AACE Bulletin
Bruce County Section
At its November 2020 section meeting, the Bruce County Section presented the Cost Estimating Professional Seminar in a Box, which was recently updated by the AACE Education Board. The Seminar covers all the skills and knowledge defined by Recommended Practice 46R-11, Required Skills and Knowledge of Project Cost Estimating, touches on elements of RP 1010R-19, Roles and Responsibilities of a Project Cost Estimator, and covers relevant terms and definitions provided in RP 10S-90, Cost Estimating Terminology. This new version of the course has been significantly enhanced over the previous Education Board offering as it also incorporates the content previously provided by AACE Past President Doug Leo in his “Estimating A-Z”, Capital Project Estimating Workshop, which is always so successfully attended at the annual conferences. Presented virtually by Shoshanna Fraizinger, CCP, VP of the Education Board, the course was run over four days to ensure participants could accommodate the course into their work week. Participants were from the transportation industry in Toronto, as far away as the UK, as well as the locally based Toronto nuclear industry. A thank you is extended to our presenter and to the participants. This was another successful certification review course. The section looks forward to offering this course again in the future.
Shown above are: Renee St. Pierre, Shoshanna Fraizinger, CCP, VP of the Education Board, JP Stephan, Martin Laforest, JC Duran Maica, and Brooke Bittner who is a member of the Bruce County Section Board.
Dallas/Fort Worth Section
The Dallas/Fort Worth Section currently has grown to 65 members and is optimistic about the opportunities for the 2021 year. The DFW Section had a 98% re-enrollment rate and a 33% growth rate (December to December) from the prior year. After adjusting for the pandemic, virtual meetings are now something the section members are all more comfortable with and attendees are experiencing quality virtual meetings. The DFW Section was busy during the final quarter of 2020. Our previous charter was about 40 years old, so a new charter was approved by the section board and the section membership in December. The DFW Section’s business year goes from January 1 to December 31, therefore a new section board was elected in December for the 2021 year. The new 2021 board members for the DFW Section are: President – Rick Wyly; Vice President – Satinder Baweja; Secretary – Kevin Stirewalt; Treasurer – Daryl Boyne; Director #1 – Carlton Karlik; Director #2 – John Klim; and Director #3 – Radhika Kulkarni.
Greater Cairo Section
A Greater Cairo Section event titled, “Longest Path vs Negative Float Theory” was a collaborative event by the Greater Cairo Section and the Dispute Resolution Board Foundation (DRBF). The event is the second collaborative effort between Greater Cairo Section and the DRBF and was well-attended. The event simulated a dispute board setting on a project site in Cairo, as the contractor and owner (and his engineer) debated the application of the two theories when change orders have been issued by the owner after the contractual completion date. The Greater Cairo Section also conducted two technical meetings by Hossam Kandeel in December 5 and 8, 2020, under titles “Schedule Progress Weight Distribution” and “Delay Analysis and Project Controls Experience Sharing“. The section looks forward to 2021 and wishes the entire AACE International community worldwide a happy, healthy, and prosperous 2021.
Shown above is a screenshot from the webinar titled, “Longest Path v Negative Float Theory”. On the top left: Tarek Hamed (DRBF, playing the role of the sole adjudicator), top right: Hossam Kandeel (Greater Cairo Section, playing the role of the owner’s engineer); bottom left: Waleed El Nemr (Greater Cairo Section/DRBF, playing the role of the contractor); bottom right: Ahmed Afifi (Greater Cairo Section, playing the role of the owner).
Shown above, from the Greater Cairo Section’s technical meeting of 08 December 2020 are Hossam Kandeel in the middle with Ahmed Afifi on his right.
India Section
The year 2020 was truly unique in the ways Covid-19 radically and tragically transformed life around the world. While 2020 is not a year many of us want to remember, it was a year of opportunities for the India Section. With two onsite technical workshops, over 36 technical webinars and new member connect programs, 2020 was an eventful year for the section.
