Attachment 1, Agenda Item 4, 2008 GAM

FIDIC 2008

The FIDIC Annual Review for 2007-2008

Representing globally the consulting engineering industry

Message

from

2

the

President

The industry’s global voice
Since the presentation of the FIDIC strategic plan Engineering Our
Future in 2004 there has been an effort to increasingly focus
FIDIC’s business activities on implementing the plan. The last 12
months have been no exception to this general rule. Much of thisAnnual Review describes activities that have been carried out inpursuing the plan, and can be read in conjunction with the FIDIC
Business Plan. In addition, the FIDIC Executive Committee (EC)has been exploring a vision for FIDIC in 2013 (which is FIDIC’scentenary) as the natural outcome of trends that we can see
affecting our organization.
FIDIC in 2013
Increasingly, FIDIC’s revenues are not coming from membershipfees, but from the sales of best-practice documents and FIDIC
contracts from the FIDIC Bookshop, licencing, adjudicatorappointments, and from a rapidly growing business in training
events. This is a trend that we believe will continue – each time that
another group signs on to use FIDIC contracts or businesspractice as a standard, a request for training seems to come in thenext sentence. For the EC, it has now become an accepted factthat to deliver our message effectively – to get it out and in use in
the companies that ultimately make up FIDIC’s membership – weneed to develop and deliver courses, workshops and seminars
around the world so that individual practitioners both understandand use FIDIC materials.
Currently about 60% of FIDIC revenues come from non-fee
activities. This has allowed us in recent years to offer more services
while keeping the fee level unchanged. The EC believes that this ishealthy because ultimately the purchasers of these documents
and services vote on their suitability with their wallets every timethey make a purchase. It also helps keep FIDIC relevant, and we
structure much of what we do in this sense so that national
Member Associations participate in the revenues. It does raise thequestion, however, about how far the commercialisation of FIDIC
should be allowed to go. The EC believes that by 2013, feerevenue may only amount to 30% or less of the total FIDIC budget.
There are currently 78 Member Associations in FIDIC. The EC
believes that by 2013 that number will be 100. In order to achieve
this goal, and to increase the representation of the industry by
FIDIC, the EC is making greater use of the new Associate Member
category. The aim here is to bring countries into membership thathave not yet quite fulfilled all the requirements of full membership(that is, they are in the process of qualifying for Member
Association status), and to appeal to other related associations
who are not as large as the main association in a particular country
and therefore do not qualify to be a FIDIC Member Association. In
addition, we are looking for ways to use the Affiliate membershipcategory to actively seek involvement by other groups who workwith our industry.

John Boyd, FIDIC President, is seen here speaking at
the FIDIC 2007 General Assembly Meeting,Singapore, on taking office. Dr Boyd is with Golder
Associates, Canada, where he was until recently VicePresident, Corporate Operations.

FIDIC has traditionally devoted much time and effort to ourrelationship with the Multilateral Development Banks (MDB’s), notonly because they are major clients of our industry but also
because they often set the pace for changes that affectgovernments, who are also major clients. There are also manyindustry sectors which are major clients (extractive and natural
resource industries, manufacturers, the real estate industry, etc.)that FIDIC would like to know better, and with whom we believe we
could have mutually beneficial relationships. Representatives ofsome of these sector will speak on the role of consulting engineers
in society at the FIDIC 2008 Québec Conference (7-10
September). Our intention is that this will be the start of moresignificant involvement with other client groups. Thus, by 2013, we
anticipate that Affiliate and Associate members will be much larger
and more active classes of membership than at present, and we
expect to routinely develop working relationships with otherindustry sectors and with other associations to jointly encouragebusiness development.
As FIDIC continues to evolve, regional groupings become more
important. During the last 12 months we have seen major
conferences in South Korea for the ASPAC – Asia-Pacific groupand in Tunisia for the GAMA – Africa group as these entities
develop regional interests that need a more local focus fordiscussion. FIDIC is now engaged in a significant discussion with
EFCA, the European federation that draws members from thesame associations as FIDIC. In a recent survey, these members
voted overwhelmingly to roll the two organisations together, withthe regional organisation continuing with its responsibility for being
the industry spokesperson with respect to the European Union.
We believe that this is a very positive step and we look forward to
the culmination of these discussions and the full membership of“EFCA within FIDIC”. We would also like to extend this model tothe inclusion of FEPAC (the South American federation) within
FIDIC. This has been an objective for some time and we are now
beginning another aggressive campaign in South America to bringthis to a positive conclusion. By 2013, we would like to see a fullsuite of regional groupings acting as the focal points of FIDIC’spresence within each geographic region. For a variety of reasons,the EC also believes that it would be appropriate for FIDIC staff tobe represented within these regions – in some cases to facilitate thedelivery of training, workshops and seminars locally, and in othercases to provide services that might be more economic in one area
than they are in another (e.g., information technology services).
The concept of FIDIC in 2013 outlined above reflects our EC
discussions over the past 12 months, and we would greatly
appreciate hearing from our members on these issues as wedevelop a vision for the organisation in the future. The following
notes describe what has happened these past 12 months as we
continue to work on our current strategic plan.

Message3

fromPromoting a definition of Quality
In September 2007 at the FIDIC General Assembly Meeting I
expressed some frustration with our regular BIMILACI biennial
meeting with the MDB’s. BIMILACI is useful for exchanging views
but for some time it has not lead to any engagement between
FIDIC and the banks, other than the meeting itself. In October2007 we held a separate discussion with the Heads ofProcurement of the major institutions where we explored ways towork more closely together. We talked about quality in consulting
engineering now embodying the additional concepts of integrity
and sustainability. Out of the conversation came the suggestionthat we should present our efforts in these two areas at two-day
seminars in Washington DC in June 2008 following visits to eachof the banks to promote the idea. We put a good deal of effort into
promoting and delivering the seminars, which were attended by anumber of staff of the institutions we had visited, and there was an
immediate acknowledgement from the attendees that our effortson the FIDIC Business Integrity Management System (BIMS) andits equivalent (GPIMS) for government procurement agencies wererelevant to the banks’ new emphasis on preventing corruption. In
addition, the participants were eager to learn of our experience inbuilding Project Sustainability Management (PSM) into projects. At
the meeting there was a suggestion that we could usefully work
together on the issue of ensuring that procurement practices
supported the banks’ policy level objectives for sustainability.
Subsequently, the Heads of Procurement have made it very clearthat they, as a group, do not intend to work closely with FIDIC inthese areas.
The driver for these efforts is the recognition on our part that further
progress depends on enrolling client groups in our efforts. We
thought that the MDB’s would be natural allies in this effort but
apparently as a group this is not correct. Individually, they showthePresident

