International Federation of Consulting Engineers

FIDIC News

November 2007
Online at FIDIC.org/news
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Activities
Singapore successParticipants from a record number of countries learnt about the key factors for
successful business relationships.
Executive proposed three new national members
The Executive Committee meeting just before the FIDIC 2007 Singapore
Conference agreed to propose three new associations.
Meetings made a vital contribution to the annual conference
All of FIDIC's committees were able to meet during the FIDIC 2007 Singapore
Conference.
FIDIC's 79th association voted at 2007 General AssemblyWith new members from Jordan, Kazakhstan, Malawi, and Russia voted in, FIDIC
now has 79 Member Associations.

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EventsForthcoming meetings and events
Late-2007 events include FIDIC contracts courses, training workshops andconferences.
Young professionals: the future is today
The FIDIC 2007 Young Professionals Management Training Programme ended
with a resounding success at the FIDIC 2007 Singapore conference.
Contracts
DBO contract launched
A series of events are providing vital feedback on the new FIDIC contract for
Design, Build and Operate projects.

Training
Courses
8-11 Dec07

User
Conference
7-8 Dec07

Business practice
Guide to Practice Training Manual update
FIDIC Capacity Building Committee seeks help to update FIDIC training manualmodules
Business development
World Bank to pursue country systems mandate
While there is little direct impact on consulting engineering, the use of country
procurement systems for bank funded projects raises many concerns.

Young
Professionals
2008
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EthicsUN corporate citizenship summit makes history
Business leaders and their representatives, including FIDIC, called for greater
cooperation.
FIDIC collaborates on anticorruption programmes
FIDIC is partnering with organizations representing contractors to seek greater
support for private sector initiatives.
Industry anticorruption initiatives extended
FIDIC is extending initiatives with other organizations to help address the needsof funding agencies
Image
African Development Bank procurement proposals
FIDIC has thanked the African Development Bank for its decision to harmonise
guidelines for consultants.
Notices to Member Associations
MA Notices: November 2007
Published every two months by FIDIC for distribution to members and to the consulting engineering
industry via FIDIC's 79 national Member Associations. Copyright FIDIC 2007.
To subscribe, please contact FIDIC.
Representing globally the consulting engineering industry

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CoursesponsorActivities
Singapore success [full item: 96Ac]
Participants from a record breaking 69 countries who
participated in the FIDIC 2007 Singapore conference on
9-13 September were able to hear keynote speakers
from the Asian Development Bank, bilateral funding
agencies (Japan International Cooperation Agency;
Japan Bank for International Cooperation) and leading
contractors (Leighton Asia) and consultants (Maunsell-AECOM) explore theirchanging relationships, especially within the construction sector which dominates
investment decisions for infrastructure. The conference was opened by Mah Bow
Tan, Singapore's Minister of National Development, following a magnificent
welcome reception the evening before at the impressive Asian Civilisations
Museum, which was hosted by the Association of Consulting Engineers Singapore.
The Minister is seen in the photo being welcomed to the conference by Jorge Diaz
Padilla, then FIDIC President, with John Boyd, the new FIDIC President on theleft. The Minister, after being introduced by Lim Pheng Hong, the conference chair(photo below), reflected on globalisation and the relationships between countries
in the development of modern economies. He stressed the major role played byconsulting engineers, who are often leaders in bringing the benefits of bestpractice. New models for collaboration are being implemented as projects becomelarger and more complex. Roles within the project team are also changing, andnew opportunities are being created through partnering to find innovative ideas tomeet the challenging requirements for high quality projects.

