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Enhancing Quality in Procurement: EFCA Recommendations for EU Engineering Consultancy

The EFCA, represented by President Yann Leblais, presented critical insights on quality in procurement during a 2005 conference in Beijing. Key findings address challenges like EC policies impacting proposal quality, evaluation criteria overly reliant on CVs, and tight project budgets hindering professional development. Recommendations include site visits, extending reference validity to five years, and establishing clear rules across Delegations to ensure consistency. Advocating for young professionals and promoting adequate budgets are also central to enhancing quality outcomes in engineering consultancy.

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Enhancing Quality in Procurement: EFCA Recommendations for EU Engineering Consultancy

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  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

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