Consulting engineers should play the role of trusted advisor to government, says CESA President Abe Thela.
Addressing engineers at the CESA Gauteng Presidential Function, Thela questioned whether the role of consulting engineers is being adequately recognised by clients who employ consulting engineering services. “Our profession is not yet dead, but it will die if we don’t act pretty urgently,” he said. He identified current procurement practices as a major regulatory challenge affecting the role of consulting engineering in infrastructure development. The challenge Current procurement practices are based on price and BBBEE status. “Is price the appropriate basis for competing for consulting engineering services?” Thela asked. The answer is no. Thela said this method reduces consulting engineering to a commodity which is demand driven and compromises the ability of the profession to innovate, train staff and attract young professionals. The current practices relegate the relationship of consulting engineers from trusted advisor to contractor. This, he said, reduces quality of service, resulting in client dissatisfaction. The solution The aim should be to procure on the best possible terms.Thela proposes a qualifications-based selection (QBS) process that places emphasis on quality and competence, a jointly developed project scope, mutually agreed upon services required to develop the scope and a negotiated equitable fee.This would reinforce the trusted advisor status of consulting engineers. The advantages of this approach would be the deployment of adequate resources, innovation and added value, as well as savings for the taxpayer and the community.
In the interim In the interim Thela said quality should be reintroduced as part of the total procurement points calculation, alongside price and BBBEE. There should be a separation of procurement of BEPs from the procurement of general goods and services. Thela feels a comprehensive review of the existing procurement system should be conducting, looking at its impact on infrastructure provision, the sustainability of the consulting engineering sector, and the development of a QBS procurement system incorporating BBBEE requirements. Engaging with government CESA is currently engaging with the National Treasury and the Infrastructure Task Team. CESA recently conducted a workshop to deliberate on infrastructure and plans to formulate position papers that will be tabled at its next meeting with government. No date for this has been set but Thela hopes it will be towards the end of this year. Other challenges Thela identified a variety of other regulatory and institutional challenges. Regulatory challenges include current procurement practices, access to work opportunities by small and emerging firms, consolidated or joint BBBEE scorecard requirements, and scope versus fixed term appointments. The CEAS president identified lack of capacity, corruption, erratic infrastructure investment and education as institutional challenges.