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On the second day, some 37 speakers from 15 countries shareda wealth of views and experience in nine interactive workshopsthat addressed carefully selected topics. Presentations areavailable on the conference website, www.fidic2007.org. A
highlight of the third day was an inspired presentation by theparticipants in the 2007 FIDIC Young Professionals Management
Young
Training Programme, see News item. Other highlights were
Professionals
seminars that demonstrated the practical application of sustainability, as captured 2008
in FIDIC's Project Sustainability Management guidelines (see FIDIC.org/PSM), and ORDER NOW
FIDIC's commitment to fight corruption through Business Integrity Management(see FIDIC.org/BIMS). Case studies demonstrated the commercial application of
the FIDIC tools, both in raising the quality of services and in addressing
stakeholder concerns. Numerous social activities entertained participants andtheir partners in between the busy schedule of meetings and workshops which
DBO
helped chart a course for the industry, and introduced the topics that will be taken Copenhagenup at the FIDIC 2008 Quebec Conference (9 -11 September; www.fidic2008.org). Seminar
Executive proposed three new national members [full item: 97Ac]

1 Feb07
ORDER NOWThe Executive Committee tackled once again a broad range ofstrategic and management issues. It approved publication of the
Pre-Press Seminar Edition of the FIDIC Design, Build andCourseOperate Contract (see News item), noting that other committees
sponsorwould be asked to give feedback before the First Edition is
published in 2008. Other efforts to increase collaboration
between committees would focus on the Guide to PracticeTraining Manual, with various committees being asked to update
training modules (see News item). The Capacity Building Committee which is
responsible for the manual would continue to address the dissemination ofinternational best practice rather than, for example, the development of theconsulting industry in countries with poorly developed consulting sectors. It wasagreed that the FIDIC List of Mediators should be reinstated to support
appointments of mediators under the FIDIC Client/Consultant Model Services
Agreement, and that while lists of dispute board adjudicators established by
Member Associations would continue to be supported indirectly, FIDIC's main
focus would continue to be the President's List of adjudicators (seeFIDIC.org/dab). Regarding sustainable development, a strategy group will be
asked to report on how FIDIC can best help enhance the role of consulting
engineers in taking the lead on project sustainability where there is a tendency forother industry sectors to assume a greater role, and risk.
Decisions affecting governance issues such as statutes revisions, membershipfees, finances and representation were reported to the Member Association
Presidents and Directors Meeting and the General Assembly Meeting (GAM) thatwere held during the conference (see News item). The photo shows, on the right,
Jorge Diaz Padilla, the retiring FIDIC President, receiving a plaque from Wael
Saqqa, President, Jordan Engineers Association, on behalf of the Jordan Architects
and Consulting Engineers Council, that was admitted to membership at the GAM.

Meetings made a vital contribution to the annual conference [full item: 99Ac]
An important stream of activities that ran in parallel to the FIDIC 2007 Singapore
Conference programme included meetings of all of FIDIC's nine committees, aswell as meetings of committees working on future FIDIC conferences. Meetings
were also held with representatives of the Japan Bank of International
Collaboration, which seeks closer collaboration, particularly in the area of training
and standardised contracts, and of the major multilateral development banks,
primarily to review the outcomes of the BIMILACI meeting in Washington in May
2007. It has been noted that given the number of critical issues affecting both theconsulting engineering industry and funding agencies, there is value in meeting
annually instead of every two years.

