International Federation of Consulting Engineers

FIDIC NewsMay 2011
Online at FIDIC.org/news
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FIDIC
Activities
Registration open for FIDIC 2011 Conference
Registration is now open for the FIDIC 2011 Conference that has been moved
from Tunisia to Davos, Switzerland.
Joint declaration issued at Vienna conference
A declaration issued during joint conference organised with FIDIC called uponclients to recognise key success factors.
BST Global becomes a FIDIC Strategic Partner
FIDIC and the leading global provider of enterprise business management
software solutions have entered into a seven-year strategic partnership.
FIDIC Asia-Pacific conference highlighted innovation for sustainability
The TCDPAP - FIDIC ASPAC 2011 Asia-Pacific regional conference reviewed
innovative approaches sustainable development.
Business
Development

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FIDIC
2011
Conference
Davos
2-5 Oct11

Contracts
Workshop
Bucharest
30 Jun - 1
Jul11
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Close coordination of committee activities
FIDIC and EFCA committees are focussing on key issues in the areas ofprocurement and business practice.
Practice
Sustainable Building and Construction Global Forum
Global alliance aims to represent building, construction and infrastructure
sector stakeholders.

Contracts
CourseBrussels
6-7 Jun11
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Contracts
Romania re-adopts FIDIC contracts
The licence to use FIDIC contracts for public works in Romania has beentransferred to the Romanian Ministry of Transport.
Special FIDIC conference reviewed the MDB Harmonised Contract
Development banks and all major stakeholders were represented at aconference that reviewed implementation of the Harmonised Construction
Contract.
Industry
Representation
GAMA-Africa plans new initiatives
A new secretariat for the GAMA-Africa group of FIDIC Member Associations will
spearhead a more strategic approach.
FIDIC 2011 Annual Conference to focus on Africa
The FIDIC 2011 Annual Conference that has been moved from Tunisia to Davosin Switzreland will still aim to adresses challenges affecting Africa.
Image
Advance notice of special centenary awards
Nominations for FIDIC centenary awards for outstanding contributions to
consulting engineering will be sought in 2012.
Principles
EthicsOECD anticorruption conference prepared a G20 summit
FIDIC national Member Association member firms were encouraged toparticipate in a G20-OECD conference to prepare for a G20 summit.
Sustainability
Banks aim to harmonise approaches to climate change
The major multilateral development banks have asked FIDIC to help in
identifying ways to harmonise their assessment of the impact of climate changeon all of their projects.

Contracts
CourseTanzania
6-7 Jun11

Contracts
Conference
Sao Paolo
16-17 Jun11

Contracts
Conference
Singapore
5-6 Jul11

CourseSponsorAnnouncements
FIDIC President receives OPAL Award
FIDIC Conferences and Events

Strategic
Partner

Executive Committee reviews publication activities
FIDIC - Activities
Registration open for FIDIC 2011 Conference [full item: 123Ac]
The FIDIC annual conference is the consulting
engineering industry's premier networking event.
Registration is now open for the 2011 conference Local
Resources – Global Perspectives that has been moved
from Tunisia to Davos, Switzerland, with the dateschanged to 2-5 October 2011, see website. The
conference will focus on the advanced skills rooted in
viable and effective organisations that are essential for
supplying state-of-the-art solutions to development challenges. Participants will
have the opportunity to hear from, and discuss with, experts in the field of
business and engineering. They will also be able to contribute to the work of
FIDIC through the various workshops and seminars.

FIDIC
2011
Conference
Davos
2-5 Oct11

Contracts
Workshop
Bucharest
30 Jun - 1
Jul11
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Contracts
CourseBrussels
6-7 Jun11
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Although the location of the conference was changed, this will still be very much a
conference with a North African flavour where Africa's concerns will be addressed.
There will be reports of the future of the consulting engineering industry in Africa,
especially North Africa, that will be related to global trends and perspectives. In
addition to a comprehensive business programme, the organisers, FIDIC and
ANBEIC, the FIDIC Member Association for Tunisia, are putting together acomprehensive and varied programme of social events so that participants andContracts
Courseaccompanying persons can discover the beauty of the Swiss countryside while
Tanzania
enjoying a taste of Tunisia.

