THE BUSINESS OF WINNING INTERNATIONAL PROJECTS

The structure of engineering consultancies is changing. At one time, most were able to find work in their local markets. Then these markets began to shrink, as local road networks were completed and city traffic became 'over-engineered'. New international markets appeared. These offered bigger projects and bigger rewards - but the costs of bidding for projects was also bigger. Consultants had newer rules to follow, as the International Financing Institutions (IFIs) set up their own bidding and evaluation procedures. And, with less secure home markets, engineers had to learn how to acquire a new project before they could begin to apply their technical skills in designing it. The main problem with this is that engineers are trained to carry out projects, not to acquire them. The purpose of this paper is to describe the ground rules for international project acquisition. Points covered include: primary sources of project information, pre- and post-proposal marketing, registrations with IFIs, preparing technical and financial proposals, presentation interviews, international project acquisition and the Internet, and things which go wrong.