more interest and may be more receptive: we shalll see if this is thecase over the next few months.
Meanwhile, FIDIC was invited to participate in an invitation-only
meeting of the World Justice Forum, a group focused on
improving adherence to the rule of law on a global basis and very
well funded by the Ford Foundation and the Gates Foundation in
the USA, among others. In this group, we see potential allies at avery senior level on the integrity issue from the legal and otherprofessions, and we shall continue to explore what we might dotogether. Interestingly, the lawyers were very surprised andimpressed by the work that had been done by consulting
engineers on the issue of corruption.
Many of our project clients have adopted a progressive stance inthe area of sustainability. Over the next few months we will explorewith these groups possible joint efforts to develop our ideas
further, aided by the efforts of the Sustainable Development
Committee, to define the next stage for FIDIC’s PSM guidelines.
We think that this effort will help us find natural allies, and will
enable us to develop closer relations with other client groups in our
industry. So we should maybe look for more participation by theseclient groups in future annual conferences, and for lessparticipation by the MDB’s.
In conclusion, it has been a hectic 12 months at FIDIC and thisreview has only scratched the surface of the many areas in which
we have been active on behalf of members. By speaking out
aggressively on the major issues that affect our industry, and by
further developing our links with others who have similar interests,
we hope to demonstrate that consulting engineers are indeed
leaders whose opinions should be considered in world affairs.
Silence has not served us well.
John Boyd, FIDIC President

The last 12 months - a selection of key events
UNCITRAL meetings, Vienna, Sep 2007
ONRI-Netherlands 90th anniversary meeting, Sep 2007
FIDIC-MDB Heads of Procurement meeting, Paris, Oct 2007
EFCA Directors and Secretaries meeting, Bucharest, Oct 2007
RIF-Norway visit, Oct 2007
FIDIC-ICC conference, Hong Kong, Nov 2007
Transparency International meetings, London, Nov 2007
JACEC-Jordan visit, Amman, Dec 2007
FIDIC International Contracts Users Conference, London, Dec 2007
Executive Committee meeting, Madrid, Jan 2008
World Federation of Engineering Organisations MoU signed, Jan 2008
2008 Young Professionals Management Training Programme, Jan 2008
JACEC-Jordan visit, Feb 2008
IsDB visit, Jeddah, Feb 2008
SEC-Saudi Arabia visit, Riyadh, Feb 2008
Syria visit, Damascus, Feb 2008
ESCONE-Egypt visit, Cairo, Feb 2008
EBRD meetings London, Feb 208
Word Bank/IDB meetings, Washington DC, Feb 2008
ADB meetings, Manila, Feb 2008
CECOPHIL-Philippines visit, Manilla, Feb 2008
AJCE-Japan visit, Tokyo, Feb 2008
AfDB meetings, Tunis, Mar 2008
BelACE-Belarus visit, Mar 2008
CNAEC-China visit, Beijing, Mar 2008
EFCA Directors and Secretaries meeting, St. Petersburg, Mar 2008
RAEC-Russia seminar, St. Petersburg, Apr 2008
Executive Committee meeting, Seoul, Apr 2008
UNEP Sustainable Buildings & Construction Initiative, Martinique, Apr 2008

FIDIC Awareness Seminar, Damascus, Apr 2008
ACEC-USA visit, Washington DC, Apr 2008
ACENZ-NZ visit, May 2008
FIDIC-Qatar Intensive Training Course programme launched, Doha, May 2008
ACEA-Australia visit, May 2008
ACET-Tanzania visit, Dar-es-Salaam, May 2008
CEAT-Thailand visit, Bangkok, May.08
Sustainable Building Alliance launched, Paris, May 2008
EFCA conference, Prague, May.08
FEPAC conference, Santiago, May 2008
FIDIC-ICC Contracts and Dispute Resolution Conference, Houston, May 2008
Dubai Housing Authority, UAE, acquires FIDIC contract licences
FIDIC-Indonesia Contracts Seminar, Jakata, Jun 2008
ILO Labour Convention meetings, Geneva, Jun 2008
World Bank/ADB workshops, Washington DC, Jun 2008
FRI-Denmark visit, Copenhagen, Jun 2008
CEAI-India visit, New Delhi, Jun 2008
Consulting Engineers Africa 2008, Tunis, Jun 2008
JBC-Trinidad visit, Port of Spain, Jun 2008
JBIC, Japan, acquires Harmonised Construction Contract licence, Jun 2008
World Justice Forum, Vienna, Jul 200
FIDIC-CECOPHIL-DBRF DAB Forum, Manila, Aug 2008
FIDIC 2008 Québec Conference, Québec, Sep 2008
IBA Conference, Brussels, Sep 2008

4

Global Representation
Summarising how activities over the past 12
months have carried forward strategic objectives.
Representation
To be the legitimate and effective representative of the consulting
engineering industry, FIDIC must ensure that all relevant andqualified national industry sectors are members. As part of its
strategy to represent as much as possible of the consulting
engineering industry, so as to strengthen further its global voice,
FIDIC continues to be active in most regions on a regional basis inparallel with international and national initiatives. A particular focus
is central and eastern Europe where many countries aredeveloping industry sectors. Fledgling associations have received
support from FIDIC to become registered as not-for-profit
organisations that are still foreign in some parts of a region known
for strict control and state influence. The concept of innovation andprivate sector initiative is also virtually unknown as economic
development has for many years been dominated by the state.
Progress is slow, and frustrated by limited resources, somethingthat FIDIC is aiming to overcome by seeking greater support frommulti-national firms operating in the region.
The Middle East is another region with a high profile. Here too there
is considerable interest in FIDIC and FIDIC conditions of contract,
and the consulting engineering industry has a significant influenceon engineering activities. The concept of a well organized andhighly visible private sector industry group is still largely unknown,
but progress is being made at the political level in helping toestablish national industry associations. Fortunately, the support ofmulti-national firms tends to be more readily available in the region.
Looking ahead to its 100th anniversary in 2013, FIDIC has set atarget of 100 members, up from the 78 at the end of 2007. The
main areas of expected growth are in the Gulf, eastern Europe andLatin America. Each of these regions is at a different stage ofdevelopment, and FIDIC’s strategies for expanding membershipare being developed accordingly. FIDIC can draw upon its
considerable experience in demonstrating how private sector
consulting engineering has a positive impact on economic growth.
Regionalisation
In order to improve its links to members, and to reinforce itsrole and to strengthen ties to the marketplace, FIDIC has beendeveloping stronger support at a regional basis. For instance,
FIDIC has increased support for regional events organised by the
FIDIC GAMA Group of African Member Associations (chaired byExaud Mushi, Tanzania) and the FIDIC ASPAC Asia-Pacific groupof Member Associations (chaired by Aki Hirotani, Japan). At thepresent time, GAMA is working on a call for proposals to establish
a self-funded secretariat, as recommended by a 2005 FIDICGAMA task force.
In Europe, the policies affecting European Union member
states have been closely monitored by EFCA, the European
Federation of Consultancy Associations. FIDIC and EFCA have co-Participants from a record-breaking 15 countries participated in the FIDIC 2007
Young Professionals Management Training Programme.