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FIDIC's 79th association voted at 2007 General Assembly [full item: 98Ac]
The FIDIC 2007 General Assembly Meeting (GAM)
during the FIDIC 2007 Singapore Conference saw theelection of Dr John Boyd as the FIDIC President for
2007-9; Gregs Thompoulos, USA, was elected VicePresident. In his acceptance address (available on
www.fidic2007.org), John stressed that consulting
engineers need to be not only trusted advisors to clients
but also trusted advisors to society - a theme on the industry's role in society thatwill be taken up by the FIDIC 2008 Quebec Conference in his own country,
Canada. Dr Boyd is a senior Principal, Golder Associates Corp., Canada, based at
the company's headquarters near Toronto. John has been focussing recently on
business and management training both within Golder and externally, especiallyon sustainable development. His most recent position in the company was VicePresident, Operations.
The new members elected to the Executive Committee to succeed Bayo Adeola,
Nigeria, Jorge Diaz Padilla, Mexico, and Maxime Mazloum, France, were Patrick
Batumbya, Uganda (on the left in the upper photo, Pablo Bueno Tomas, Spain,
and Adam Thornton, New Zealand (on the right in the photo; CVs available on
FIDIC.org). The GAM acknowledged Knowles, UK, as a new Affiliate Member,approved Tunis as the venue for the FIDIC 2011 conference, and unanimously
approved the Association of Consulting Engineers Malawi (ACEM), the Jordan
Architects and Consulting Engineers Council (JACEC), the Kazakhstan Associationof Consulting Engineers (KACE), and the Russian Association of Engineering
Consultants (RACE) as members, bringing the number of FIDIC Member
Associations to 79.
With Maxime Mazloum, the retiring Treasurer, reporting record
Bookshop sales, significant new income from events andlicences, an excellent recovery of membership fees, and asurplus for the FIDIC 2006 Budapest Conference, the GAM
accepted the Executive Committee's recommendation not toincrease the unit fee for subscriptions, and noted that Flemming
Bligaard Pedersen, Denmark, had taken over as FIDIC
Treasurer. The GAM also approved revisions to the FIDIC
Statutes and By-laws that simplify membership by merging
Sustaining Members with Affiliate Members, and by replacing Correspondents witha new Associate Member category. Finally, in appreciation of the remarkable
contributions by volunteers to committee work, Axel Jaeger, Germany (on theright in the photo), and Tonny Jensen, Denmark (on the left), received thePrangey Award, FIDIC's only award, for their contributions to the drafting andpromotion of FIDIC contracts and quality management documents, respectively(citations are available on www.fidic2007.org in PDF).
EventsForthcoming meetings and events [full item: 56Ev]
FIDIC-Cornerstone Contracts Workshop, Warsaw, 3-4 Dec 07
FIDIC Contracts Users Conference, London, 6-7 Dec 07
FIDIC-Jordan Business Development Course, Amman, 8-9 Dec 07
FIDIC-Jordan Financial Management Course, Amman, 10-11 Dec 07
FIDIC-ECV Contracts (Module 1) Course, Dubai, 21-22 Jan 08
FIDIC-ICC Contracts and Dispute Resolution Conference, Monaco, 24-25 08
FIDIC-Spain PSM Seminar, Madrid, 30 Jan 08
FIDIC DBO Briefing Seminar, Copenhagen, 1 Feb 08
FIDIC-Egypt Contracts User Conference, Cairo, mid-Feb 08
FIDIC-ECV Contracts (Module 1) Course, Brussels, 3-4 Mar 08

Training
Courses
8-11 Dec07

User
Conference
7-8 Dec07

Young
Professionals
2008
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DBO
Copenhagen
Seminar
1 Feb07
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CoursesponsorYoung professionals: the future is today [full item: 57Ev]
Close to 50
enthusiastic young
managers from 20
countries (see photo)
ended the FIDIC 2007
Young Professionals
Management Training
Programme withtraining sessions and a
Young Leaders Workshop at the FIDIC 2007 Singapore Conference (9-13September; presentation available on www.fidic2007.org in PDF). The passion
and interest shown by these future industry leaders to become more involved wasclear to all. Senior colleagues in the audience confirmed their commitment tosupport young professionals, recognising that they would be leading their firms in
the near future, for in the words on one participant "the future is today". An
increasing number of FIDIC Member Associations and their member firms areencouraging and supporting future leaders, who think globally and act locally.
Registration for the 2008 programme starting in early-February 2008 closes on 31
December 2007. Scholarships covering the registration fee and expenses forparticipating in the FIDIC 2008 Quebec Conference are available for participants
coming from less-developed countries (full details at FIDIC.org/ypmtp).
Contracts

