International Networking and Partnering
Dr. Ing. Reinhard HONERT, VBI Brussels

On the 8.4.2003 organized the VBI office in Brussels (Association of Consulting Engineers), ATCEA Ankara (Association of Turkish Consulting Engineers and Architects) and EFCA Brussels (European Federation of Engineering Consultancy Associations) a conference, in order to bring engineering companies from different regions together. This meeting was with 96 participants very well visited. The motivation developed from the need of the VBI to operate in Brussels not only an office to be present in political interests representation, but also in order to be contact point and show flag and professional opinion to current topics.

Reinhard Honert (VBI office Brussels) was supervisor and one of eight speakers.
The following article developed from the lecture to the conference described above.
Let us assume that in the next 5 years the competition pressures in the domestic markets and the EU neighbouring states will strongly rise; then it is advisable in order to secure ones consulting business to look for strategic partnerships and networks. A model was presented in the conference and is repeated in the following text that he implements since few months in Brussels: a European network for the Eastern European business (EU-net-EAST) and a European network for the Mediterranean business (EU-net-MEDA). Both nets are characterised by the fact that know-how for the European Union public tender processes is concentrated in a small team in Brussels.

Strength lies in the Concentration

While an consulting company prepares per month one Pre-Qualification (PQ) for a European Union tender, a team working for a network with 10 companies would have to prepare 10 PQs for the European Union tenders in the same month. The team in Brussels gains in PQs more experiences in one month, than a company would in the whole year.

With the documentation for the tendering this relation is not that dramatic, because technical know-how about projects is located in the company and should remain there. Offers are written within the company. They better be written with the involvement of the project manager (higher identification) and some key figures of the final project team. But nevertheless also this process experiences a considerable efficiency gain through a tem in Brussels. Simply the learning curve is steeper and the process more efficient when concentrating the know how for European public procurement process for 10 firms. That concerns in particular

• Information for the pre-selection process of projects in any Consulting firm,
• Good partner searches in the earliest stage possible,
• Interest statements towards the public procurement body,
• Winning Pre-qualification (PQ) documents and
• Higher chances for winning proposals and tenders.

The network companies should be no competitors among each other. The team of firms should be internationally diversified (an implicit EU Requirement).

Knowing the own strengths and markets

Furthermore it is strategically wise to select the markets considering the own firm’s strengths. How? Did you know that:

• The EU-programs PHARE/ISPA/SAPARD generate four times more projects than the MEDA-Program?
• Morocco so far had more projects in Turkey than visa versa? 576 against 400. Tunisia and Lebanon follow with 285 and 126 before Egypt with 117?
• The French are well represented throughout all MEDA countries, except in Algeria, where the Germans maintain a better share of the market?
  
  

The following table shows for select countries, how Consulting in different countries developed and how interest for EuropeAid projects is differs.

In order to set the participation in the Europe Aid’s projects into relation to the population, the 2 columns was introduced. In the following columns you find the number of offers with project leadership (L) and the number of the project partnerships (P). The next two columns report how many tenders were won (WL) and how frequently a partner company from the respective country was in the winning team (WP).
A typical consortium consists of one leading and several partnering firms: L + P1 + P2 + P3 + P4;
A typical winning consortium: WL + WP1 + WP2 + WP3 + WP4

The number of all companies taking part in the tendering process of a country was divided by the population of that country. German firms are involved 26.2 times per each million inhabitants in a PQ-process. That involvement could be as Leading (L) or as a partnering firm (P). Among them were 2.9 leading (WL) and / or partnering (WP) companies per million inhabitants.

Participants	Population	L	P	WL	WP	(L+P+WL+	(WL+WP) / .	Chance
From		Leader	Partner	win	win	WP) / Pop	Pop	To win
Austria	8,17	191	205	17	32	54,5	6,0	11,0%
Belgium	10,27	555	403	59	58	104,6	11,4	10,9%
Czech Rep.	10,26	27	99	5	3	13,1	0,8	5,9%
Denmark	5,37	369	296	32	47	138,6	14,7	10,6%
Finland	5,18	107	182	16	29	64,4	8,7	13,5%
France	59,77	738	733	76	89	27,4	2,8	10,1%
Germany	83,25	1059	887	122	117	26,2	2,9	10,9%
Greece	10,65	200	254	22	36	48,1	5,4	11,3%
Hungary	10,08	92	140	15	22	26,7	3,7	13,8%
Ireland	3,88	181	173	23	22	102,8	11,6	11,3%
Italy	57,72	467	510	51	67	19,0	2,0	10,8%
Luxemb.	0,45	61	44	6	9	267,5	33,4	12,5%
Morocco	31,17	2	126	1	8	4,4	0,3	6,6%
Netherl.	16,07	473	506	55	64	68,3	7,4	10,9%
Poland	38,63	229	504	27	72	21,5	2,6	11,9%
Romania	22,32	38	302	0	19	16,1	0,9	5,3%
Slovakia	5,42	44	70	9	20	26,4	5,3	20,3%
Spain	40,08	348	411	39	43	21,0	2,0	9,8%
Sweden	8,88	88	144	8	23	29,6	3,5	11,8%
Turkey	67,31	9	99	1	10	1,8	0,2	9,2%
UK	59,78	1129	1040	124	134	40,6	4,3	10,6%