existed in Europe for some time, with EFCA focussing on
European Union (EU) activities centred on Brussels, and FIDIC
focussing on international best business practices from Geneva.
Given the overlapping membership, there is a strong interest inconsolidating or merging the two organisations, so that activities
can be provided more cost effectively while building upon mutual
strengths. The results of a survey and the recommendations of a
special task force are now the basis for investigating various
options for a proposed merger. Key issues in the EU include fair
and transparent competition (this affects cross-border activity),
professional indemnity insurance, fair and transparent
procurement policies, and the use of EU funding in projects within
and outside Europe, including the use of FIDIC contracts.
In South America, FIDIC has close links with the Panamerican
Federation of Consulting Engineers FEPAC, currently based in
Brasil. Given the increasing globalisation of the consulting
engineering industry, FIDIC is keen to attract more national
associations into membership, in order to meet more effectively,
like FEPAC, industry demands in specific countries. Plans are now
being developed to approach several countries in the region to
discuss mutual interests and the possibility for closer ties to FIDIC.
Young professionals
Amongst members, young professionals need focussed
attention. The FIDIC Young Professionals Forum (YPF) chaired by
Richard Stump, USA, is responsible for a virtual group consistingof young volunteers from all across the world. It provides a vital
network through which national programmes and experiences canbe shared, where topics important to the industry can be debated,
and feedback provided to FIDIC and Member Associations. The
FIDIC YPF continues to expand as more Member Associations
establish their own forums. Increasingly, these “future leaders” arebeing sponsored by their associations and, from time to time,
individuals are now being elected to association boards to provide
guidance and assistance.
Industry statistics
The understanding of market trends for consulting engineering
services, the international benchmarking of firms, national industry
sectors and industry associations, and the identification of the true
scope and size of the consulting industry sector in each country
are taken up each year by the FIDIC Annual Survey. Efforts areunderway to reconcile top-down macroeconomic andconstruction activity data with bottom-up estimates of industry
revenues based on sector activities and national industry surveys.

5

Image and Communications

FIDIC is also currently working to identify partners to collaborate insome of these activities.
Image
FIDIC is charged with helping firms proactively seek opportunities
to raise their public profile and the image of the consulting
engineering industry. FIDIC events, whether national seminars,
regional conferences or the FIDIC annual conference, are one of
the key tools for raising the industry’s profile, providing valuable
opportunities for networking and for sharing the latest information
on industry trends and business practice. The FIDIC conference
clearly remains the consulting engineering industry’s premierannual event. Confirming the strong interest, participants from 69
countries participated in the FIDIC 2007 Singapore conference
organized in association with ACES-Singapore. Industry
stakeholders explored their changing relationships, especiallywithin the construction sector which dominates investment
decisions for infrastructure. The conference made it clear thatbusiness develops successfully despite little being done at apolitical level to ease the environment in which firms operate, with
important organisations such as the World Trade Organisation
failing to understand the significance of engineering services.
In order to reinforce its role and to strengthen ties with themarketplace, FIDIC has not only ensured active participation in theregional conferences organized by EFCA and FEPAC but, as
mentioned above, has given greater support to similar events
organized by the FIDIC regional groups GAMA-Africa and ASPAC
Asia-Pacific. Some 15 countries were represented at Consulting
Engineers Africa 2008 (Tunis; 20-24 June) organized by ANBEICTunisia that brought together engineers and consultants from boththe English and French speaking parts of Africa. The multi-purpose
event included the FIDIC GAMA 2008 conference Energy and theEnvironment, African Development Bank workshops, seminars
organized by ANBEIC, and a FIDIC training seminar on claims anddispute resolution. Whilst successful as a regional event, anddemonstrating the depth and quality of consulting engineering in
Africa, limited representation and travel options within Africa
continue to frustrate the industry’s penetration into a vast continent
requiring the valuable services provided by consulting engineers.
Participants from some 25 countries attended the 2008 FIDIC
ASPAC Asia-Pacific Regional conference The role of engineeringin the globalisation era (Seoul; 22-25 May) that was organized by
KENCA-Korea in close collaboration with other ASPAC
associations and with the TCDPAP regional development
programme. The conference concluded that the challenge for the
consulting engineering industry is to find solutions to bridge theenormous gap between the needs and expectations of the region’s
broad and diversified group of economies. Greater collaboration
between FIDIC and regional partners was therefore envisaged.
Other highlights of FIDIC’s events programme over the last 12
months were training seminars that demonstrated the practicalapplication of sustainability, as captured by FIDIC’s Project
Sustainability Management (PSM) guidelines, and FIDIC’s
commitment to fight corruption through its Business Integrity
Management System (BIMS). Case studies demonstrated theParticipants from arecord-breaking 69
countries attended the
FIDIC 2007 Singapore
Conference.

