Rumor has it that the Nautical Institute is going to grandfather in all OSVDPA DPOs…
no surprise
They allowed a back door quasi takover by IMCA who thought they could extort a fee from every DPO
How that was legal in a charity I dont know…
IMCA running out of income clearly?
DPO endorsement needs to be managed by the flag states, no question.
History is none wanted it so the NI took it on, did a good job of creating a standard and setting up training schools worldwide but now the management decisions will be financially based as the industry is slowing.
Vessel standards of equipment, Class gave up and created a whole industry to check that what they were classifying actually worked, lol
Saying that the IMO made a huge mess out of ECDIS so it seems anything to do with a computer is not understood by the IMO
It any of the above fit for service?
IMO does not act as a single autonomous entity. What it does is the consensus of member delegations and NGOs. Nautical Institute is a very active participant.
To be fair, it’s the same classes, schools and training for DP basic and Simulator courses for NI and OSVDPA. The sign off schemes are similar as well. The NI probably just wants more CPD money 
Yes its the qualifying criteria that is different as NI wants Classed vessels for qualifying time and USA has lots of unclassed Dp systems on boats of what standard?
Hence under OSVDPA you could get time on a boat with a pair of Volvo or Merc drives with an anchor hold joystick
I’ve signed off the final Phase E competency on about 20 “muthas” on the NI scheme and 2 “muthas” on the OSVDPA scheme in the USA, all on classed vessels.
There are unclassed vessels in the USA sure but should that matter? In my opinion, if the prospective DPO in either scheme in competent, safety oriented and experienced, I will sign them off. If not, I will not sign them off on either scheme until they “get it”.
How can you vouch for their training if the hours are on an unknown vessel configuration?
powerabout, I don’t know. I’ve always been on classed vessels. To your point and from what I understand, there is not just a classed vs. unclassed category. Vessels can be:
Unclassed outright or sort of unclassed which means that a “non-official” report / congifuration must be submitted, DP 0 which means that it needs a proving trial / FMEA but it’s on the level and ready to go or was classed in the past, DP 1 etc.
The OSVDPA verifies that a vessel is classed prior to accepting a prospective DPO’s final Phase 4 sign off and the NI has the same database.
Oh no…
Way back there was lots of push back in the USA about classed vessels in class to do DP time, it went on and on and on.
NI couldnt understand till the guilty party had to tell them we have installed lots of systems in the USA that are not classed.
This dividing line caused the creation of the OSVDPA to grant time to people working on anything with a gps and a joystick.
I joked with the then boss of the OSVDPA that you could get time on a pleasureboat with fishing hold, and yes under the rules you can as they couldnt write a spec for a non spec system.
Thats was back at the start, cant say what the rules are now.
But now you know why the OSVDPA exists.
If Mr Smith reads this he will remember
Very nice guy BTW.
IMO it should all just go to flag states as endorsement on your license like any other