6-7 Jun11

Joint declaration issued at Vienna conference [full item: 124Ac]
Gregs Thomopulos, FIDIC President, and Andreas Gobiet, FIDIC Executive
Committee member, spoke on the second day of the Important Success Factors inEngineering and Construction Project Management Joint Conference (Vienna; 1213 May 2011 ) in sessions on "Innovative Contracts and Wise Contract
Management". The conference was organised by the Austrian Consultants
Association(ACA, the FIDIC Member Association for Austria), FIDIC , theInternational Construction Project Management Association, Projekt Management
Austria, and the Austrian Association of Architects and Engineering Firms. A
special feature was a panel discussion on innovative forms of contracts in which
Geoff French, FIDIC President-Elect, participated. The first day was taken up by"Intelligent Systems in Buildings and Infrastructure Projects" with in-depth
discussion of sustainable urban development. The FIDIC Executive Committee
met immediately before the conference (see News item) and the occasion wasused by FIDIC and ACA to issue the Vienna Declaration which called upon clients
to facilitate excellence and innovation, use Quality Based Selection, avoid pricecompetition and unbalanced contracts, emphasize the early phases of projects
when all fundamentals are laid out, educate young engineers for the requirementsof a fast changing world, and support business integrity management, see PDF.
BST Global becomes a FIDIC Strategic Partner [full item: 121Ac]
FIDIC and BST Global, the leading global provider of enterprisebusiness management software solutions for consulting
engineering, architecture and environmental consultancies,
announced a new seven-year strategic partnership on 27
January 2011. The partnership agreement designates BST
Global as the sole and exclusive FIDIC Strategic Partner in thearea of enterprise business management software solutions andservices for the engineering and environmental consulting
industry, and BST Global and FIDIC agree to collaborate globally on many of thefederation's strategic initiatives. The agreement was signed in Brussels by Javier
Baldor, Executive Vice-President, BST Global (on the right), and Gregs
Thomopulos, FIDIC President. Further details are given in a BST Global press
release. "BST Global has been an invaluable partner for FIDIC in the area ofcapacity development for several years. The federation is proud that BST Global
has decided to make a long-term strategic commitment in support of a wider
range of FIDIC activities," said Gregs Thomopulos.

Contracts
Conference
Sao Paolo
16-17 Jun11

Contracts
Conference
Singapore
5-6 Jul11

CourseSponsorFIDIC Asia-Pacific conference highlighted innovation for sustainability[full item: 122Ac]

Creative, innovative and pragmatic approaches for achieving
sustainability, the focus of the TCDPAP - FIDIC ASPAC 2011
Conference Sustainability in the Globalised World (Kuala
Lumpur; 25-26 April 2011), highlighted success stories andhands-on examples of new approaches, solutions andmechanisms to achieve sustainable development. The
conference was organised by Construction Industry
Development Board (CIDB) and supported by the Association of Consulting
Engineers Malaysia in association with the FIDIC-ASPAC Asia-Pacific regionalgroup of FIDIC Member Associations and the Technical Consultancy Development
Programme for Asia and the Pacific (TCDPAP).

Strategic
Partner

FIDIC
2011
Conference
Davos
2-5 Oct11

Following welcome addresses by the Hon. Dato Shaziman bin Abu Mansor,
Contracts
Minister of Works, Malaysia, YBhg. Datuk Ir Hamzah Hasan, CIDB Chair, Dr K.A.
Workshop
Bucharest
Chaudry, TCDPAP President, Gregs Thomopulos, FIDIC President, and Dennis
30 Jun - 1
Sheehan, ASPAC Chair, there were reports of country initiatives to embedJul11sustainability within the region's vigorous economic development. Key issues were
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then taken up in a series of workshop presentations that reviewed the role ofconsultants in promoting green energy generation and green building,environmentally friendly and low-carbon developments, incentives for green
initiatives, the cost of sustainable construction, sustainability driven by design,
Contracts
the design and construction of environmentally sensitive facilities, theCoursecommercialisation of developing technology, renewable energy and rapid
Brussels
transport systems, and novel engineering approaches, notably soil bioengineering 6-7 Jun11
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for stabilising earthworks. Presentations are available on the conference website
and the TCDPAP - FIDIC ASPAC 2012 Conference was announced for March 2012
in Sri Lanka. The photo shows Dr Hum-il Moon, KENCA-Korea Chairman, with
Gregs Thomopulos, FIDIC President (on the right), who signed an agreement
Contracts
during the conference to establish the FIDIC-KENCA Accredited Training
CourseProgramme comprising some 160 hours training on FIDIC contracts and best
Tanzania
practice based upon two-day course modules.
6-7 Jun11