wide application of the FIDIC tools, both in raising the quality ofservices and in addressing stakeholder concerns. However, FIDIC
still has much work to do in having such concepts more widely
understood and implemented in an industry still dominated byprice rather than by quality. FIDIC accepts the challenge
represented by the large difference between the way private andpublic sector procurement functions.
VisitsRegular visits to Member Associations by FIDIC officers remain
an integral part of the FIDIC strategy to maintain and enhance its
visibility in the marketplace. They provide an ideal opportunity forexchanging information on market conditions, and on the policies
and procedures developed by FIDIC for members’ use. FIDIC isoften able to directly assist or reinforce a Member Association’s
lobbying and marketing efforts. In many developing countries,
visits by FIDIC also help close the loop on the development of bestpractices in procurement, which are at the heart of ongoingnegotiations with development banks who seek to influence theirborrowing countries. FIDIC visits are usually made by members of
FIDIC committees and task groups: they are coordinated by the
Secretariat and agreed by the Executive Committee.
Communications
The FIDIC website FIDIC.org remains the primary tool for
disseminating FIDIC information. Refinements are madecontinually in order to provide greater access to the various
activities undertaken by FIDIC: Bookshop for document purchaseand downloads; Events for registration and resources for FIDIC
events, the FIDIC International Training Programmme and the
FIDIC Capacity Development Programme; News; User Forums forresources on FIDIC contracts, business practice, capacity
development, and industry data; Regions for access to regionalgroups and national associations; Young Professionals (YP)
covering the YP Management Training Programme and the YP
Forum; and finally the password-protected Internal website formembers and committees. FIDIC.org now handles fee payments,
document sales and event registrations amounting to some 3.5
million Swiss francs each 12 months.
FIDIC NewsThe FIDIC electronic FIDIC News remains the mainstay of
external communications, being sent on a regular basis tocommittee members and to Member Associations for onward6

Business Practice

distribution to member firms. It is read by many others who
regularly visit the FIDIC website. FIDIC feels that many moreconsulting firms and individuals may also wish to have directaccess to FIDIC information, so distribution to customers and alarge number of industry contacts is planned.
International institutions
Interacting with International Financial Institutions (IFI’s) onbehalf of the consulting engineering industry remains a core
strategic activity for FIDIC. The World Bank (WB) announced in2007 that it planned to assess the capacity of borrowing countries
to manage there own procurement of WB funded projects, a longstanding goal for the bank, and indeed for most most MultilateralDevelopment Banks (MDB’s) in order to develop borrowing
country capacity. Considerable effort has gone into addressing theconcerns raised over the last 24 months by a number ofstakeholders and organisations such as FIDIC. Although the direct
impact on the consulting engineering industry is now minimal,
thanks to FIDIC’s interventions, FIDIC will be monitoring potential
impacts on broader aspects of procurement in the countries
selected for a pilot programme.
A related, and highly critical, issue for the MDB’s is how best toaddress the capacity building needs of those countries which do
not yet have the necessary capacity or skill to conduct their own
procurement. FIDIC also has an interest with its capacity
development initiatives and several best-practice tools such as
BIMS, Government Procurement Integrity Management System(GPIMS) for government agencies, and Project Sustainability
Management. GPIMS is modeled on BIMS and can be developed
within procurement agencies in a similar way to firms, withmanagement commitment at the top, an emphasis on training,and verifiable systems built into the organisation structure. FIDIC’s
interest led to two special workshops held in June 2008 to look in
more depth into the issues raised by the use of country
procurement systems for bank-funded projects before newprogrammes are implemented.
Over the past 12 months FIDIC was requested to comment on draftchanges to procurement policies and procedures for several
MDB’s, including the EBRD, the AsDB and the AfDB. Such
requests reflect the strong connection between FIDIC and the
MDB’s, and a recognition that it is better to involve FIDIC at the earlystages, rather than have FIDIC express concern after the event,when changes prove difficult to implement in the marketplace.
Business Practice
FIDIC’s strategic plan Engineering Our Future 2004 and its
Business Plan 2006-9 recognise that as the role of consulting
engineers evolves and globalisation increases, the demand forworld-class quality services tailored to local conditions will also
increase. This requires the development and promotion of bestpractice. Record document sales attest
to the fact that FIDIC conditions ofcontract are becoming the global
standard: not only widely known, but
widely used. Sales for the last 12 months
were up almost 30% relative to theprevious period. The bulk of the increase
is reflected in the sale for immediate
downloading of electronic documents,
either as individual documents or as
collections of documents, now by far the
preferred delivery format, through FIDIC’s 24 hours a day, sevendays a week on-line Bookshop.
Contracts
In developing and updating standard forms of contract, priority
was given to the world’s first standard form of Conditions ofContract for Design, Build and Operate Projects (DBO), which has
been modeled on the harmonised 1999 suite of FIDIC contracts(for Construction, Plant and Design-Build and EPC/Turnkey
projects), but containing new concepts to deal with the operational
aspects of a DBO project. The 1st Edition of the DBO Contract,
replacing the 2007 Seminar Pre-Press Edition, was drafted by aContracts Committee task group led by Michael MortimerHawkins, Sweden, and Axel Jaeger, Germany. The DBO Contract
1st Edition will be published at the FIDIC 2008 Québec Conference.
Other projects in the pipeline under the overall direction of theContracts Committee (A. Jaeger, Germany, CC Chair; N. Bunni,
Ireland; P.E. Jenkinson, UK; M. Mortimer-Hawkins, Special
Adviser, UK ; C.R. Seppala, Legal Adviser, France; C. Wade, UK)
include new editions of the Standard Form of Subcontract for use
with the Construction and Plant and Design-Build contracts, andof the Joint-Venture and Sub-Constancy Agreements and theirrelated guides. New contracts-related documents include a newedition of Standard Prequalification Forms for Contractors and
FIDIC Procurement Procedure that replaces FIDIC Tendering
Procedure and covers the whole of procurement, from initialconsiderations up until construction or installation contracts havebeen signed.
Business practices
The FIDIC Business Practice Committee (G. Thomopulos,
USA, BPC Chair; G. Bergen, Germany; F. Cölasan, Turkey; A.
Hirotani, Japan; S.C. Mehrotra, India; L. Sagaya, Nigeria; A.
Thornton, New Zealand) is responsible for developing FIDIC
business practice policies and guides. A BPC task group chaired
by Adam Thornton, recognized that the ultimate aim for those
consulting engineers who design and construct buildings andinfrastructure is to enhance the quality of the built and naturalenvironment. The role of the design consultant is complex and attimes ill-defined, with clients’ misinterpreting expectations leading
to poor quality and low fee levels. FIDIC plans to publish at the
FIDIC 2008 Québec Conference a guide on the consultant’s role inbuilding construction that aims to standardise work phasedefinitions to improve the quality of services. Clients will be better
able to define the scope of a project and to select a consultant
based on the ability to perform all the tasks within the scope. The
drafting task group collaborated with a EU review of scope