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DBO contract launched [full item: 69Co]
A special seminar attended by some 100 participants that washeld immediately after the FIDIC 2007 Singapore Conference
launched the long awaited FIDIC Design, Build and Operate
Contract (see FIDIC.org/DBO). Animated discussions with Axel
Jaeger and Michael Mortimer-Hawkins, the main drafters andseminar presenters, demonstrated the strong demand for thisnew, innovative form of contract. Thanks to the tremendous
efforts of a dedicated task group, overseen by the FIDIC
Contracts Committee, with strong support from the FIDIC
Executive Committee and Secretariat, as well as the generous
efforts of a team of international reviewers, it had been possible to publish a
special Pre-Press Seminar Edition of the contract in time for the annual
conference. The edition is available from the FDIC Bookshop in the usual printed
and electronic versions (see FIDIC.org/bookshop). A second one-day briefing
seminar was held in London on 11 October 2007, and a third seminar is planned
for Copenhagen on 11 January 2008 (see FIDIC.org/DBO). In between there is
the FIDIC Users Conference (London; 6-7 December 2007) which is one of
FIDIC's main platforms for reviewing recent experience with all of the federation'scontracts (see FIDIC.org/users). Input from these events will contribute to thetask group's analysis of feedback from the marketplace prior to recommending
any modifications which will be needed before publishing the complete First
Edition of the DBO Contract in 2008.
Business practice
Guide to Practice Training Manual update [full item: 74Pr]
At its last meeting, the FIDIC Capacity Building Committee(CBC) decided to update and upgrade the FIDIC Guide toPractice Training Manual - The business of a professional
services firm. Presented in modules, with each module coveringa specific area of consulting engineering practice, the manual
aims to provide basic knowledge of good practice. Its primarytargets are firms in developing countries and the training of new
intake in firms in developed countries. Each module involves a
few training sessions, is not exhaustive and contains references
for further reading. No more than three training sessions, each of two hours, isgenerally required. The modules do not compete with or replace the one- tothree-day training courses on the different topics supplied by FIDIC that use themodules as the scope of the course content. Since several of the topics coveredby the modules derive from existing documents prepared by FIDIC committees,
the CBC thinks that the best approach for reviewing and updating existing
modules and introducing new modules is to request committees to prepare or
update their relevant modules, with certain modules being updated by CBC. Bayo
Adeola, the CBC chair, has asked committee chairs to support this effort, which isplanned to finish by the FIDIC 2008 Quebec Conference, www.fidic2008.org.

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2008
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CoursesponsorBusiness development
World Bank to pursue country systems mandate [full item: 55De]
The World Bank aims to proceed with thedevelopment of a new programme aimed atassessing the capacity of borrowing countries
for internal procurement management. This haslong been one of the bank's (and indeed most
multinational development banks') policies forthe development of borrowing countries.
Considerable effort has gone into addressing the concerns raised over the last two
years from a number of stakeholders and organisations such as FIDIC. FIDIC has
assessed the World Bank's latest proposal on the use of country systems.
Although the direct impact on the consulting engineering industry is minimal,
there are potential impacts on broader procurement in the countries selected for apilot programme. Details on the Methodology for Procurement Country Systems
Piloting Programme can be found at www.worldbank.org under "Consultations andDiscussions", and comments were requested up to mid-November.
Intense discussions in Paris in October 2007 with FIDIC (the photo shows John
Boyd, FIDIC President, with Heads of Procurement, from the left: Ahmed
Benbarka, AfDB; Dilek Macit, EBRD; Sabine Engelhard, IADB; Patricia Baquero
and Bernard Becq, World Bank; Ignatius Santoso, ADB) and a special World Bank
presentation demonstrated how FIDIC's concerns were being addressed. Details
were provided on the selection criteria that will be used to assess borrowing
countries taking part in a pilot programme. They are derived from the wellunderstood OECD-DAC Methodology for Assessment of National Procurement
Systems, available online in PDF and used by many countries, combined withchecks and balances to ensure that only qualified countries participate, and that
their systems are sufficiently robust. Particular concerns raised by FIDIC werereviewed at the 2007 BIMILACI (see FIDIC.org/BIMILACI) meeting with thebanks. A related, and highly critical, issue for the banks is how best to address
the capacity building needs of those countries which do not yet have thenecessary capacity or skill to conduct their own procurement. This is where FIDIC
also has an interest with its capacity building initiatives and several best-practicetools such as Business Integrity Management, the GPIMS version (see News item)
for government agencies, and Project Sustainability Management. Workshops areplanned for 2008 to look in more depth into the issues raised by the use ofcountry procurement systems for bank funded projects before new programmes
are implemented.
EthicsUN corporate citizenship summit makes history [full item: 35Et]

