Working Groups
CICA Working Groups gather multidisciplinary international experts from our construction federations and companies to discuss specific topics and issues.
These groups are a collaborative platform for exchanges, ideas and works. CICA regularly invites guests to participate to CICA works to make presentations on a particular subject, be it through informal exchanges or round tables, organized either by CICA or a member.
How does it work?
Each WG is led by a Chairman that supervises and monitors the meetings.
WG members meet generally once a month or once every three months via Zoom or Teams.
The discussions are run in English.
All the relevant documents of the WG are shared and stored in a collaborative Dropbox.
Different WGs can collaborate together.
What are the objectives?
The inputs of the WGs are presented twice a year during CICA’s General Assemblies.
WGs usually release Position Papers related to their core subject of work. These Position Papers are presented to relevant stakeholders (Multilateral Development Banks, National and International Federations, etc) which can give rise to real change.
Who can participate?
CICA’s Working Groups are open to all members, federations and companies working with CICA.
Paricipation in several groups is possible
CICA’s Working Groups
Choose your Working Group and start changing the industry
The Health & Safety working group was officially launched in June, 2020. The working group is chaired by Nir Yanushevsky and co-chaired by Ziv Lazar, respectively Specialist in Public Sector and Contractual Construction, and Head of Data and Economics for the Israeli Association Builders.
Health and safety on the worksites are daily concerns for contractors, and should not be seen as a burden, like it is mostly nowadays, but as a source of increased revenues. Indeed, a change in worksites organization can lead to an increased productivity. The current pandemic stressed out even more the need of a Health & Safety working group, in view of the consequences this health crisis has on the construction sector.
The current axes of work are the following:
- Select countries where the safety improvements have been the most significant;
- Study how countries performing less can adopt these improvements;
- Establish different case studies and identify best practices;
- Contribute to the elaboration of a common data base, to use the same measures all over the world;
- Bring in a technological approach to the Health & Safety issue.
On the occasion of the CICA Board-Council Meeting in Paris on the 17th of November 2014, it was decided to create a working group focusing on long-term financing of infrastructure. The interest for such a working group was confirmed at the CICA Board-Council meeting in Brasilia on the 27th of April 2015. It was also comforted by the interest generated by the roundtable on “Long-term financing market and its sources” organized during the International Meeting on Infrastructure and PPP hosted by CBIC, following the Board meeting in Brasilia.
Indeed, if it is unanimously recognized that the creation and the maintenance of public services infrastructures are essential to the establishment of a prosperous economy, the conditions to reach them are still very insufficiently satisfied. The absence of public capacity of financing is most of the time mentioned as the main reason to explain these deficiencies. The recourse to the techniques of Project Finance/PFI is presented as being the solution. However useful it is, this approach is totally insufficient to answer the immense world’s needs for infrastructures by 2030. They are estimated annually:
- Trade Infrastructure: investment financing thanks to users fee collection: USD 2, 6 trillion / year;
- Social Infrastructure: financing from States budget and from Public Aid: USD 1, 6 trillion / year.
The aim of this working group is to take into consideration the increasing recognition of the contribution of infrastructures to development, economic growth and employment.
The main goals of this CICA working group will be:
- To identify precisely the conditions required to trigger long term financing;
- To spread the solutions and the proposals of the construction industry;
- To undertake lobbying actions, at national and regional level, to assure the promotion of CICA and other professional organizations’ analysis and proposals.
The WG has been active since 2009. Under the leadership of Fernando Lago, FIIC representative, it meets virtually on the third Wednesday of each month at 3:00 p.m. UTC
The group has received contributions from experts and representatives of CICA member associations, coming from Europe, America, Asia.
It is open to new members.
Proposals for the future of PPPs
Goals:
Increase the relationship with MDBs and other academic and private sector actors interested in infrastructure.
Increase the use of contracts by applying the PPP Public Private Participation scheme to generate and operate infrastructure projects for public use, closing an infrastructure gap that grows year after year.
To do this, improve the perception of the APP system by investors, governments and the Community.
Propose innovative ideas to mitigate the risks of this type of contracts and achieve a greater investment through them
Current situation
Infrastructure projects under PPP contracts have been in decline since 2013.
Ideas to achieve a greater investment
1.- Mitigation systems and adequate risk distribution in a long-term contract
2.- Contribution of Multilaterals to the development of a project bank in emerging countries,
3.-Quick and equitable reformulation of current contracts affected by the pandemic.
4- Promote broad access to data on operational projects that allow their results to be measured, showing the risks effectively assumed by the investor.
5.- Promote investment in infrastructure so that it becomes an “asset class”, and therefore is negotiable in the primary and secondary market, in order to open this type of investment to retail or non-specialized investors
Fernando Lago
PPP Working Group leader
It is a great honor for me to lead the CICA PPP Working Group since 2009
There, I have a fruitful relationship with experts and representatives of CICA member associations from Europe, America, Asia.
As the leader of the FIIC Infrastructure Committee, the WG is the place to talk about the infrastructure needs of Latin America and share experiences and lessons learned from experts from around the world.
The entire Group works to encourage the use of all available tools, such as PPP, to close the global infrastructure gap. This will favor the productivity of our countries and the quality of life of their communities.
The Group is open to new participants. We meet virtually the third Wednesday of each month at 3:00 p.m. UTC
This working group is managed by Michel DEMARRE, former Director General of SEFI and Vice-president of the Europe – International Commission of the French Federation of Public Works (FNTP), Past President of European International Contractors (EIC).