7

Business Development

definitions, with the task group preparing the FIDIC Procurement
Procedure guide, and with an International Standards Organization
sub-committee that is standardising procurement terminology.
Understanding and dealing with risk remains a fundamental issue
for all consulting engineers, where the marketplace remains strewn
with obstacles. FIDIC and its Member Associations continue tobattle with inappropriate liabilities being placed on consulting
engineers by clients unaware of the shortcomings. The Risk andLiability Committee (K. Corbett, UK, RLC Chair; S. Bamforth, UK;
N. Fung, UK; N. Grayson, Australia; M. Hohberg, Switzerland; S.
Jenkins, New Zealand; Q. Koen, South Africa; U. Kohli, India; A.
Thornton, New Zealand; J. Trant, USA) continues to review the
FIDIC suite of risk management guides with the view to further
updating of some of the documents, as they have proven to be ofvalue to both firms and clients. The review includes the FIDIC
Guide to Practice Training Manual risk management module.
Moreover, FIDIC Policies dealing with risk-related issues (e.g., therole of the engineer, conflict of interest, site safety; the expert
witness, professional risk and responsibility, alternative dispute
resolution) that also form part of FIDIC’s guide to practice areunder continual review by the relevant committees. Longer term,
FIDIC intends establishing a closer relationship with the insurance
industry, in order to maintain robust discussions on developments
and to clarify issues of mutual concern.
Dispute resolution
One major risk factor receiving much attention are disputes
during a works project, whether Design-Bid-Build construction,
Plant and Design-Build, EPC/Turnkey, or DBO. To mitigate therisks and to recognize the difficulties faced by the engineer to thecontract or the equivalent, the Employer’s Representative, FIDIC
introduced Dispute Adjudication Boards (DAB’s). DABs are not
only intended for the resolution of disputes but, more importantly,
to prevent disputes from arising. For larger and more complex
projects, FIDIC advocates the appointment of DABs at the outset
of a project, in order to review risk profiles for potential problems.
Promoting DAB’s is therefor a strategic goal. Guidelines on the useof DAB’s are available from FIDIC. At the regional level, FIDIC
ASPAC Asia-Pacific has helped organise an Adjudicators Forumwith CECOPHIL-Philippines and the Dispute Review Board
Foundation, with support from AJCE-Japan and the Japanesedevelopment bank, JBIC. In the Balkans, the International FinanceCorporation has finalised an agreement with FIDIC to support
alternative dispute resolution services, including adjudication. In
the Middle East, FIDIC has presented DAB’s at international
dispute resolution conferences organized by SCE-Saudi Arabia.
Finally, the FIDIC-ICC Contracts and Dispute Resolution
Conference (Houston, TX, USA; May 2008) was the venue for the
first major exposé by FIDIC of its DAB procedures in the Americas.
The FIDIC Assessment Panel for Adjudicators (P.H.J.
Chapman, UK, APA Chair; G.L. Jaynes, UK/USA; I. Leto, Italy)
helps maintain and oversee the FIDIC President’s List of Approved
Dispute Adjudicators from which the President, as a last resort,
can make appointments under the terms of a FIDIC contract. With
FIDIC’s encouragement, several FIDIC Member Associations haveestablished lists of FIDIC National Adjudicators offeringexperienced and qualified adjudicators capable of working in theirown language and understanding the local situation. The lists
follow FIDIC guidelines, with FIDIC maintaining an access point for
information at FIDIC.org/DAB. With the growing use of FIDIC
contracts and the increasingly widespread adoption of DAB’s at
the national level, there is heavy demand for training. FIDIC has
responded by organizing DAB training through all of the types of
events (intensive courses; course; workshops; seminars;
conferences) that make up the FIDIC International Training
Programme. It is planned to collaborate in some of these events,
notably intensive courses, with the insurance industry in view of
the risk management aspects.
Business Development
To manage the impact of globalisation on the consulting
engineering industry, FIDIC believes that member firms must
expand their scope and extend their business and technical skills
and management capacity into a broad range of areas while
meeting world class standards for quality. To address this strategic
goal, FIDIC organizes, with Member Associations wherever
possible, the FIDIC International Training Programme (ITP)
comprising FIDIC-organized and co-organized training events.
These are based on the FIDIC Contracts and Guide to Practicetraining manual modules, with additional modules covering
procurement and MDB procedures that combine elements of bothcontracts and business practice.
In parallel with the ITP, there is the FIDIC Capacity Development
Programme (CDP) that comprises a variety of programme-based
activities. Core elements are the FIDIC Train-the-Trainers
Programme, FIDIC Regional Training Programmes and the FIDIC
Young Professionals Management Training Programme (YPMTP),
a seven-month online programme that concludes with working
sessions at the FIDIC Annual Conference. Some 40 young
professionals participated in YPMTP 2007 that culminated at the
FIDIC 2007 Singapore Conference. Lessons learnt, plus the allimportant networks established, are taken back by the young
professionals into their firms and national industry groups. The
YPMTP has evolved from a case-based programme coveringparts of four of the Guide to Practice training manual modules to amore project-based programme. For the 2009 programme, it isplanned to evolve towards line management training with more of
the materials developed during the progamme being used toprovide state-of-the-art updates to Guide to Practice modules.
Acquiring support for the ITP and the CDP is essential. At the
programme level, for the ITP, FIDIC has been able to arrange forsponsorship by BST Global of some six key events each year , andfurther sponsorship by firms is being sought. There are also
opportunities for support from government agencies and the
MDBs. The IFC is sponsoring FIDIC DAB training events in the
Balkans with a view to extending the programme to other regions,and the World Bank regularly sponsors contracts training courses