Business - Development
Close coordination of committee activities [full item: 72De]
Further discussions with senior officials of the European association EFCA thattook place each month in early-2011, including meetings during the EFCA
Directors and Secretaries Meeting on 11 March 2011 and during the EFCA General
Assembly on 26 May 2011, confirmed enhanced collaboration through FIDIC andEFCA committee activities. It is also planned to follow up on some specific issues,in particular enhanced discussions with the European Commission on procurement
policies and procedures and on the use of FIDIC contracts in European Union
funded projects. Longer term it is aimed to promote vigorously the benefits ofusing internationally accepted standards in both the selection of consultants andin the implementation of projects. Closer collaboration is also envisaged in areas
such as the use of the Multilateral Development Bank Harmonised Edition of the
FIDIC Construction Contract, work on sustainability standards, guidelines andbusiness tools, and integrity management.
Business - PracticeSustainable Building and Construction Global Forum [full item: 88Pr]
A group of international not-for-profit organisations representing building,construction and infrastructure sector stakeholders with a strong commitment tosustainable building and construction met in January 2011 to kick-start theformation of a new global alliance called the Sustainable Building and Construction
Global Forum. Subject to ratification by their boards, the partner organisations
are the Building and Woodworkers International representing some 15 million
workers, the International Council for Research and Innovation in Building andConstruction, representing about 500 member research organisations, FIDIC, theInternational Initiative for a Sustainable Built Environment, a global network ofindividual researchers and activists, and the International Labor Office.
Discussions are currently being held with other representative internationalorganisations to confirm their commitment to the new forum. The forum's main
goal is to represent the building, construction and infrastructure sector on theleading international platforms. With the emergence in recent years of commercial
initiatives such as building rating systems, the sector's role and importance has tobe recognised adequately at the highest levels.

Contracts
Conference
Sao Paolo
16-17 Jun11

Contracts
Conference
Singapore
5-6 Jul11

CourseSponsorBusiness - Contracts
Romania re-adopts FIDIC contracts [full item: 91Co]
In mid-2010 the government of Romania removed the mandatory requirement to
use FIDIC contracts for public works. After extensive lobbying from industry,
FIDIC and ARIC-Romania over the advantages of using internationally recognised
contracts such as FIDIC, the Romanian Ministry of Transport agreed to readopt
FIDIC contracts in December 2010. The licence to publish and distribute FIDIC
contracts for government-funded projects was transferred from the Ministry of
Finance to the Ministry for Transport. Discussions continue nevertheless on thenegative impact stemming from extensive Particular Conditions that takeprecedence over the standard, balanced and widely understood General
Conditions of contract. Of special concern are conditions that remove Dispute
Adjudication Boards and in some cases leave settlement in national courts as the
only mechanism for resolving disputes. Given the tendency for the introduction ofsimilar conditions elsewhere in east and central Europe, FIDIC has taken thematter up with the European federation EFCA, in order to advise European
Commission officials on the negative impact.
Special FIDIC conference reviewed the MDB Harmonised Contract

Strategic
Partner

FIDIC
2011
Conference
Davos
2-5 Oct11

Contracts
Workshop
Bucharest
30 Jun - 1
Jul11
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[full item: 92Co]

In order that the Multilateral Development Bank (MDB)
Harmonized Major Works (Construction) Contract
continues to serve as one of the main vehicles for
ensuring environmentally and socially responsible
procurement, the MDB Harmonized Major Works(Construction) Contract Conference (Brussels; 27-28 January 2011) analysed therationale behind the contract's provisions and how they were implemented, user
experience for the first five years, and future developments. All of the contract's
Participating Banks were represented together with most of the international
agencies and organisations involved in promoting procurement best practice andthe adoption of harmonised contract conditions. Participants were welcomed by
Bernard Becq (photo, fourth from the left), Head of Procurement, The World
Bank, who chaired the conference on behalf of the MDB's, and from the left,
Daniel Tardy, President, Confederation of International Contractors' Associations(CICA), Ambet Yuson, General Secretary, Building and Woodworkers International(BWI), Gregs Thomopulos, President, FIDIC, Bernard Becq, and Jan Bosschem,
President-Elect, European Federation of Engineering Consultancy Associations(EFCA).
The context in which the MDB Contract operates was summarised by speakers
representing the International Council for Building (Prof. Peter McDermott, CIB,
The Netherlands; University of Salford, UK), European International Contractors(Frank Kehlenbach, Director, EIC), International Chamber of Commerce (Jason
Fry, Secretary-General, ICC), International Standards Organization (Dr Ron
Watermeyer, Project Leader, Construction Procurement, ISO), UNOPS (Braye
Sutherland, Global Practice Leader, Infrastructure, UNOPS), OECD (Daniel
Ivarsson, Senior Adviser, Public Procurement, SIGMA, OECD), and the Millennium
Challenge Corporation (Ellen Moran, Senior Director, Infrastructure, MCC, USA).
EFCA was the local host and the conference was organised by FIDIC, BWI and
CICA. Presentations are available at www.fidic.org/mdb2011 and a detailed reportwill serve as recommendations for further discussion with the banks on proposals
for improving the conditions of contract and the way they are implemented.
Industry - Representation
GAMA-Africa plans new initiatives [full item: 72Re]
New options are being explored to support FIDIC GAMA-Africa
regional activities with a secretariat that is in the process of
being outsourced to ACET-Tanzania. A stronger network within
Africa is planned, and a growth strategy implemented, aiming toincrease over the next two years the number of countries thatare members. GAMA will also take a more strategic approach toits annual conference by working more closely with hosting
countries. Capacity development will be a particular focus, withthe exploration of not only more effective ways to strengthen
companies within Africa but also of ways to enhance collaboration with overseas
firms. Meanwhile, the importance of having effective regional representation was
highlighted by a proposal being developed by the South American federation
FEPAC to set-up a secretariat in Peru.

