CDM Smith and ACEC/MA Host Nepal Procurement Delegation
Jonathan Kunay, ACEC/MA Program Committee Co-Chair, briefs delegation from Nepal. [Photo credit: Megan Alper]
ACEC/MA thanks the team at CDM Smith for providing the briefing and hosting a delegation of government officials from Nepal on August 28, as part of a US Trade Development Agency study tour on value based procurement practices for infrastructure. In particular, we thank o ACEC/MA Program Committee Co-Chair Jonathan Kunay, who briefed the delegation about ACEC, ACEC/MA, and FIDIC, the International Federation of Consulting Engineers, Hal Gillam, Laura Iglesias, and Stephen Felt, all from CDM Smith, plus Megan Alper, ACEC/MA Membership Associate, for representing our association.
While ACEC/MA hasn't seen international delegations focused on infrastructure visit Massachusetts for a few years, these delegations help to build connections for future partnerships in international markets; the Federal government has tools and some funding to help firms work successfully in international markets.
This US Trade and Development Agency study tour program held in late August in Boston is intended to familiarize about 15 delegates from Nepal’s Public Procurement Monitoring Office (PPMO) and other procuring entities at the national level with U.S. best practices in procurement.
The delegation met with U.S. organizations at the federal, state, and local levels. The delegation will be in Boston on Wednesday, August 28. They have asked to meet with ACEC/MA leaders to hear our perspectives regarding best practices for public procurement. We held the meeting from 2:30 – 4 pm at CDM Smith in Boston. The delegation also planned to meet with MA OSD, MassDOT, and the City of Somerville.
The general areas of interest include:
• Best value procurement practices, including lifecycle cost analysis
• Sustainable procurement practices in public procurement
• Professionalization of the Workforce
• e-Procurement Systems
• Diversity in procurement
• Emergency Procurement
We have met with other TDA delegations in the past. Our discussions usually include a briefing on the benefits of using Qualifications Based Selection (QBS) for professional services. If you are interested in participating in this meeting with the delegation, contact Abbie Goodman with a message with the subject line Nepal Delegation.