Quality

and8

Sustainability

in countries around the Indian subcontinent. For the CDP, most
support is agency based. At the programme level, the African
Development Bank confirmed at the FIDIC GAMA 2008
Conference that the development of local consulting capacity
remained a high priority. A GAMA proposal for a collaborative
programme is currently being reviewed by the bank. Meanwhile,
FIDIC organizes each year training services for an AsianDevelopment Bank programme that trains procurement officials
and member firm staff in nine Asia-Pacific countries. The CDP also
enjoys a large amount of national and local support. For instance,
Capacity Development Planning Seminars in several countries
were government supported, as are regional training centres in
China, Korea, India and Jordan which have provided training on
FIDIC Contracts and Guide to Practice training manual modules.
For the ITP, where events are in English, FIDIC partners withaccredited training suppliers for training services (materials and/or
trainers) for modules that meet the scope of the FIDIC training
manuals. Generally speaking, suppliers will have only made thenecessary investment in training materials if the commercial risks
attached with suppling training services are acceptable. This is thecase for most contacts manual modules, but not for businesspractice modules and for the modules that combine elements ofboth. Here, FIDIC is called upon to underwrite module
development. FIDIC therefore continually strives to develop andupdate training modules capable, as a reference standard, of
supporting a complete two- to three-day training course for 50
participants with case studies, worked example, presentation
slides, course notes, trainer’s notes, background resources andbase documents. A package comprising all these elements canthen be adjusted for the other types of training events. FIDIC
accredits individual trainers and training suppliers to supply
training using the FIDIC-supplied modules, which generally cover
specialised topics such as PSM and BIMs/GPIMS. For moregeneric business practice modules, and it has been decided thatthe ongoing upgrading of the Guide to Practice manual should
focus on state-of-the art practice and not on start-up situations indeveloping and emerging economies.
For the CBP, requirements regarding training resources are moredemanding. Experience with FIDIC training centres in China andKorea highlighted the challenges of train-the trainers programmes
to ensure that local training by FIDIC accredited national suppliers,
often in a local language, maintains the FIDIC ITP’s widely
recognized standards of quality and excellence. FIDIC has started
to arrange for the transfer training modules, both FIDIC andsupplier owned, to accredited training suppliers which are eitherorganized by or in partnership with a Member Association. It is
anticipated that this process will accelerate to meet the growing
demands. FIDIC no longer simply sells a document: it is seen as
offering a comprehensive set of state-of-the art tools to implement
projects. As the President has noted above, most sales
immediately generate a request for support.

Quality and Sustainability
Quality is paramount when consulting engineers deliver services toclients, and FIDIC is charged with identifying and promoting ways
to incorporate, in both business practice and projects, sensitivity
to environmental, socio-economic and risk issues.
Quality
A FIDIC Quality Committee chaired by Walter Painsi, Austria,
was established in 2007 with a mandate which extended beyond
that of the former Quality Management Forum to cover service
quality in the broadest sense. A key task is to maintain liaison with
the ISO TC176 Technical Committee for Quality Management andQuality Assurance since it is important that industry sectors
influence the development of ISO quality management standards.
One TC176 group is looking at how sectoral documents dealing
with the interpretation of the ISO 9001 quality management
standard can be developed under the framework of ISO 9001. A
second is looking more closely at planned revisions of ISO 9001
and ISO 9004 (Guidelines for performance improvements) toensure that the ISO 9001 revision is formally an amendment toavoid the need for re-certification.
Another key activity relates to the procurement of consulting
engineering services. Clients expect that high quality services will
be provided that meet or exceed expectations; consulting
engineers expect that a client will understand what services are
required, and recognise their quality and value. Sadly, expectations
differ. Traditional approaches for ensuring the supply of, anddemand for, quality are inadequate in today’s sophisticatedmarkets, with its heavy demands from society. Private sector
clients tend to have a greater understanding of the qualities theyseek in a consulting engineer as it is their own money they invest
under their own rules, subject of course to laws and regulations.
The public sector, however, has different challenges: it must obtain
best value for money while accounting to the public at large. The
rules when it comes to defining professional advice are thus lesswell known. FIDIC is therefore developing a broader definition ofquality, to incorporate not only more traditional concepts oftechnical skill, relevant experience, a good track record, etc., butalso important issues such as acting with integrity, being able tooffer sustainable solutions, and experience in customer relations
and community engagement. All of these aspects become part ofthe modern, successful consulting engineer’s quality profile. As
thinking develops, FIDIC is anticipating fundamental changes inprocurement policies around the world.
Sustainability
At a historic workshop initiated by FIDIC in Washington in early
June 2008, the major MDB’s agreed to adopt a more harmonised
approach to exploring policies and procedures that set the criteria
for project planning. Although the MDB’s were instrumental in
adopting the Equator Principles in 2003, little concerted effort has
been made to determine how the banks can influencesustainability in borrowing countries. Environmental policies arewidely established, along with the usual economic policies; social
factors are covered by existing policies. A structured,comprehensive approach encompassing all three dimensions of9Ethicssustainabilty such as FIDIC’s Project Sustainability Management(PSM) has not yet been established. The MDB’s now have a greaterappreciation of FIDIC’s approach to sustainability in procurement,
and discussions are underway on a possible working party to
examine the feasibility of procuring more sustainable projects forand with the banks’ many borrowing countries. FIDIC is pleased tobe part of this initiative, as it will not only lead to improvements in
how projects are procured, but also establish quality as theparamount criterion in the selection of consultants. The articulationof PSM is mainly through FIDIC’s PSM guidelines. The Sustainable
Development Committee (W.A. Wallace, USA, SDC Chair; K.A.A.
Adeola, Nigeria; J. Boswell, South Africa, I. van der Putte,
Netherlands) is planning to update the guidelines in order for
Member Associations and their member firms to better
understand and implement PSM concepts into projects.
A crucial area for sustainable development is energy saving in thebuilt environment, notably buildings. FIDIC through the SDC isinvolved at different levels with most of the main international
initiatives such as the various UN Environmental Programme
initiatives, ISO standards development and World BusinessCouncil for Sustainable Development studies. In most cases, theconsulting engineering industry’s input is vital with FIDIC’s PSM
often providing an overarching paradigm to encapsulate the manydifferent agenda for sustainable development. For example, inearly-2008, a SDC member (Ike van der Putte) was elected to chair
the board of the UNEP Sustainable Buildings and Construction
Initiative (UNEP SBCI), a global partnership between UNEP andworldwide leading companies to support sustainable solutions forthe construction sector. A major SBCI activity aims to develop
mechanisms so that building construction takes its proper place incarbon markets based on the Kyoto Agreement’s Clean
Development Mechanism. A new initiative is the Sustainable
Building Alliance (SB Alliance) launched by the building researchorganisations responsible for the HQE and BREEM building
certification schemes. It is envisaged that instead of havingbuildings rated according to several systems, a single certification
by a SB Alliance team member will meet clients’ expectations.
Stakeholders will collaborate in the development of a core building
assessment system. Since most rating systems will eventually
allow ratings to be adjusted for local characteristics, incorporating
PSM will ensure that local customisation is done rigorously anduniformly.
Ethics and Integrity
Corruption worldwide remains a plague, and the battle continues
on many fronts, everywhere. Corrupt practices continue to hauntthe construction industry, especially through inadequate andinappropriate policies and practices. FIDIC must represent andpromote ethical business practices throughout the industry, andwork with others to achieve this objective. It must also encourage
consulting engineers to fight corruption and cooperate with other
involved parties in this effort. With its development and promotionof specific tools such BIMS and the related GPIMS for government
agencies, and the central role played by FIDIC works contracts
and professional services agreements, FIDIC continues todemonstate a high level of commitment.

andIntegrity

Dr John Boyd, FIDIC President,
in the centre, with MultilateralDevelopment Bank Heads ofProcurement during a meeting
to plan the FIDIC-MDB
Sustainability and Integrity
Seminars, Washington DC,
June 2008.

