EFCA E uropean F ederation of Engineering C onsultancy A ssociations

1. EFCAEuropean Federation of Engineering Consultancy Associations FIDIC 2005 Yann Leblais EFCA President Quality in Procurement Beijing Hotel, Beijing - China 7 September 2005

2. EFCA on Quality Outcomes in the EU • Former and present European Commission policies • Elements of a quality debate

3. Former and Present European Commission policies • Reform of EC external assistance management: • essential element = deconcentration • Commission 1999 – 2004: • putting rules in place and horizontal approach • Commission 2004 – 2009: • focus on output and quality

4. Elements of a quality debate • Dissemination of information to tenderers • Evaluation criteria: too much CV-based • Adequate project budgets • Same rules for all? • Validity of references • Definition of conflict of interest

5. Dissemination of information to tenderers (1) Problem description: • EC prohibits contacts between tenderers and contracting authorities and EC Delegations Consequently: • Quality of proposals decline as the clients needs are not enough known and taken into account • Consultants locally present are favoured

6. Dissemination of information to tenderers (2) EFCA recommendation: • (Optional) Site visits and clarification meetings (should be the rule for short-listed firms) • All documents available should be at the disposal at such clarification meetings • Minutes of clarification meetings should be sent to all tenderers

7. Evaluation criteria too much CV-based (1) Problem description: • EC requires a minimum of 5 years experience Consequently: • Unbalanced age and experience structure in consulting firms • In the long run shortage of knowledge and skills

8. Evaluation criteria too much CV-based (2) EFCA recommendation: • Develop and implementation of a Junior Expert Programme • Additional budgets for young professionals to cover costs on specific projects

9. Adequate project budgets (1) Problem description: • Project budgets are sometimes too tight Consequently: • Firms cannot commit a majority of permanent staff, including junior staff • Therefore, company development and experience is hampered

10. Adequate project budgets (2) EFCA recommendation: • Project budgets should be drawn up to allow deployment of a majority of permanent staff

11. Same rules for all? (1) Problem description: • Following deconcentration, differences in interpretation of rules by Delegations Consequently: • 120 interpretation centres instead of implementation centres • Documents in various languages are not identical • At their discretion Delegations add specific administrative requirements to tender/award process

12. Same rules for all? (2) EFCA recommendations: • Establishment of clear and simple rules and guidelines • Establishment of a central help desk in Brussels • Improve training in EC Delegations

13. Validity of references (1) Problem description: • In most cases selection criteria specify that firms must have references in the last 3 years Consequently: • Many SMEs are excluded from tendering • Therefore, the potential of capable/qualified companiesis limited

14. Validity of references (2) EFCA recommendation: • Validity of references should be extended to 5 years for engineering consultancy firms

15. Definition of conflict of interest (1) Problem description: • Firms excluded from subsequent project phases based on involvement in earlier stages (except for ToR) Consequently: • Disruptive for project itself • Multiple selection procedures are expensive and time-consuming for both contracting authority and consultants

16. Definition of conflict of interest (2) EFCA recommendation: • Make all preliminary investigation documents available to all participants • Restrict that “conflict of interest” to a restricted and well defined list