International Federation of Consulting Engineers

FIDIC News

December 2008
Online at FIDIC.org/news
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FIDIC
Activities
FIDIC President called for industry leadership
FIDIC President highlighted that all aspects of the current global situation,
whether financial, environmental or social, called for leadership as trusted
advisors.
Plenary speakers urged greater involvement with society
The FIDIC 2008 Quebec Conference argued for a supportive environment withclients to ensure engagement with society.
Business
Development
Japanese development bank endorses FIDIC contracts
The restructured Japanese development bank JBIC has licensed the FIDIC
Construction Contract for incorporation in bidding documents.
Broad range of key challenges identified by young professionals
Young professionals at the FIDIC 2008 Quebec Conference identified the typesof services delivered, globalisation and multicultural firms as key issues.

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Practice
Best practice in several key areas analysed
The FIDIC 2008 Quebec Conference made specific recommendations for bestpractice in the key areas of communications, risk management and advocacy.
Contracts
Contracts updates and a subcontract announced at users conference
An online Users Forum will consolidate comments for updating of the 1999
suite of FIDIC works contracts and for a new Construction Subcontract.
Industry
Representation
Reestablishing international representation in South America
Training seminars and visits are opening the way towards a greater
involvement by South America in FIDIC.
Image
Engineers build Switzerland
A dedicated website explaining how engineers helped build Switzerland's
infrastructure has attracted considerable attention.
Principles
Quality
Quality Based Selection to be revisited
A task group will consolidate new approaches to promoting quality inprocurement so as to update FIDIC's quality based selection publication.
Major industry clients call for quality services
Consulting engineers challenged by the need to understand not only theirclients' needs but also society's concerns.
Ethics
Initiatives address both supply and demand side corruption
Major initiatives by leading governmental and industry organisations
highlighted progress in implementing tools to tackle corruption.
Sustainability
Sustainable Building Alliance to align certification systems
The Sustainable Building Alliance that groups green building certifiers fromseveral countries has agreed to draft core indicators.

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CoursesponsorAnnouncements
Events
FIDIC Conferences and International Training Programme
Intensive training courses in Africa and Asia feature.
Notices
General Assembly decisions
The FIDIC 2008 General Assembly Meeting elected new officers.
Executive Committee decisions
Ukraine and Uzbekistan and five Affiliates proposed as members
Members
Notices include the Young Professionals Management Training Programme.
FIDIC - Activities
FIDIC President called for industry leadership [full item: 106Ac]
Speaking at the CNAEC-China conference inNovember 2008, John Boyd, FIDIC President,
commented that "the recent disruptions to theworld's financial systems have shown how
interconnected we have all become, and how
important our relationships to one another are
in enabling even day-to-day activities to takeplace around the world." He noted that "Asia,and in particular China, was home to many of
the world's most significant engineering projects
and a key area for the development of both
FIDIC and the consulting engineering industry. China has become the powerhousethat drives the economies of so many countries." In line with China's all-importantsustainable rural development, illustrated by the land-use map of a Holcim 2008
Award project demonstrating strict regulation, Dr Boyd also reflected onsustainability, the conference theme: "I think it represents the most significant
opportunity for our industry to show leadership and to develop a proper role insociety - that of trusted advisor to society on technical matters, where ourtraining and experience provide us with a unique perspective." Recalling thatengineers helped pioneer infrastructure that perhaps provided the most important
contributions to improving the quality of life, such as clean water and safe
transport, he said: "So we have had this important role in the past and we needto lead once again in the future." Shortly after, the President attended the World
Federation of Engineering Organizations (WFEO) 2008 World Engineering
Congress in Brasilia (2-4 December; www.wec2008.org.br) where a Forum on
Sustainable Development also highlighted the role of engineers in another key
area, namely climate change.
Plenary speakers urged greater involvement with society [full item: 105Ac]
Speakers at the FIDIC 2008 Quebec Conference(www.fidic2008.org) stressed the need for a more supportive
environment for effective collaboration between consulting
engineers and the multilateral development banks. By the same
token, both FIDIC and its member firms needed to play a more
prominent role in society by speaking out on issues affecting onsociety. The industry has indeed responded in key areas. For
instance, it has taken the lead in the prevention of corruption byseeking recognition for tools such as Business Integrity
Management and its equivalent for government agencies. So it wasunderstandable there was a vigorous debate on anticorruption initiatives, withbank representatives challenged by the fact that, in many corrupt situations,
there are those who were aware of what has happened, but do nothing.
The need for consulting engineers to be citizens first and engineers second, and toengage more with society as they were at the cutting edge of solving many
problems, was also stressed by John Ralston Saul (see photo), the keynote
plenary speaker. As a leading journalist and philosopher, he reflected on how
engineers had improved our way of life, but must now rethink engineering andoffer more appropriate solutions to global challenges concerning clean water,
secure transportation, reliable communications and efficient energy use.

