national exams (the FE and the PE), and an approved application to the Colorado State Board of Licensure for Architects, Professional Engineers, and Professional Land Surveyors. Once licensed, you renew every two years on October 31 of odd-numbered years, and Colorado does not require continuing education to keep the license active. The Colorado PE license requirements are laid out primarily in C.R.S. § 12-120-204, and the specific mix of education and experience depends on the degree you hold.
Education and Experience
Colorado recognizes several education-experience combinations, and the years of experience required scale inversely with how closely your degree matches the standard engineering track.
The common route is a four-year ABET-accredited engineering degree paired with at least four years of progressive engineering experience under a licensed PE. The experience has to show increasing responsibility over time, and your supervising engineer documents and verifies it.
Other paths carry heavier experience requirements:
- A Board-approved engineering technology program of four years or more: eight years of progressive experience, with education counting toward the total.
- A four-year engineering or related-science degree from a program not approved by the Board: ten years of experience.
- A four-year degree without ever taking the FE exam: twenty years of progressive experience.
A graduate degree in engineering can offset up to one year of the experience requirement. That credit counts toward the total; it doesn’t replace the requirement that the work happen under supervision. Whichever path applies to you, the Board expects your experience record to describe specific projects, your role on each, and the engineering skills you used.
The Two Required Exams
Every candidate takes two exams from the National Council of Examiners for Engineering and Surveying (NCEES). Colorado administers both as computer-based tests.
The Fundamentals of Engineering (FE) exam comes first. It covers core engineering principles across disciplines, runs about six hours, and costs $225 paid directly to NCEES.1NCEES. FE Exam Most people take it soon after finishing their degree, while the material is fresh. Some Colorado pathways require you to be enrolled as an Engineer Intern before sitting for the FE, so confirm which path applies before you register.
After the FE and after you’ve built up the required experience, you take the Principles and Practice of Engineering (PE) exam. This one is discipline-specific, runs about eight hours, and tests real-world problem-solving in your field.2Divisions of Professions and Occupations. Architects, Engineers and Land Surveyors Exam Information NCEES charges $250 for most PE disciplines; the PE Structural exam is $350 per section.3NCEES. PE Exam The Board may charge its own application fee on top of the NCEES fee.
Applying to the Colorado Board
When you have the education, the experience, and the exam results, you submit an application to the Board through the Division of Professions and Occupations (DPO). Application forms and current fees live on the DPO website.4Divisions of Professions and Occupations. Colorado Architect, Engineer and Land Surveyor Applications and Forms Your package includes transcripts, documented work experience, and references from licensed engineers who can vouch for your competence.
Colorado also requires a criminal background check. The Colorado Bureau of Investigation and the FBI run checks through the Colorado Applicant Background Services (CABS) program, and you submit electronic fingerprints through one of two approved vendors: IdentoGO Fingerprint Services or American Bioidentity. The DPO won’t issue your license until it has results from both checks, so don’t submit fingerprints until the rest of your application is ready.5Divisions of Professions and Occupations. Colorado DPO Fingerprinting and Background Check
One timing point worth planning around: applicants issued a license within 120 days of the upcoming renewal expiration receive a license carrying the next expiration date, meaning you skip an immediate renewal cycle.4Divisions of Professions and Occupations. Colorado Architect, Engineer and Land Surveyor Applications and Forms
Board review can take several weeks, and staff will follow up if anything in your documentation is incomplete.
If You’re Already Licensed in Another State
Engineers holding an active PE license elsewhere can apply for a Colorado license by endorsement under C.R.S. § 12-120-213. You need to show your original license was earned under requirements comparable to Colorado’s, including the FE and PE exams and the experience thresholds.
Submitting an NCEES Record streamlines this considerably, because it packages your exam history, education, and experience verifications in a format every state board accepts.6NCEES. Records Program The Board may also want confirmation your home-state license is active and in good standing. Fingerprinting and background checks apply to endorsement applicants the same as first-time applicants.5Divisions of Professions and Occupations. Colorado DPO Fingerprinting and Background Check The Board can deny endorsement if your qualifications fall short of Colorado’s standards.
Renewal, and Why Colorado Skips Continuing Education
Colorado PE licenses expire on October 31 of odd-numbered years. Renewal is biennial, and the renewal window opens roughly four to five weeks before expiration. You can check your specific expiration date by logging into your DPO Online Services account.4Divisions of Professions and Occupations. Colorado Architect, Engineer and Land Surveyor Applications and Forms
Colorado is one of the few states that does not require continuing education for Professional Engineers to renew.7Divisions of Professions and Occupations. Colorado AES CE No PDH hours, no coursework logs. If you hold multiple credentials, note that Architects and Professional Land Surveyors in Colorado do have CE requirements, so those obligations run separately.
The absence of a CE mandate doesn’t remove your obligation to stay current. The Board can investigate complaints about incompetent practice, and not being required to take continuing education is not a defense against a negligence claim.
Reinstating a Lapsed License
If your license expires and you don’t renew in time, reinstatement is available, but the requirements get steeper the longer you wait. For licenses expired more than two years, the Board may ask you to demonstrate current competency to practice, which can mean additional review of your qualifications.
You start the process by submitting a reinstatement application and fee to the DPO, which then evaluates your eligibility and tells you how to proceed. The Division’s phone number is 303-894-7800. Renewing on time is meaningfully easier than restoring a lapsed license, even in years when you aren’t actively practicing.
What Licensure Obligates You to Do
Once licensed, you seal and sign engineering documents you prepared or that were prepared under your responsible charge. Colorado accepts crimp-type, rubber-stamp, and computer-generated seals with specific dimensions: an outer circle nominally 1⅝ inches in diameter and an inner circle nominally 15/16 inches, with your license number in the center.8Cornell Law Institute. 4 CCR 730-1.5 – Rules of Professional Engineering Practice
“Responsible charge” means the degree of control you keep over engineering decisions, whether you make them personally or supervise others making them, and it covers design methods, materials, and testing techniques for work that can affect public safety. If you adopt work engineered by someone else, you have to perform enough independent review and calculation to confirm it meets practice standards before signing and sealing it. Sealing a document places full professional and legal responsibility for it on you.9Cornell Law Institute. 4 CCR 730-1.2 – Abbreviations and Definitions
Electronic signatures are legally equivalent to handwritten ones in Colorado when they are unique to you, verifiable, under your sole control, and linked to the document so any change invalidates the signature. Public key infrastructure or signature dynamics technology can satisfy those requirements.9Cornell Law Institute. 4 CCR 730-1.2 – Abbreviations and Definitions