FIDIC’s Integrity Management Committee (Felipe Ochoa, Mexico,
IMC Chair; R.W. Bowes, Canada; R.G. Campen, Netherlands; F.
Cölasan, Turkey; M. Damhaug, Norway; S. Kawaguchi, USA; H.Y.
Park, Korea; J.C.W. Ritchie, India) reported in 2007 on an updateof the FIDIC BIMS survey. It clearly indicated that, whilst the initial
uptake of integrity systems was positive, the lack of support fromclients and agencies reduced significantly the incentives. Client
disinterest, with more and more firms indicating that they no longer
wished to operate in countries where the risks were perceived as
being too high, has tended to thwart some of FIDIC’s efforts. While
such a reaction is understandable, it also impacts negatively on
those countries who most need the expert advice available fromexperienced consulting engineers. FIDIC therefore continued to
advocate change, and called for client-industry collaboration inorder to make a positive impact on corruption.
To achieve greater recognition by public sector authorities, FIDIC
has recognised that public sector staff have a key role to play indeveloping high quality, sustainable projects. While some
professional engineers working in the public sector are
represented by associations, most rely upon the professional
associations that make up the World Federation of Engineering
Organisations (WFEO) to promote their interests as individual
professionals. In late-January 2008, FIDIC signed a Memorandumof Understanding with the WFEO to expand joint activities, notably
programmes to ensure integrity in project procurement and theapplication of sustainability principles in projects.
At a special workshop in Washington in June 2008, FIDIC made it
quite clear to the major MDB’s that little significant progress would
be made in combating corruption if all parties were not involved.
Punitive measures adopted by the banks to date are now wellknown to FIDIC members. To help restore a healthy businessclimate, FIDIC argued for recognition of integrity management
tools such as the FIDIC’s BIMS and GPIMS. The MDB’s indicatedthat they were, in principle, interested in a counterbalance to theirpunitive measures by evaluating GPIMS as a possible compliment
to the monitoring of potential weaknesses in procurement through“Red Flags” that signal fraud and corruption.
Over the past 12 months, FIDIC also prepared a submission to the
Review of OECD Instruments on Combating Bribery of Foreign
Public Officials in International Business Transactions andcontinued to play an active role in the development of Transparency
International’s Business Principles for Countering Bribery.

The

FIDIC

10

Secretariat

A record-breaking 12 months
The Treasurer’s Report
FIDIC’s audited accounts for 2007 gave a surplus of CHF 298,365
including estimated taxes and a surplus from the FIDIC 2006
Singapore Conference. This raised reserves to CHF 1,048,750 at
the end of 2007. Together with operating funds, they were
invested mainly in fiduciary deposits and Swiss franc bonds
amounting to CHF 1,451,725. The Executive Committee
established that a ‘worst case’ scenario based on winding up
FIDIC with no further income, staff lay-offs and cover for all legal
obligations gave a reserve requirement of CHF 1.5 million toensure no Member Association liability. It was therefore
recommended that reserves continue to be accumulated.
Regarding income, invoiced membership subscriptions amounted
to CHF 961,094 which was slightly more than the previous year
and close to the amount budgeted with no new members in 2007.
Publications sales at CHF 1,285,852 reached a new record for thefifth consecutive year (2006 sales were CHF 977,135). The
increase seemed to be due to a booming construction market anda steady growth in awareness of the advantages of FIDIC’s
standard forms of contract. License fees including licences for theMultilateral Development Bank Harmonised Construction Contact
totaled CHF 160,668 in 2007 compared to the previous year’s
CHF 137,323 owing to additional licences. Income from events
other than the annual conference was CHF 74,244, comparedwith CHF 93,583 in 2006 and the budgetted CHF 100,000. The
poor result stemmed from difficulties in recovering surpluses fromevent organizers, an issue that has been addressed in 2008.
For expenditures, committee expenses amount to CHF 296,196
compared to the budgetted CHF 260,000 owing mainly toincreased Executive Committee expenses arising from association
visits and representation duties. External services of CHF 98,893
were slightly higher than budgetted. It is planned to transfer,wherever possible, the costs of external services into committee
expenses as this is the only way to offset taxes on the increased
revenues from commercial activities while membership fee income
remains constant. The cost of documents totaled CHF 213,694
compared to CHF 301,932 in 2006. In relation to the booming
sales, the production of new documents and reprints in 2007 was
unsatisfactorily low, owing mainly to delays in production.
For the balance sheet, outstanding subscriptions at the end of2007 were CHF 105,159, double that for 2006 reflecting the latepayment of fees by associations with some write-offs necessary
owing to Affiliates leaving membership. Debtors on publications
rose in line with the sharply increased revenue owing to the time
lag in credit card receipts and a tendency for Member
Associations, that are permitted to receive goods without priorpayment, to settle late. Accrued expenses of CHF 342,017
contains deferred tax and planned and agreed expenses regarding
document production postponed from 2007 to 2008.