Contracts
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6-7 Jun11
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Contracts
CourseTanzania
6-7 Jun11

Contracts
Conference
Sao Paolo
16-17 Jun11

Contracts
Conference
Singapore
5-6 Jul11

CourseSponsorFIDIC 2011 Annual Conference to focus on Africa [full item: 73Re]
GAMA, the FIDIC Group of African Member Associations, has agreed to forgo its
2011 annual conference in order to lend additional support to the FIDIC 2011conference that is now planned for Davos, Switzerland, (see News item). Not
surprisingly, the conference focus links closely with GAMA's strategic interests incapacity development, looking in particular at the concept of adapting andadopting international best practice at the local level. The recent events in North
Africa will lead to a new emphasis on the importance of networking throughout
the region and internationally, as the ever closer links between infrastructure
investment and economic development become more important. A recent African
Development Bank report (PDF) has stressed that while addressing Africa’s
infrastructure gap remains essential, broader reforms are also needed tostrengthen the rule of law.
Industry - Image
Advance notice of special centenary awards [full item: 54Im]

Strategic
Partner

FIDIC
2011
Conference
Davos
2-5 Oct11

Contracts
Workshop
Bucharest
30 Jun - 1
Jul11
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FIDIC plans to mark its centenary by presenting special awards at the FIDIC 2013
Centenary Conference in Barcelona in September 2013. The awards, which willcelebrate outstanding projects and consulting engineering achievements over thelast 100 years, will help publicise the work of consulting engineers and their
Contracts
contributions to the way the world lives and works. FIDIC Member Associations
will be invited to submit nominations in 2012. It is envisaged that the nominations Course
Brussels
will be for projects and contributions by individuals that are internationally
6-7 Jun11
recognised, demonstrate technical excellence and innovation, enduring, and
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sustainable.
Principles - Ethics
OECD anticorruption conference prepared a G20 summit [full item: 58Et]
In November 2011, leaders of the G20 countries
pledged (G20 Agenda for Action on Combating
Corruption, Promoting Market Integrity, and Supportinga Clean Business Environment PDF) a closer
engagement with the private sector to examine bestpractices and other initiatives to combat corruption. A
G20-OECD conference on 27-28 April 2011 Joining
Forces against Corruption: G20 Business andGovernment, see www.oecd.org/daf/nocorruption/g20,
represented the first step in taking up the call, with discussion on anti-corruption
compliance, corruption in public procurement, and the efficacy of sector-specificanti-corruption initiatives. Results (see Summary and Conclusions PDF) will feed
into a G20 Business Summit ahead of the G20 Summit in Cannes, France, inNovember 2011. Owing to FIDIC's experience and expertise in identifying andreducing the risk of corruption in the consulting engineering industry, Geoff
French, FIDIC President Elect, was invited to present the FIDIC Integrity
Management System at the G20-OECD conference as an example of a sectorspecific anti-corruption initiative.
Principles - Sustainability
Banks aim to harmonise approaches to climate change [full item: 13Su]
All of the major multilateral development banks have now established climatechange units (see, for example, the World Bank) charged with monitoring climatechange considerations for all of their projects. It is perhaps unfortunate therefore
that the same coherent approach has not been adopted for due diligence,
although recent discussions with FIDIC in Washington DC have indicated thatinter-bank discussions are taking place on integrating approaches to economic,
environmental and social considerations in infrastructure investment decisions.
FIDIC has been asked to assist in the development of sustainability indicators as
the banks explore climate mitigation and due diligence. Some of the banks now
aim to offset costs that stem from climate change through climate-dedicatedfinance, but their approaches to issues such as carbon trading and green
procurement are sometimes inconsistent. FIDIC's Project Sustainability
Management guide, currently being updated, focusses on issues that can beaddressed direcly by consulting engineers. The guide will help structure
discussions on sustainability indicators since it focuses on those aspects which canbe influenced significantly in designing and implementing projects.