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CoursesponsorBusiness - Development
Japanese development bank endorses FIDIC contracts [full item: 60De]
FIDIC signed a licence agreement with JBIC, the Japanese Bank for International
Cooperation, in August 2008 to enable JBIC to incorporate both the standard 1st
Edition 1999 and the Multilateral Development Bank Edition of the FIDIC
Construction Contract for its projects in its sample bidding documents. Up to now
JBIC has used the Construction Contract's predecessor, the FIDIC Red Book 4th
Edition 1987 civil works contract which is incorporated by reference in sample
bidding documents. The agreement confirmed the FIDIC Construction Contract as
the world's standard contract for employer-designed works.
On 1 October 2008, the Japan Finance Corporation, JFC, was formed by merging
various sector corporations with JBIC's international financial operations, with the
JFC's international division conducting international financial operations under the
JBIC name. Meanwhile, the Japan International Cooperation Agency (JICA) took
over JBIC's overseas economic cooperation operations so that technicalcooperation, ODA loans and grant aid can be managed by a single entity. Hence,
Japanese development bank guidelines for the selection of consultants andsample bidding documents for civil works, plant, small projects and the selectionof consultants are now found on www.jica.go.jp.

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Broad range of key challenges identified by young professionals[full item: 61De]

Young professionals (YPs) participating in the FIDIC 2008 Conference were
responsible for a session on succession management that attracted considerable
interest given the lack of skilled resources throughout the consulting engineering
industry. Presentations, available on www.fidic2008.org, by Gayle Roberts(Stanley Consultants, USA), Liu Luobang (Halcrow Engineering, China) and Lee
Wanjae (Dongsung, Korea) gave invaluable insights about how firms around theworld were working to ensure that "our company thrives beyond our years". YPs
in FIDIC are organised in the Young Professionals Forum (YPF) that held its
annual meeting to discuss coordination between the growing number of national
YPF's (the YPF website FIDIC.org/ypf) now lists forums in 12 countries) and toelect a new steering committee (now chaired by Alex Eyquem, Faber Maunsell, UK
alex.eyquem@gmail.com). Finally, YPs participating in the FIDIC 2008 Young
Professionals Management Training Programme (YPMTP) completed theirassignments with reports at the Future Leaders Workshop on the four programme
themes. They concluded that the evolution of services (greater involvement in the
lifecycle of a project), globalisation (the process of turning local influences into
global challenges), and "office dynamics" (managing cultural differences) were thekey issues for younger staff. Registration for the limited number of places on theseven-month, mainly online, FIDIC 2009 YPMTP that ends with working sessions
at the FIDIC 2009 London Conference, closes on 30 December 2008 (seeFIDIC.org/ypmtp).
Business - PracticeBest practice in several key areas analysed [full item: 79Pr]
The FIDIC 2008 Quebec Conference explored several key issues for consulting
firms (presentations are available on www.fidic2008.org). A session on the role ofthe media stressed the need for a genuine interest to communicate and a clear
message. A session on risk management illustrated that while the inappropriate
transfer of risk had a negative effect on project quality, the consulting engineering
industry still had difficulty in convincing clients that risk was properly managed inspite of superb risk management models and tools. FIDIC representatives
indicated that the federation intended to collaborate more closely with theinsurance industry and client sectors in order to improve mutual understanding of
the issues. According to Dr Ralston Saul, the conference's main plenary speaker,
the industry needed "to step back, to help the client see the bigger picture, andallocate risks together". A session on the advocacy services provided by many
FIDIC Member Associations called for involvement not only in engineering but also
in more general issues, otherwise consulting engineers were not identified astrusted advisors. The final plenary session to identify goals and actions for theindustry emphasised the value of staff and the soft skills they brought tosuccessful businesses. Crucial also was the standardisation of procedures (forinstance, the use of FIDIC contracts) to allow for more attention to quality andinnovation in the development of sustainable solutions.

