The Bureau assesses. It does not fix what it assesses, and it is never paid more for a better score. Everything on this page is a constraint on the Bureau, published so a counterparty can check it rather than take its word for it.
The Bureau describes what is missing against the model. It does not tell a property what to install, who to hire, or how to wire it. The same finding can be phrased as assessment output or as consultancy — only the first is the Bureau’s job.
| Permitted — assessment output | Prohibited — consultancy |
|---|---|
| Perimeter lighting fails the model at 4 of 11 measured points; this is the largest single recoverable deficiency, worth about 6 points. | Install this fixture at these coordinates; here is the wiring plan. |
| Access control at the north entrance is unmonitored between 22:00 and 06:00. | Use this vendor's system; we will manage the installation. |
| Addressing these three items in this order recovers the most score per dollar. | We will design and deliver the programme, priced at X. |
The only way the boundary holds is if the money cannot push through it. Four commitments, published.
Never contingent, never a success fee, never indexed to score movement; monitoring priced identically regardless of score, so a score going up must not cost the customer more and a score going down must not cost the Bureau anything.
No salary, bonus, or equity tied to scores issued, score improvements, or revenue from an assessed party; no assessor negotiates commercially with a party whose property they will score.
An assessor may not score a property they've advised or where a household member has a financial interest; where AIA has done remediation consultancy on a property, the Bureau does not score it for two years from completion; personal relationships with an assessed party are declared and reassigned.
Every issued score carries the model version, the assessor of record, and the data-confidence state; disclosure of commercial relationships over the preceding 24 months is a committed-but-not-yet-built item.
The boundary the Bureau publishes is the boundary several frameworks already require of bodies in analogous positions. The table maps each one to the constraint the Bureau has adopted from it.
| Recognised framework | Boundary the Bureau has adopted |
|---|---|
| ISO/IEC 17020 | Inspection bodies — independent inspection conditioned on not undertaking activities that compromise judgement. |
| ISO/IEC 17065 | Certification bodies barred from consultancy on what they certify. |
| ISO/IEC 17021-1 | Cooling-off period between consultancy and certifying the same client — source of the two-year bar. |
| Sarbanes-Oxley §201 | Prohibits, not just discloses, defined non-audit services to audit clients. |
| SEC rating-agency rules | Separate analytical from commercial functions, bar analyst comp tied to rated-party fees. |
| LEED | Separates standard-setting from certification. |