Contracts
CourseTanzania
6-7 Jun11

Contracts
Conference
Sao Paolo
16-17 Jun11

Contracts
Conference
Singapore
5-6 Jul11

CourseSponsorAnnouncements - Events
FIDIC President receives OPAL Award [full item: 72Ev]
The American Society of Civil Engineers (ASCE)
Outstanding Projects And Leaders (OPAL)
Awards is the premier award programme tocelebrate the achievements of the civilengineering leaders who are not necessarily
ASCE members and have helped design andbuild the world's most recognised and important
infrastructure systems. Gregs Thomopulos,
FIDIC President, was awarded in March 2011 in
Washington DC the 2011 OPAL Award forlifetime accomplishments and achievements that have made significant
differences in the management category (one of five categories), seeannouncement. Commenting on the award, Gregs said: "I have been blessed withthe opportunities I have received in my professional career and the great people
that I have been lucky to work with which made this award possible". The photoshows FIDIC colleagues who attended the award ceremony: from the left, Enrico
Vink, FIDIC Managing Director; Dick Kell, FIDIC Past-President; Pablo Bueno
Tomas, Member, FIDIC Executive Committee; Gregs Thomopulos; Geoff French,
FIDIC President-Elect; Mayen Adetiba, Chair, FIDIC GAMA.
FIDIC Conferences and Events [full item: 63Ev]
FIDIC-ECV Contracts Course (Contracts), Brussels, 6-7 Jun 11
FIDIC Contracts Intensive Course, Tanzania, 6-7 Jun 2011
ICC-FIDIC Contracts & Dispute Resolution Conference, Sao Paolo, 16-17 Jun 11
APPC-FIDIC Portuguese Construction Contract Launch Seminar, Lisbon, 21 Jun 11
DRBF & King's College London Adjudication Conference, London, 29-30 Jun 11
FIDIC-Cornerstone Contracts Workshop (Contracts), Bucharest, 30 Jun - 1 Jul 11
FIDIC 2011 Conference, Davos, 2-5 Oct 11

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Partner

FIDIC
2011
Conference
Davos
2-5 Oct11

Contracts
Workshop
Bucharest
30 Jun - 1
Jul11
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Contracts
CourseBrussels
6-7 Jun11
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Contracts
CourseTanzania
6-7 Jun11

Announcements - Notices
Executive Committee reviews publication activities [full item: 23No]
As part of its review of the FIDIC 2010 accounts, the FIDIC
Executive Committee meeting in Vienna in May 2011 agreed thatthe continuing strength of the Swiss franc called for FIDIC
Bookshop prices to be increased for the first time in 10 years.
The increases will be introduced as new reprints of older FIDIC
works contracts come on-stream in June 2011. Given the statusof FIDIC’s General Conditions of contract as the de facto
international standard, the Executive Committee was also
attentive to copyright breaches, especially unlicensed unilateralchanges by government ministries. It was agreed to meet with a Romanianministry where undesirable and unauthorised changes to licensed translations had
been made. It was also agreed that steps would be taken to licence the China
Development Bank and the Indonesia Ministry of Works to use the MultilateralDevelopment Bank Harmonised Construction Contract. Ensuring that the English
and translated versions of the Harmonised Contract reproduced in Participating
Bank Standard Bidding Documents were accurate and up-to-date remained aconcern. FIDIC was considering taking responsibility for translations into thelanguages used by the banks.
Other Bookshop activity covered publication of new translations of the 1999 suiteof works contracts, notably Italian and Portuguese versions of the FIDIC
Construction Contract, bringing the number of translations to 15. FIDIC had also
agreed to sell a new European International Contractors guide to the Harmonised
Contract. Meanwhile, updating the Dredgers Contract and discussions with theInternational Tunnelling Association for special tunnelling conditions of contract
were approved, and clarification was sought on the status of an International
Union of Architects' version of the Client-Consultant Model Services Agreement.
The status of other key documents that were being prepared was reviewed. These
included policy statements on climate change and limited liability, a new
Procurement Procedures Guide (see cover) which FIDIC committees have recently
reviewed prior to formal approval by the Executive Committee, a new integrity
compliance manual that supplemented the FIDIC Integrity Management System
guide, and updated brochures introducing capacity development and Quality
Based Selection. Finally, drafting task groups for a subcontract to the Plant and
Design-Build Contract and for a disaster management guide were approved.

Contracts
Conference
Sao Paolo
16-17 Jun11

Contracts
Conference
Singapore
5-6 Jul11

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