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CoursesponsorBusiness - Contracts
Contracts updates and a subcontract announced at users conference.
[full item: 76Co]

The 1999 FIDIC Construction, Plant and Design-Build and EPC/Turnkey contracts
are widely recognised as international standards. Updating to reflect the latest
developments in several key areas, notably financial arrangements, legislation,business practice, project management, risk management, liability and insurance,
is an integral part of FIDIC's responsibility. Axel Jeager who chairs the FIDIC
Contracts Committee announced at the FIDIC 2008 International Contracts Users
Conference (London; 2-4 December) that an Updates Task Group had been
formed and was inviting comments on the 1999 editions. He noted that some newconcepts had already been incorporated in the 1st Edition of the FIDIC DesignBuild-Operate Contract that was released at the FIDIC 2008 Quebec Conference(it replaced the provisional 2007 Seminar Edition, see News item). Comments
sent to updates@fidic.org or submitted directly are added to a moderated
discussion forum at www.fidic.org/updates. The pre-review draft of another key
document, namely the FIDIC Construction Subcontract for use with the FIDIC
Construction Contract, 1st Edition 1999, was released at the conference. The
review process will start in February 2009 once all those who have worked closelywith the FIDIC Subcontract Task Group have commented. A new Standard
Prequalification Form for Contractors was also published: it will form part of FIDIC
Procurement Procedure to replace FIDIC Tendering Procedure.
Industry - Representation
Reestablishing international representation in South America

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[full item: 62Re]

Many of South America's FIDIC national associations
had difficulty remaining as FIDIC members following the
restructuring of the continent's infrastructure andbuilding construction industries in the 1990's. Enrico
Vink, FIDIC Managing Director, and Jorge Diaz Padilla,
FIDIC Past-President, visited Ecuador and Chile in
December 2008 to review how FIDIC could best be
promoted. Dr Diaz Padilla (left of photo) used theoccasion to explain FIDIC's integrity management
documents to Dr Jorge Luis Gonzalez Tamayo, Ecuador's Public Works Minister.
Arrangements for a FIDIC-Cornerstone Contracts Workshop in Santiago in midJune were then discussed with ACI-Chile to follow up on a very successful
workshop in Sao Paulo, the first ever in South America, that was attended byparticipants from many of Brazil's larger consulting and contracting firms.
Meanwhile, the FIDIC Executive Committee has decided to hold its mid-2009
meeting in conjunction with the South American association FEPAC annual
conference (Brazil; May 2009), and John Boyd, FIDIC President, spoke at theWorld Engineering Congress in Brazilia in early-December (see News item).
Industry - Image
Engineers build Switzerland [full item: 44Im]
A dedicated website www.les-ingenieurs-construisentla-suisse.ch has been set up by USIC-Switzerland to
explain how Swiss engineers helped plan, design andconstruct projects such as Lausanne's new (see photo),
completely automatic metro with gradients of up to
12%, a world record. The site has received much media
attention as well as some 1500 "hits" a day, eachlasting on average several minutes. The Swiss public isclearly interested in finding out how engineers go aboutproviding essential infrastructure. Interviews withdesign teams noted that each of the projects offeredunique challenges and inspiring opportunities from allperspectives, whether social, economic or technical. The
Swiss Member Association's website falls within abroader programme aimed at attracting students into
technical disciplines given the recent, and by all accounts ongoing, shortage ofengineers in Europe and elsewhere.

CoursesponsorPrinciples - Quality
Quality Based Selection to be revisited [full item: 1Qu]
The selection of consultants on the basis of quality is a consulting engineering
industry cornerstone and essential for delivering sustainable projects. In Quality or Qualifications - Based Selection (QBS), a fee based on the scope of services isnegotiated after the most qualified firm has been identified and a detailed scopeof work jointly developed by the client and the consultant. QBS is widely adopted
as a formal procurement method in the USA. In the case of Japan, Aki Hirotani,
AJCE-Japan President, reported at the FIDIC 2008 Quebec Conference (seewww.fidic2008.org/talks) that since a 1999 recommendation by a government
committee to promote QBS and the 2005 Quality Assurance Act, the fees fornationally procured consultant services selected by QBS had increased threefold,
and today outweighed those for cost-based methods by 20% (Japan's Public
Accounts Act of 1889 had required selection on the basis of cost). The challenge
now was to have local authorities adopt QBS. Peter Steblin, who also spoke at the
FIDIC 2008 conference, reminded participants that the InfraGuide quidelines
developed in cooperation with the Federation of Canadian Municipalities topromote QBS was endorsed by over 70 local communities in Canada. For him, thechallenges for procurement by QBS were to better demonstrate savings and how
to negotiate ethically.
Given the need to continue to demonstrate the value of QBS, FIDIC has decided
to develop a fresh approach for promoting QBS as the international standard for
consultant selection by updating the 1994 FIDIC publication Quality Based
Selection for Procurement and Consulting Services.
Major industry clients call for quality services [full item: 2Qu]