Fig. 1 Participation & success ratio in Europe Aid’s public procurement service sector 1999 - 2002 (excerpt)

Many firms and consortia have a Belgian firm addresses. From there they send more frequently tender documents to the EU. Therefore Belgians participates statistically 4 times more frequent in projects as German companies. Also noticeable are Danish, Irish and Luxembourg, who also apply substantially more frequent for international projects than the average state in the above statistics.

Please consider the last column. It relates the number of applicants (PQs) with the number of the winners in each state. Large countries have similar chances for winning a project than small ones. This points out that Europe has relatively good international advisor standards. Exceptions are Romania and Morocco, which reach only success ratios of 5 and 6 %. On the other hand Slovakia has a 20% success rate. The fact that Solway consulting firms were that successful is probably an unusual constellation, or an exception. Also Finland, Hungary and Luxembourg show a performance much beyond the average, if one regards only the selection of the above table.

The data refer to a period between 1999 and end of 2002. It was not considered, when a PQ was cancelled or the process got interrupted. Also PQs still in the contracting process (a winner was not yet determined) were not treated separately. That entails small inaccuracies, which were, however, neglected. In case of Morocco and Turkey there is a tendency to underestimate the “Chance to win” which results in maybe 10% error. But the large picture is not impaired by this deviation.

Particularly for German Engineering Consulting, the consulting and planning services of typical VBI members can be summarized: ·

· German companies take part significantly less in international procurement as other European companies. Perhaps this depends on the SME structures in this industry sector, which was favoured through economics, administration, Foerderalism, chambers and federations. ·

· Once they participate in competitions for public procurement on a European level, their chances of winning contracts for these companies are just as good as for firms from other member states. ·

· in almost recession times some firms look for their welfare abroad. In the office in Brussels we register more inquiries than ever before. General advices for them are:
(1) win experience through selling expert time
(2) collect experiences in subcontracts without risk,
(3) start partnerships with larger companies
(4) analyze networks and work through them
(5) form your own networks (e.g. Hamburg plan, CDM and others)

The office in Brussels offers advice and help for all points above. Cross connections are established to firms which are on the federal league list of companies involved in business with the European Union. In addition, we give suggestions for better cross-linking among firms. Currently we develop two networks to intensify the EAST business and for the reinforcement of the business in the MEDITERRANEN and the Middle East. The following sections deals with this strategies and offers suggestions how to become active.

The “National League”

The next table shows the national league of German Consulting firms (Top Ten) for EuropeAid procurement calls. The GTZ (a government organisation) has the pole position in this race. This hit list is meant as “Food for Thought”. It should animate the reader to engage into projects with the European Union. Of course you always receive good information and advice from the Brussels’ office of Consulting Engineering’s networking.

Number of won Projects	Name of the German companies, which won more than 10 times until 2003 the lead in EuropeAid projects
82	GTZ GmbH Deutsche Gesellschaft für Technische Zusammenarbeit (German technical co-operation)
65	ICON-INSTITUT Public Sector GmbH
55	GOPA Consultants
47	ABU Consult GmbH
27	AHT International GmbH
19	Lahmeyer International GmbH
18	Fichtner GmbH&Co.KG
16	AFC Consultants International GmbH
16	GFA Management GmbH
16	Integration International Management Consultants GmbH
14	EPOS Health Consultants GmbH
14	Rhein-RuhrIngenieur GmbH
13	Carl Duisberg Gesellschaft e.V.
13	DIWI Consult International GmbH
13	GET German Educationand Training GmbH
13	LUSO Consult Management GmbH
12	CES Consulting Engineers Salzgitter GmbH
11	GKWCONSULTGmbH
11	KPMG-Deutsche Treuhand-Gesellschaft AG Internat. Project Mgmt
10	OBERMEYER Planen+Beraten

Fig. 2 Hit list of German consulting firms in the EuropeAid procuremtn process (public service sector 1999 to 2002 (excerpt)

This information is send by e-mails in irregular intervals from Brussels. The office serves several distribution lists. In addition we provide you with the newest information, exactly catered to the technical Consulting world.

