How to Complete the RBT Attestation Form and Competency Assessment

The RBT attestation form and competency assessment are the two documents a candidate submits with an initial Registered Behavior Technician application: a signed statement from a qualified certificant confirming you cleared the eligibility checks, and a task-by-task evaluation proving you can perform the work. Both forms were redesigned effective January 1, 2026, and both come with tight timing windows that cause most application delays. Download only the current versions from the BACB website; older editions are rejected on sight.

What Each Form Does

The RBT Certification Application Attestation form is signed by an Attesting Certificant, who must hold an active BCaBA, BCBA, BCBA-D, or FL-CBA and be employed by or under contract with your organization.¹ By signing, that person confirms you are at least 18, hold a high school diploma or equivalent, and passed both a criminal background check and an abuse registry check under the standards the BACB requires.² The attestor cannot be related to you, subordinate to you, or employed by you.

The RBT Initial Competency Assessment is signed by a Responsible Assessor — again someone holding an active BCaBA, BCBA, BCBA-D, or FL-CBA. It documents that you demonstrated 19 specific tasks organized into four areas: Measurement, Assessment, Skill Acquisition and Behavior Reduction, and Professionalism and Requirements.³

The Timing Windows That Cause Most Delays

The forms interact through overlapping clocks. If any one expires, your application stalls.

The criminal background check and the abuse registry check must both be completed no more than 180 days before you pay the application fee.²
The Attesting Certificant must sign the attestation form no more than 90 days before you pay.²
The Initial Competency Assessment must be completed after your 40-hour training and no more than 90 days before you submit the application.³
The 40-hour training itself must take place over no fewer than 5 days and no more than 180 days, counting the start and end dates.²

Sequence the pieces so nothing runs out. Background and registry checks first, training in parallel or before, competency assessment after training, attestation signature last, then submit and pay promptly. Drag your feet after the assessment is signed and it will expire before you file.

One accommodation: if your employer uses continuous background monitoring, the date of the most recent result can go on the form even if it is older than 180 days.² And if your state or province does not maintain an abuse registry, or the registry is not available to organizations like your employer, mark the abuse-registry section “Unavailable” on the attestation form.¹

Filling Out the Attestation Form

You enter your identifying information at the top. The Attesting Certificant completes the verification section, confirming your age, education, and the results of both checks. The attestor does not have to run the checks personally. If your HR department confirmed you cleared them, the attestor can sign, provided they are familiar with the organization’s vetting policies and can produce supporting documentation if the BACB audits your file.¹

Both you and the attestor should keep copies of the completed form and every supporting document for at least seven years. An audit years after certification can still ask to see the original background and registry results.

Filling Out the Competency Assessment

Download the 2026 version of the Initial Competency Assessment. Earlier editions were built around the older Task List and will be rejected under the current requirements, which follow the RBT Test Content Outline (3rd ed.).⁴

Enter your name, BACB ID number, and the organization where the assessment is taking place. The Responsible Assessor evaluates you on each of the 19 tasks and marks whether you demonstrated competency. The assessor may designate Assistant Assessors to help conduct parts of the evaluation, but the Responsible Assessor remains accountable for the assessment as a whole.³

Tasks range from implementing measurement procedures and conducting preference assessments to describing how you maintain client dignity and professional boundaries. Individual tasks can be scored through work with an actual client, role-play, or interview-style questions, depending on what the task calls for. Task 14 gives you a choice: demonstrate antecedent interventions, differential reinforcement, or extinction. You are not expected to do all three.

The Responsible Assessor prints their name, records their certification type and number, and signs and dates the attestation section at the end. Any gap — an unsigned task, a missing certification number, an outdated form — is enough for the BACB to send the packet back.

Submitting Both Forms Through the BACB Gateway

Log into your BACB Gateway account and follow the initial application flow. You will enter personal information, training details (provider name and completion date), and background check dates. Upload the signed attestation form and the completed competency assessment as PDFs. Each file must be under 5 MB, and the BACB recommends merging documents into as few files as possible.⁵

Confirm your entries, then pay the nonrefundable application fee. Standard processing runs about two weeks from submission.⁶ If a document is illegible, incomplete, or expired, the BACB will notify you and give you a chance to resubmit, but each resubmission restarts the two-week review clock.

If You Are Renewing Instead of Applying for the First Time

Recertification uses a different document: the RBT Recertification Competency Assessment, submitted with the RBT Recertification Application. It is not the same form as the Initial Competency Assessment discussed above. Under the 2026 rules, recertification runs on a two-year cycle, and the recertification competency assessment must be completed no more than 45 days before your certification expiration date.⁷ If you began the initial process before January 2026 and are unsure which set of requirements you fall under, the BACB has published transition guidance covering that window.⁸

1
Behavior Analyst Certification Board. RBT Certification Application Attestation Form
2
Behavior Analyst Certification Board. Registered Behavior Technician Handbook
3
Behavior Analyst Certification Board. RBT Initial Competency Assessment Packet – Effective January 1, 2026
4
Behavior Analyst Certification Board. Recent and Upcoming Changes to BACB Requirements
5
Behavior Analyst Certification Board. Application Documentation Resubmissions
6
Behavior Analyst Certification Board. Application Archives
7
Behavior Analyst Certification Board. 5 Must-Know RBT Application Tips
8
Behavior Analyst Certification Board. Guidance for Meeting RBT Requirements During the 2026 Transition