A deferred income of CHF 1,148,944 as at the end of 2007
consisted of the residual on licences fees to be transferred onto
the balance sheet each year until 2015.
For 2008, as of 1 July the forecast was a loss of CHF 200,000
including a very small surplus for FIDIC 2008 Québec, compared
to a budgeted surplus of CHF 93,000 approved by the 2007
General Assembly Meeting (GAM). This is mainly due topostponing the planned production of documents until 2008.
When analysing the 2007 accounts, the 2007 surplus should beconsidered in the light of the forecast loss for 2008. For 2009, thebudget to be proposed to the GAM, based on accounts forprevious years and the current forecast, envisages a surplus of
CHF 5,000 including a surplus of CHF 50,000 for FIDIC 2009
London. The Executive Committee’s recommendation is to keep
the unit fee for 2009 for Member Associations unchanged at CHF
3.1 per member firm staff person.
Flemming Bligaard Pedersen, FIDIC Treasurer
The Managing Director’s Report
This oft-quoted phrase “I have seen the enemy, and it is us” rang
constantly in my mind as I traveled the globe, explaining to people
what consulting engineers do and why they add value to our wayof life. One of the most rewarding aspects of my work was to see
the light switch on in peoples’ eyes when they understood how
consulting engineers contributed to improving their existence in somany ways. Conversely, one of the more frustrating aspects was
to witness the lack of comprehension demonstrated by many
consulting engineers, both in their own value, and in their inability
to explain to others what they do, and why.
In presentations to Member Associations, and to other groups, I
inevitably closed by trying to explain in simple terms that consulting
engineers were human (do not laugh please), that they were very
clever people (applause), and that they provided tangible andvaluable things that had a significant, positive impact on people(even more applause, and foot stamping). In other words, theindustry needed to be humanised, in order to demonstrate moreclearly what it is it does and how it adds value. The more successful
firms today were not those which were bursting with technicaltalent, but those which knew how to market and sell their expertise.
The business of doing businessDespite the current pain in some sectors as a result of thesubprime scandal, markets around the world have been crying out
for more skilled people to help them meet the demands of clientsand of society. Most FIDIC Member Associations reported good
growth in their sectors, and that the shortage of staff in member
firms was the greatest challenge. Doubly frustrating, however, andincomprehensible, were complaints about low fees, an issue
which should have been a non-issue long ago. Recruitment, staff
retention, training and education required continuous investment:
to ignore this was to die as a company in today’s market. The
investment needed to be budgeted for, and budgets should havenaturally reflected the value of a firm’s main assets – the staff. A
firm’s goodwill and reputation was only as valuable as its last
project: ongoing success depended entirely on the people

The

engaged, and how they were managed and empowered torepresent a firm, either up front with clients and the public, or in theoffice coordinating valuable inputs. Some firms were proudly
claiming that profits were up to six to seven percent of grossrevenue. Not bad, one might have said. However, given thecontributions made to added value and the level of investment
required, only those which obtained at least double this profit level
were clearly in a position to meet all the demands and to begin toreap the rewards one might have expected of professionals.
Whither goest thou?
Much as I enjoyed travelling the world and meeting colleagues
on their home ground, it has become impossible to meet them all.
Organisation models based on a regional structure currently being
explored by FIDIC perhaps offer more scope for FIDIC to improveits connections to the membership and the marketplace. My plea
to members therefore was to be mindful of change and toembrace it, and to provide Member Associations with sufficient
resources to undertake the tasks demanded. Not everything canbe achieved. “Select and concentrate” was another usefulquotation. But it needed, and still needs, a plan. My advice was:“Why not start with international best practice, as advocated by
FIDIC, and then look to local application”.
Although FIDIC members currently help create over 50% of theworld’s infrastructure, FIDIC is still not as representative as itshould be. FIDIC’s future focus, as outlined above by the
President, will see it not only grow organically (from 78 to 100
Member Associations in time for its centenary), but also by sector.
The consulting engineering sector continues to evolve, with somecountries already embracing industries outside traditional building
construction and infrastructure where engineering plays animportant role. Industrial design is an example of a sector whereconsiderable value is added by consultants and engineers. Various
industry groups in several different sectors can also contribute
more to, and gain from, FIDIC knowledge and expertise. There is
no reason why FIDIC’s reach should not double by 2013 in termsof, say, member firm turnover. However, Member Associations
need to be aware that their traditional roles also need to change.
The association model perhaps needs an overhaul if they are toremain relevant. So the future looks bright, and the industry is in agood shape. Together, we can improve it even further. “One voice”
is FIDIC’s motto, with good reason.
Enrico Vink, FIDIC Managing Director
The Secretariat
The FIDIC Secretariat team grew in 2008 by another one-half staff
position, with Eileen Hazburn being brought in to help with
document production and event marketing, which brought the
Secretariat staff to five full-time staff equivalents.
Products and Services
As this Annual Review demonstrates, the FIDIC Secretariat’s
activities over the last 12 months were no different from those ofmany FIDIC Member Association secretariats, in that the demand
for support continued to outstrip the resources needed to provide
products and services. In the case of FIDIC, the most significant

11

FIDIC

Secretariat

growth in the demand for services came from commercial
customers who sought to learn about best practice by acquiring
documents, taking part in training and sharing FIDIC’s online
resources. Although the back-office operations of the FIDIC
Bookshop and of FIDIC Events have been fully virtual for 10 years,
and as such run 24 hours a day, seven days a week, there werestill many customers with specific queries. Equally important,however, were the customers who contacted FIDIC not simply
because they needed a document or wanted to attend a course.
Instead, they were hoping find out how they could go aboutacquiring FIDIC best practice. Dealing with the thousands ofenquiries called for a careful channeling so that the correct
information was supplied at an appropriate level. A partial solution
was to upgrade online user forums for Contracts and Agreements
and for Best Practice, and to make use of external expertise.
Another daunting task for FIDIC was the management of the many
volunteers in FIDIC committees and their task groups. Task groups
were encouraged not only to develop new documents andguidelines, but also to consider their commercial application andhow the best practice would be disseminated. This required thecross-fertilisation between committees to ensure a balanced
approach before a new product was launched. So it was perhaps
not unsurprising that the Secretariat’s additional support staff wasengaged to assist in the preparation of documents and theorganisation of the many FIDIC training events that resulted fromthe new products sold by FIDIC.
Committees
Policy development and support to the FIDIC Executive
Committee in its strategic planning remained another key service– one that is common to all Member Associations. Linked to thiswas the all important maintenance and development of links intoclient organisations and industry groups, whose own policies andservices impacted on the environment in which consulting
engineers operated. Public relations and communications(discussed elsewhere in this Annual Review) therefore also madeup an important part of the Secretariat’s activities.
EventsConference planning and execution remained anotherimportant ingredient in the FIDIC menu of services. While FIDIC’s
International Training Programme included several conferenceswith a training focus, there were also the regional Africa and AsiaPacific conferences that called for secretariat services in line withthe strategy to lend more support for regional groups so as tostreamline the industry’s position on key issues. Then there was
the FIDIC annual conference, the consulting engineering industry’s
premier networking event. Given the complexities of organizing
international events, at any given time during the past 12 months,
FIDIC was involved in planning annual conferences four years inadvance, helping in the preparation of proposals for 2011 and2012, with advance planning needed for FIDIC’s centenary in 2013.