An association can deliver big benefits to its members, helping to standardize practices, elevate professionals’ careers, and push a profession forward. Now imagine the power of an association of associations.
The International Federation of Consulting Engineers (FIDIC) is a global group representing more than 1 million engineering professionals. Based in Geneva, Switzerland, the acronym FIDIC comes from the French version of the name, Fédération Internationale des Ingénieurs Conseils.
FIDIC’s members consist primarily of organizations such as ACEC that represent consulting engineers within their countries. ACEC is among the largest of FIDIC’s 93 member associations, and its leadership is closely tied to the international group: Many of the past ACEC board members have served in FIDIC leadership positions, including a couple who were elected president, and a current FIDIC board member, Manish Kothari, was a past ACEC chair.
ACEC’s informal engagement with FIDIC dates back to the international organization’s founding in 1913, when the United States participated in FIDIC’s initial meeting. Still, FIDIC’s official membership was exclusively European until 1959, when ACEC joined, along with national organizations from Australia, Canada, and South Africa.
To be a member association, a national organization must be the largest such group representing consulting engineers in its country. But FIDIC also offers additional paths to membership for people and firms located in countries without a participating national association.
The group’s work includes hosting the annual Global Infrastructure Conference, bringing together representatives of the engineering, construction, and infrastructure sectors to discuss critical issues facing the industry worldwide. The conference’s location alternates between Geneva and other host cities: The 2023 conference took place in Singapore, for example, while Geneva hosted the event this year. Through the gathering, as well as FIDIC’s broader efforts to influence global policy and standards, the organization works to “further the influence of engineering on society, and increasingly on the planet itself,” says Catherine Karakatsanis, FIDIC’s current president and chair and the COO of Morrison Hershfield, a North American multidisciplinary firm acquired by Stantec earlier this year.
Over the past decade, as FIDIC has taken on a more visible role in ensuring that engineers influence global strategy on issues such as sustainability and resilient infrastructure, ACEC members have helped lead the charge. One example is the Global Leadership Forum (GLF), a group of 100 senior infrastructure leaders from around the world who gather annually to discuss the role of engineers in issues ranging from artificial intelligence (AI) to decarbonization.
It’s a high-powered group with ambitious goals. Year by year, its leaders are gaining confidence in their ability to make a difference.
“This is a group that has the skills to save the planet, and we’re irresponsible if we don’t use them,” says Robin Greenleaf, a member of FIDIC’s GLF Advisory Board and a past ACEC chair. “Nobody’s afraid to say it. We’re past that point, and it’s time to actually put the skills to use,” says Greenleaf, who is also an executive vice president of architectural relations and strategic partnerships at IMEG.
The leaders assembled within the GLF provide FIDIC with insights to advise members who turn to the organization for infrastructure policy guidance. In addition to Greenleaf, the GLF Advisory Board includes leaders from United Statesbased companies CDM Smith and Stantec.
Assembling this cadre of global engineering leaders is helping to galvanize the industry and “has been critical to garnering the support required to progress the higher-level issues,” says Tony Barry, who preceded Karakatsanis as FIDIC president and is a senior consultant at Aurecon in Melbourne, Australia.
The GLF also opened the channel for another emerging ACEC contribution to FIDIC: insights from the ACEC Research Institute, which aims to anticipate long-term industry challenges and use research to point the way forward.
In 2023, the ACEC Research Institute gathered dozens of engineering industry leaders in Washington, D.C., for a twoday scenario-planning exercise led by Kathy Pearson, a faculty member at the University of Pennsylvania’s Wharton School of Business. During the workshop, Pearson and the attendees identified the global trends and business forces most likely to affect the engineering industry over the next decade, with the goal of uncovering potential research projects that could better equip firms to plan for long-term success.
At the 2024 GLF Summit that took place in Geneva in April, Mike Carragher, chair of the ACEC Research Institute and chair and CEO of VHB, presented preliminary results from the 2023 workshop. Carragher outlined different scenarios based on factors such as the pace of AI adoption and climate change, along with the capabilities that a consulting engineering firm would need to thrive in each scenario.
The presentation was a hit. Karakatsanis praised the team’s work, and executives from leading firms around the world approached Carragher about opportunities for collaboration.
“There was a lot of interest,” Carragher says. “No one around the world in these different consulting engineering societies had seen such large-scale and audacious industry research.”
“This is a group that has the skills to save the planet, and we’re irresponsible if we don’t use them.”
ROBIN GREENLEAFMEMBER, FIDIC’S GLF ADVISORY BOARDPAST CHAIR, ACECEXECUTIVE VICE PRESIDENT OF ARCHITECTURAL RELATIONS AND STRATEGIC PARTNERSHIPS, IMEG
“There was a lot of interest. No one around the world in these different consulting engineering societies had seen such large-scale and audacious industry research.”
MIKE CARRAGHERCHAIR, ACEC RESEARCH INSTITUTECEO, VHB
“Capacity building is a major issue in developing countries and emerging economies. Those firms want to learn rapidly how to do more and more work themselves, rather than having to piggyback with large international firms.”
BILL HOWARDPAST PRESIDENT, FIDICPAST CHAIR, ACECRETIRED EXECUTIVE, CDM SMITH
FIDIC’s bread and butter is developing and advancing policy and practice recommendations that set high and consistent standards for engineering initiatives around the world, including cross-border projects and those incorporating contributions from firms representing different countries, cultures, and regulatory regimes. Among its most valued offerings is FIDIC Contracts, which serves as an international standard for the agreements that underpin infrastructure projects.