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Prominent industry clients calling for quality services at the FIDIC Quebec 2008
Conference (7-10 September) included Thierry Vandal (President, Hydro Quebec,
CourseCanada), Jean Simmon (President, Rio Tinto Alcan, Canada), Young Joo Chyesponsor(Director, Singapore Public Utilities Board) and His Excellency Omar Maani, Mayorof Amman. All endorsed the importance of good communications with theirconsultants, and the need for consulting engineers to fully understand the needsof their clients, many of whom represented society. As summarised by John Boyd,
FIDIC President, the industry as a whole "needed to build greater credibility
through not only its actions but also its messages". The conference website
www.fidic2008.org gives presentations and reports, and a News item summarises
developments in management and business tools.
Principles - Ethics
Initiatives address both supply and demand side corruption [full item: 41Et]
The widespread recognition that corruption is threatening development has
prompted many important anticorruption initiatives by organizations with which
FIDIC partners. FIDIC led the way with Business Integrity Management. The new
OECD Principles for Enhancing Integrity in Public Procurement, part of a broad
OECD programme, has recommended that countries and industry must do more
to crack down on fraud and waste in government contracts. OECD countries willreport in 2011 on progress made in implementing the principles, and a checklist
for putting the principles into practice is now available in PDF. Demand-side
corruption was also the focus of the ADB-OECD Anti-Corruption Initiative for Asiaand the Pacific 2008 conference (Singapore; 26-28 November) where a oecd.org
database of government reform efforts was announced. Meanwhile, on the supply
side the World Economic Forum (WEF) Partnering Against Corruption Initiative(PACI) has started to use a YouTube video to invite the general public to submit
breakthrough ideas on how to fight corruption, with the best ideas to bepresented at the 2009 World Economic Forum. PACI has also undertaken a selfassessment (www.weforum.org/paci/ha) showing that all signatories to its
anticorruption principles now had anti-corruption programmes in place. Featured
at the World Federation of Engineering Organizations (WFEO) 2008 WorldEngineering Congress in (Brasilia, 2-4 December; www.wec2008.org.br) was a
40 minute film Ethicana that related difficult ethical decisions encountered inconstruction projects (see Ethicana for a preview). Finally, the UN Global Compact
has released Resisting Extortions and Solicitations in International Transactions
Part 1 that presents 21 scenarios involving solicitation during the procurement
process. The tool perhaps lacks adequate input from the building construction andinfrastructure sector given that FIDIC, among others, keeps details of manybribery and corruption scenarios (see www.fidic.org/integrity) as a training tool.

Principles - Sustainability
Sustainable Building Alliance to align certification systems [full item: 1Su]
Green building certification authorities from France and the UK created in April
2008 the Sustainable Building Alliance (SBA; www.sballiance.org, see FIDIC Newsitem) to collaborate in the development of a core building assessment system. It
was agreed in September 2008 that a core set of indicators would be proposed onbehalf of all SBA members in early-2009 by a working group made up ofrepresentatives from certification authorities in the UK, France, Germany andBrazil. The Alliance aims to develop common minimum standards and common
indicators for all certification schemes to ensure consistency and to promote "dualcertification" so that the sustainability performance of buildings in different
countries can be compared. Whether the Alliance will allow a building certified
under one of the partners' schemes to meet the requirements of another scheme
remains to be seen. A key element of the core indicators will be adaptability tolocal conditions, which is a feature of FIDIC's Project Sustainability Management
System (PSM) that provides guiding principles for rating projects.