International strategy for the Networks and for the VBI Brussels office

In order to strengthen the international strategy of the Brussels office the following steps were undertaken:

1. The VBI is a network it selves. It represents the interests of approximately 2500 companies in Brussels. Usually the office lobbies in good coordination with EFCA, the BFB and other Brussels associations and active organizations. With some topics the office actively engages in interest representation (lobbying), e.g. the public assignment, the international acknowledgment of Diplomas, questions of fee scales for Engineering Consulting (HOAI) and others. A distribution list for this “EU Lobby information” is under construction.

2. Currently 400 firms are on the distributor list of the VBI office Brussels. Up to now they were informed monthly about projects, conferences, partner search, European Union programs as well as research programs, INTERREG promotions, etc. This distribution list will be served also in the future. It will be called, however, “EU News for internationally Consulting (VBI Brussels)”.

3. On multiple requests the “EU project Opportunities” will be deepened and further developed. The information is primarily early information and foresighted information about projects. We filter from several news services like Tender Electronics Daily (TED), BFAI, XPOS, Europa-Kontakt, EuropeAid and other news services long-term detailed information. Thus we monitor and report in short summaries for the email service. Upon request this information is dispatched directly. The additional expenses are no longer covered through the VBI. Therefore the cost is distributed and passed on to the members of the distribution list. This distribution list also is under permanent construction.

Fig. 3 The international Info.-Network of the VBI, VBI-Brussels and the spin-offs”

4. Some companies form a network such as “EU net EAST” and “EU net MEDA”. These companies expect stronger acquisition support. They form international teams, which consist 40-50% of German companies. They order and use the information suggested above. Beyond that they receive direct assistance in preparatory work for tendering projects. The entire acquisition chain is included: ·

o Information pre-selection ·

o Partner search in the earliest stage ·

o Letter of Interest (LOI

o Pre-Qualification (PQ) and ·

o Tender documents

A model of these groups is shown in the illustration.

A Think tank for Consulting

The Think-Tank is established not as net of the nets and not as specialized group or “Auslandsausschuss”, but as a group of advice (committee, board or a “EU Think tank for Consulting”) for international exchange of experience and strategic positioning. This group will form basis to the VBI’s team, which includes members from the groups 1 to 4, an independent advisor and the director / conductor of the VBI office Brussels. This team supports VBI members but also international network members to form a stronger international consulting group. The team should prescribe to the goals listed below and peruse them.

(A) Due to the EU-internal market rule companies will face much more national competition. Thus they have to prepare themselves much stronger to go international for survival. This means also looking into European public procurement and participating in PQs as lead or partner firm.

(B) The chance that a national company participates and wins in European competitions must be increased, i.e. the quality of the PQs and the tender documents must improve.

(C) The number of the firms in the hit list of any national grouping should rise (please send comments and recommendations to and ask for registrations at Honert@Liaison Office.org). A model of these groupings is shown in the illustration above.

I hope my presented ideas give “Food for Thought”. I wish for myself that you, your colleagues in your company, and other international companies support me in this co-operation. If you are interested, please send your comments, your recommendations, your registrations: to Honert@Liaison Office.org with one or more of the references marked: ·

o “EU Lobby information”

o “EU News for internationally Consulting”

o “EU project Opportunities”

o “EU net EAST? Or EU net MEDA”

o “EU Think tank Consulting”

EU-Speak

ATCEA = Association of Turkish Consulting Engineers and Architects

BoD = Board of Directors

EBRD = European Bank for Reconstruction and Develpoment in London

EFCA = European Federation of Engineering Consultancy Associations

EIB = European Investment Bank in Luxembourg

EU-Net-EAST = Net of internat. Consulting firms for EU East contracts

EU-Net-MEDA = Net of internat. Consulting firms for EU Mediterranean contracts

EU-News CE = EU-News for International Consulting Engineers

EU-Proj-Opp = EU-Project-Opportunities

EuropeAid = Office for European help abroard (developping aid is less used)

EU-Speak = Englisch-Franch-German expression used in Brussels

EU-Think-Tank = a concil of experts for European issues

GTZ = German technical co-operation (Gesellschaft für Technische Zusammenarbeit)

HOAI = Honorary issues, fee scales for Architects and Engineers

ISPA = Financial Instrument for the accession of states to the EU

KFW = German Bank for Reconstruction (Kreditanstalt für Wiederaufbau in Frankfurt)

Lobbying = interest representation for at the European Union

MEDA = Financial Instrument in the Mediterranen area

PHARE = Financial Instrument in the East

PQ = Pre-Qualifizierung

SAPARD = Financial Instrument in the East like ISPA, but in agriculture

Servicesektor = the EU definitions contain also construction services, medical doctors etc.

VBI = Verband Beratender Ingenieure (Association for Consult. Engineers, Germany

WB = World Bank in Washington

Please, treat these ideas still with confidentiality, and
please give me your feedback about this contents and
whether, when, and where you would like to see this paper published.