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Feb 08Training
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Young
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2008
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DBO
Copenhagen
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1 Feb07
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The second UN Global Compact Leaders Summit (5-6 July 2007) at the UN
Headquarters in Geneva gathered over 1000 chief executive officers, government
Courseministers, heads of civil society and labour organizations, making it the largest
sponsorevent ever convened by the UN on the topic of corporate citizenship. The UN
Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon, as co-chair, urged participants to work together
to get their own houses in order so that, together, they might bring the fightagainst corruption to where it can make its greatest impact - in the way in whichbusiness is conducted, and the way in which the private sector interfaces withgovernment procurement. FIDIC, as one of the few industry groups invited toparticipate, shared its views on procurement, and the challenges that institutional
corruption present to meaningful reforms. The Government Procurement Integrity
Management System (GPIMS) proposed by FIDIC (see News Item) was presented
as a essential tool for government officials who lacked an understanding ofcorrupt practices and their impact on those who need the services offered by
improved infrastructure. Participants adopted a 21-point Geneva Declaration(available online in PDF) which spells out concrete actions for business andgovernment.
FIDIC collaborates on anticorruption programmes [full item: 36Et]
Ongoing discussions with the Confederation of International Contractors'
Association, CICA, has resulted in broad agreement on a joint statement on
corruption. Acknowledging the evils of corruption and its negative impact onsociety, consulting engineers and contractors believe that more can be done, andshould be done, by the world's leaders and by procurement officials. But while thelatter need to face up to the root causes of corruption, they must also understandthe importance of collaborating with industry in a more positive way. This should
include recognition for industry's achievements and initiatives, including thedevelopment of tools designed to tackle and mitigate corruption in procurement.

Industry anticorruption initiatives extended [full item: 37Et]
FIDIC is discussing an initiative to promote anticorruption activities with the World
Federation of Engineering Organisations, WFEO, that represents professional
engineering associations. A draft memorandum of understanding recognises thatprofessional engineers have a professional duty to act with integrity, in both theprivate and public sectors. FIDIC in fact puts the case more strongly by stressingthat there are also good commercial reasons for acting with integrity, particularly
when it comes to procuring professional services, and to developing high quality,
sustainable projects. It is anticipated that future initiatives with Confederation ofInternational Contractors' Association, CICA (see News Item), WFEO and similarorganizations will include collaboration and the implementation of tools, training
and capacity building with funding agencies.
FIDIC's Managing Director, Enrico Vink, attended a meeting in November 2007 of
the steering committee responsible for the Transparency International Business
Principles for Countering Bribery. There is now a version for small and mediumsized enterprises and modified guidance document is being prepared (the fullguide is available online). Both are being considered by FIDIC for some form ofendorsement to reinforce FIDIC's anticorruption initiatives based on integrity
management.

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African Development Bank procurement proposals [full item: 40Im]

In July 2007, the African Development Bank (AfDB) called for comments torevised Rules of Procedure for the Use of Consultants (see News item). As manyof the proposed procedures are identical to those of the World Bank and othermajor development banks, in its submission in August 2007 FIDIC applauded the
bank's decision to continue to harmonise procurement procedures. Responsible
for some USD 8 billion per annum investment in Africa, the AfDB has recognisedYoung
the value of aligning itself more closely with the other banks so as to facilitate the Professionals
provision of goods and services. A comparison by FIDIC between the 2000 version 2008
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and the new draft version is available online in PDF, together with comments by
the FIDIC GAMA Group of African Member Associations and others on thosechanges which are unique to the AfDB document.
Notices to Member Associations
Meetings: see Meetings
Executive Committee, Madrid, 28-29 Jan 08
FIDIC-EFCA Task Force, Madrid, 30 Jan 08

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MA Letters11/07: GAM 2007 Minutes PDF
12/07: Young Professionals Training PDF

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