The value for ACEC member firms is reduced risk on cross-border projects—especially when combined with FIDIC insights into regional practices. FIDIC also offers contract adjudication in cases where disputes arise.
“Unless you’ve actually worked overseas, what North Americans take for granted as a normal business climate can be quite different,” says John Gamble, president and CEO of ACEC Canada, the country’s leading trade group for consulting engineering firms. (The Canadian group shares an acronym with ACEC and collaborates with ACEC as a member of FIDIC but is a wholly separate organization.)
FIDIC Contracts enable firms from developed and emerging economies to work together, offering “a chance to lift all boats,” Gamble says. “It creates a more robust, and frankly safer, international business climate where our firms can go and explore practicing internationally with more confidence—because the tools are there, the resources are there, and the networks are there.”
Similarly, FIDIC Credentialing offers several certification programs that engineering professionals can use to demonstrate that they meet international standards with regards to industry best practices. FIDIC offers credentials for contract managers, consulting engineers, trainers, consulting professionals, procurement specialists, and adjudicators. Chinese firms were the most enthusiastic supporters of FIDIC Credentialing, particularly the FIDIC Certified Consulting Engineers, which the Chinese State Council approved a pilot program for and is now being used internationally.
“Capacity building is a major issue in developing countries and emerging economies,” says Bill Howard, a past ACEC chair, past FIDIC president, and retired senior executive at CDM Smith. “Those firms want to learn rapidly how to do more and more work themselves, rather than having to piggyback with large international firms.” A roster of professionals with internationally recognized credentials, Howard says, can smooth the way forward.
FIDIC’s contracts have facilitated multinational engineering projects for half a century. They’re now finding an audience beyond engineering firms as multilateral development banks—international financial partners that coordinate investment in countries with emerging economies—adopt FIDIC standards. Both the World Bank and the International Fund for Agricultural Development are in the middle of five-year agreements to use FIDIC contracts.
FIDIC is also pushing for stronger, more consistent industry standards related to integrity management, ethics, and fraud prevention. One result of its efforts is a series of online webinars produced in conjunction with EY. The education series is spearheaded by Richard Stump, chair of FIDIC’s Integrity Management Committee and vice president of multidisciplinary A/E firm RS&H. (FIDIC North America is a partnership that includes ACEC as well as peer groups from Canada and Mexico.)
“Working internationally is fraught with risks, including a lot of corruption, and FIDIC promotes very high ethics and integrity,” says Gregs Thomopulos, past ACEC chair, past FIDIC president, and chairman emeritus at Stanley Consultants in Muscatine, Iowa.
FIDIC is also working to promote the adoption of Qualifications-Based Selection on global projects, rather than costbased methods of evaluation, which would likely be a boon for experienced and sophisticated companies. Those efforts are making headway in regions that include Asia and Africa, Thomopulos says.
“It creates a more robust, and frankly safer, international business climate where our firms can go and explore practicing internationally with more confidence—because the tools are there, the resources are there, and the networks are there.”
JOHN GAMBLEPRESIDENT AND CEOACEC CANADA
“Working internationally is fraught with risks, including a lot of corruption, and FIDIC promotes very high ethics and integrity.”
GREGS THOMOPULOSPAST CHAIR, ACECPAST PRESIDENT, FIDICCHAIRMAN EMERITUSSTANLEY CONSULTANTS
“FIDIC showed me the value of engaging in the profession. There are a lot of us in similar circumstances, and there’s so much to be learned by sharing. It helps us navigate our challenges and perhaps find better solutions.”
MANISH KOTHARIPAST CHAIR, ACECPRESIDENT AND CEOSHELADIA ASSOCIATES
For many FIDIC members, the most visible and useful of the organization’s contributions is its Global Infrastructure Conference, which provides both an opportunity to learn about global engineering trends and best practices and a networking opportunity for engineers whose firms do business internationally.
A big value is the networking, knowledge sharing, and advocating for good business practices at the global level. Kothari says the professional connections he made through engagement at conferences or work on committees eventually led to longstanding business partnerships between companies.
“If you talk to 10 people who have attended a FIDIC conference, I’m pretty sure all 10 will say they have benefited from that sort of networking and collaboration,” says Kothari, president and CEO of Rockville, Maryland-based Sheladia Associates. Conference-goers “benefit from knowledge-sharing, but it also impacts the bottom line in terms of teaming together.”
And the value of relationships formed at FIDIC conferences or through serving on FIDIC committees isn’t strictly business. Greenleaf doesn’t do much international business but still values her FIDIC involvement because GLF is “the place where I found the most like-minded people who knew that we needed to do big things to make a difference,” she says.
Similarly, Kothari says he finds participating in an international community to be useful because of the perspective and benefit it provides. “FIDIC showed me the value of engaging in the profession,” he says. “There are a lot of us in similar circumstances, and there’s so much to be learned by sharing. It helps us navigate our challenges and perhaps find better solutions.”
Steve Hendershot has contributed to Crain’s Chicago Business, Chicago magazine, and Chicago’s NPR affiliate, WBEZ, and is host of the Project Management Institute’s Projectified podcast. He lives in Chicago.
