The future of procurement will come under the spotlight at the latest webinar in FIDIC’s annual programme of online events on 13 February 2024.

The webinar, Where is procurement going? Future trends and challenges for the industry, organised by the FIDIC Business Practice Leadership Committee and sponsored by Bentley Systems, will look at the all-important area of procurement, exploring the latest developments and trends and looking at how procurement should evolve - and is indeed evolving - to deliver better and more sustainable infrastructure projects.

Against an ever-changing background of challenging global events and a somewhat uncertain economic backdrop, procurement is often centre stage as governments, funders and clients seek to get more for less and deliver much-needed infrastructure development to boost their economies. While this can mean increasing risks, it can also lead to potential opportunities for those involved in delivering engineering and construction projects.

Speakers at the webinar will also highlight the point that procurement should take into account the value-added aspects of what consulting engineers offer and can bring to a project. This should incorporate a fair evaluation of quality, scope, pricing and an assessment of the integrity/ESG/social value background of the consulting engineering company to ensure that these important facets are considered in the procurement process.

Issues to be discussed at the webinar include the following:

• What are the latest developments in the industry?
• Issues around pricing, technical, sustainability, quality and qualifications.
• How do consultants ‘defend’ their position in a changing market?
• The different approaches around the world – what are the key trends?
• Role of key funders and clients.
• Legal frameworks.
• ESG, social value and sustainability impact.
• Role of FIDIC contracts in influencing good procurement.

The international lineup of speakers at the webinar includes Prashant Kapila, managing director of Intercontinental Consultants and Technocrats (India), managing director of WSP Spain and Portugal Manuel Pérez Sierra (Spain), Ines Ferguson, business development director of TYPSA (Spain), Denis Rizaov, senior legal counsel at Granit Construction (Macedonia), Zanda Zarina, business development manager at JurisConsultus (Latvia) and international procurement adviser Dilek Macit (UK).

The speakers will address a range of issues including updating on a sustainable procurement toolkit that has been developed with the MDBs, discussing the procurement process as a risk management tool for clients and the consulting engineering industry, highlighting how FIDIC contracts are examples of good practice, highlighting the importance of the procurement process to align with the values of consulting engineering industry to ensure it is fair and taking an overall view on the future for procurement, discussing what clients should and should not do.

Click here to reserve a free place at FIDIC’s Where is procurement going? webinar.