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Introducing PSM in building certification has also been one of the challenges taken Paris
Mar08
up by Netherland's Ike van der Putte . He was caught totally off guard with theannouncement at the FIDIC 2008 Quebec Conference of a FIDIC Prangey Awardfor contributions to FIDIC's PSM and Environmental Management Systems (EMS),
notably training. Indeed, building upon its extensive experience with EMS and
PSM training, FIDIC and the International Initiative for Sustainable Built
Environment (iiSBE) plan to announce a FIDIC-iiSBE Sustainable Construction
Training Programme covering PSM and rating schemes (endorsement by the SBA
and the UNEP Sustainable Buildings and Construction Initiative,
www.unepsbci.org, is being sought).
Announcements - Events
FIDIC Conferences and International Training Programme [full item: 62Ev]
FIDIC-UACE Intensive Course (Contracts), Kampala, 19-20 Jan 09
FIDIC-UACE Intensive Course (Claims), Kampala, 21-22 Jan 09
FIDIC Intensive Course (Management), Qatar, 27-29 Jan 09
FIDIC Intensive Course (Services Agreements), Qatar, 10-12 Feb 09
FIDIC-CEAI Seminar (Claims), New Delhi, 16-17 Feb 09
FIDIC-ECV Training Course (Contracts), Dubai, 23-24 Feb 09
FIDIC-ASPAC Asia-Pacific Regional Conference, Katmandu, 10-13 Mar 09
FIDIC-GAMA Africa Regional Conference, Durban, 15-18 Mar 09
FIDIC Intensive Course (DABs), Ho Chi Minh City, 25-26 Mar 09
FIDIC-Cornerstone Workshop (Contracts), Paris, Mar 09
FIDIC-ECV Training Course (Contracts), Vienna, 26-27 Mar 09
FIDIC-Cornerstone Workshop (Claims), Dubai, Apr 09
FIDIC-Cornerstone Workshop (Contracts), Johannesburg, Jun 09
FIDIC-ECV Training Course (Claims), Abu Dhabi, 20-21 Apr 09
Announcements - Notices
General Assembly decisions [full item: 2No]
Gregs Thomopulos, Chairman and CEO, Stanley Consultants,
USA, was elected as FIDIC President-Elect at the FIDIC 2008
General Assembly Meeting held during the FIDIC 2008 Quebec
Conference. Andreas Gobiet (see photo), Gobiet and Partner,
Austria, was elected to the FIDIC Executive Committee and John
Boyd, FIDIC President, who chaired the meeting announced thatAdam Thornton, Dunning Thornton Consultants, New Zealand,
had been appointed as the FIDIC Treasurer to replace Flemming
Bligaard Pedersen, Denmark, whose term of office on the
Executive Committee had ended. The FIDIC President reported a surplus of 298
kSFR for 2007 and an increase in the budget from a forecast 2460 kSFR in 2008
to 2580 kSFR for 2009. The surplus came from record sales for the FIDIC
Bookshop and a significant increase in income from licences and training events
that could not be offset by a planned investment in republished documents owing
to a shortage of staff. Seoul, Korea, was approved as the venue for the FIDIC
2012 conference, with KENCA-Korea as the host association.

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CoursesponsorExecutive Committee decisions [full item: 3No]
The FIDIC 2008 General Assembly approved recommendations by the Executive
Committee to accept applications from Ukraine and Uzbekistan as Associate
Members, the new membership category agreed in 2007 that allowed recognitionof, and support for, fledgling organisations seeking to develop a consulting
engineering industry in their countries. It was also agreed that Albania would
remain in membership as an Associate. Five new Affiliate Members wereacknowledged: Les Contracteurs (France); Implenia (Switzerland) ; Robert
McLean (Canada); Dr Siddiqui (UAE); Saba Engineering (Ethiopia).
Meeting immediately before the FIDIC 2008 Quebec Conference, the Executive
Committee agreed to keep unchanged the Unit Fee used to calculate Member
Association membership fees, but to apply a 10% increase in staff numbers for
non-reporting. It was also agreed to launch a programme to support thedevelopment of training materials and the training of national trainers so that
selected Member Associations would be able to supply trainers for FIDIC's
International Training Programme. The trainers would also act as the bridge tonational training programmes so that standards can be maintained.
Other Executive descisions concerned setting up a communications oversightgroup charged with developing communications messages and a Subscriptions
Task Force chaired by the new FIDIC Treasurer, Adam Thornton, to review thebasis for Member Association subscriptions and voting rights.
Members [full item: 1No]
Executive Committee, Kampala, 21-22 Jan 09
Adjudicators Assessment Workshop applications, UK, Apr 2008 (venue changed)
2009 YP Management Training Programme PDF
MA Letters 11/08: Annual Survey PDF
MA Letters 12/08: 2009 GAM Minutes PDF

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