The absence of a pipeline of infrastructure projects in the developing and emerging countries and the too many projects that fail are due to the lack of good preparation of the projects.
In order to remedy this situation, CICA has been working on the good preparation of the projects since 2004 and proposes to implement the concept of “Well Prepared Project” that was introduced in November 2009 at the Multilateral Development Banks’ Heads of Procurement meeting in Thessaloniki.
The concept of Well Prepared Project was then successfully reintroduced in the recommendations of the G20 in Cannes in 2011.
The Well Prepared Project concept clearly establishes the requirements for a successful project in terms of quality of the works, including sustainability and acceptability aspects, as well as bankability and respect of budgets and schedules.
The objective of the Well Prepared Project working group would be to provide a set of recommendations or guidelines for countries and institutions (notably the Multilateral Development Banks and Development Finance Institutions) involved in infrastructure investment in the developing and emerging world. These recommendations will aim to improve the quality of preparation and implementation of projects. The first application of the concept of Well Prepared Project in the context of this CICA working group is the road sector. CICA is currently engaged in discussions and works jointly with the International Federation of Consulting Engineers (FIDIC) and the World Road Association (PIARC). From July 1st 2022, Michel DEMARRE will chair PIARC’s taskforce on Well Prepared Projects in Low and Middle-Income Countries.
The Working Group on Construction Contracts is chaired by Alex Wagemann. It focuses on improving the contractual conditions of the engineering and construction standards.
Although the contracting standards are suitable options for the development of relevant projects, these standards continue with a traditional thinking. They do not necessarily incorporate collaborative approaches, do not take into consideration clearly the promotion of technologies that improve productivity, and in particular, do not always consider in depth the vision of the contractors.
In this context emerges the idea of developing a working group, focused on improving the contractual conditions of the engineering and construction standards. The basic objectives of this new group are to:
– Formally introduce the contractors’ vision in the developments and reviews of the standards mostly used in the industry;
– Promote ideas that go beyond traditional procurement.
The working group on Anti-Corruption and Integrity is an ad hoc working group which aims at elaborating a CICA anti-corruption policy. The group is chaired by Sergio Torretti, former President of the Chilean Chamber of Construction (CChC).
CICA aims at publishing an encompassing view on how to prevent corruption both, on the contractor’s and the client’s side.
The CICA statement considers the following elements:
1) Legal aspects
2) Governance
3) Leadership and training
4) Technology
The combination of these concepts seeks to increase trust and integrity, generating real progress in the fight against corruption.
CICA working group Construction 5.0. is chaired by Carlos Bascou, member of the Chilean Construction Chamber (CCHC) and co-chaired by Jean-Louis Marchand, former President of the European Construction Industry Federation (FIEC).
Construction 5.0 aims at promoting the alignment of technological and digital innovations for the construction sector with the societal dimension under the United Nations 17 Sustainable Development Goals and the Paris Agreement.
Construction 5.0 is the merger of the previous Construction 4.0 and Sustainable Construction Working Groups.
4.0 implied technologies such as BIM, drones, robots and Artificial Intelligence including Big Data and Augmented Reality. The 5.0 dimension adds the social aspect of digitalization including commitment to Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) by aligning for example the industry’s Key Performance Indicators (KPI) to the UN 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development.
The Objective of the new WG Construction 5.0 for the next year shall be to elaborate concrete recommendations/action plan for the construction sector on best practices for sustainable construction and innovation (Construction 4.0). The objective would be to define opportunity windows mainly around CO2 reduction and reduced energy consumption from a contractors’ perspective (e.g. recycling framework, investment portfolios allowing to reduce carbon emissions etc.). The concrete scope of action and the related KPIs allowing to measure the influence and impact of the construction sector in fulfilling the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs), shall be defined for the next 2 years.
The Construction 4.0 dimension is complementary to sustainable construction and vice-versa as new and digital technologies will enable to achieve sustainable construction objectives. The use of robotization, Artificial Intelligence, including Big Data and Augmented Reality is expected to enhance the ability to monitor construction projects and to improve the performance of the construction industry towards delivering sustainable and smart buildings/infrastructure.
The Housing working group was officially launched in May 2022, and it is chaired by Mr. Jorge Alberto Torres Vallejo, Director of Economic studies and information at the Colombian Chamber of Construction – CAMACOL.
A decent place to live is one of the most prominent necessities of humankind, and it was made even clearer during the COVID19 pandemic. However, public and private sectors face challenges providing high quality homes and, unfortunately, slums flourish all around the globe.
Main topics defined for the group’s agenda
- Affordable housing
- Demographic transition
- Actions for sustainability
- Urban planning
- Tax regimes
The Natural Disasters and Construction working group was officially launched in May 2023, and it is chaired by Mr. Emre AYKAR, former President of CICA and member of the Turkisch Contractors Association.
With climate change and natural disasters, increased pressure is put on our infrastructure and building stocks. We must build resilience into our constructions. The aim of the Working Group is first to produce a Position Paper discussing how to manage earthquakes (best practice experiences and post-disaster reconstruction strategies and methodologies).
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CICA is the world’s largest, most representative organization for the construction industry. It gathers and defends the concerns of the construction industry worldwide. CICA has unrivalled authority in promoting rules to improve the conduct of the construction business across borders.
CICA’s privileged links with major intergovernmental organizations and international financial institutions allow CICA to effectively represent the interests of its members for developing and industrialized countries taking into account the interests of both business providers and users.