The year’s section activities started with an advanced workshop on “Achieving Scheduling Excellence and Accurate Prediction of Project Health Using Reliable Indicators” in Bengaluru and Chennai on 11th Jan 2020 and 8th Feb 2020 respectively. The program content ranged from generally accepted scheduling principles, schedule modelling techniques, schedule maintenance and case studies. The sessions were conducted by S. Sankar, EVP; S. Nair Bhagya, EVP; Srinath, PSP and S. Nambiappan, PSP. The programs were well received by the attendees from the industry and academia with several deep discussions on the subject during the delivery of the course.
Come March ’20, with an increase in the number of Covid-19 positive cases across the country, the government of India announced a 3-week nationwide lock down which was further extended till 31 May 2020. Though the lockdown hindered the sections scheduled on-site programs at Mumbai and Chennai during the period, the section task force quickly charted out a plan to conduct technical webinars through virtual platforms. The content of the webinar series was formulated with a focus on enabling young professionals to understand projects, opportunities in the construction industry, necessary skill development to provide them a platform to achieve career gains and how acquiring professional certifications will distinguish themselves in their highly competitive professions in the international job market. The series was kicked off by V. Sivakumar, President of the India Section, and 15 sessions (1 hour each) were conducted on a virtual platform covering the following topics.
Date | Topic | Presenter |
02-Apr-20 | EPC Projects: Introduction to students & budding professionals | Mr. Girish Dhavalikar, CCP, PMP |
03-Apr-20 | Beyond Project – Effective asset management | Mr. Girish Dhavalikar, CCP, PMP |
06-Apr-20 | EPC Engineering – Interface and management | Mr. G Sridhar |
08-Apr-20 | Planning & Scheduling – Part 1 | Mr. Srinath P, PSP |
10-Apr-20 | Planning & Scheduling – Part 2 | Ms. Bhagya S Nair, EVP |
13-Apr-20 | Planning & Scheduling – Part 3 | Mr. Srinath P, PSP |
15-Apr-20 | Introduction to Estimation and Costing | Mr. Ashutosh Nema, CCP, PMP, VMA |
17-Apr-20 | Integrated Program Management using EVM – Part 1 | Mr. Sankar S, EVP |
20-Apr-20 | Integrated Program Management using EVM – Part 2 | Ms. Bhagya S Nair, EVP |
22-Apr-20 | Trending & Forecasting CPM schedules | Mr. Philips Tharakan |
24-Apr-20 | Procurement Planning and Contract Management | Mr. Ramapriya, CCE |
27-Apr-20 | Introduction to Risk Management | Mr. Laurie Bowman, CCP |
29-Apr-20 | Resource Management | Mr. Girish Dhavalikar, CCP, PMP |
01-May-20 | Effective Communication | Mr. Philips Tharakan |
04-May-20 | Stakeholder Management | Mr. Madhu Pillai |
The response to the webinar series was overwhelming and the participation was from across the globe. The positive feedback received on the webinar series motivated the India Section to launch a knowledge sharing series titled “SCUBA” with the tagline of “Equipping With the Right Gears”. Synonymous to the title, the series emphasizes on deep and lifelong learning for professionals to attain superior performance. The launch of the series was done by S. Sankar, Director-Region 8, AACE International, with a topic titled, “Preparing for future and change; the constants”. The session threw light on the changing nature of work and firms and the urgent need for building “quality human capital” (for self, organizations and the nation at large). The thought-provoking session was attended by professionals from across various regions and age groups and led to several interesting deliberations and discussions.
Subsequently, the series continued with the following programs on a virtual platform conducted by certified AACE members of the India Section.
Date | Topic | Content |
10-July-20; 17-July-20; 24-July-20; 31-July-20; 21-Aug-20; 28-Aug-20; 04-Sep-20; 11-Sep-20 | Series 1: Cost estimating Skills – Fundamentals of Cost Engineering: Session 1 to 4 Speakers: Mr. Girish Dhavalikar, CCP PMP; and Mr. Ashutosh Nema, CCP PMP VMA | The Sessions covered cost engineering concepts, classifications, overview to estimation methodologies and processes and role of engineering in project success. The sessions were organized from 20:00 hrs to 21:00 hrs IST and had registrations from across countries in Middle East, South America and Asia. |
25-Sep-20; 02-Oct-20; 09-Oct-20; 16-Oct-20; 23-Oct-20 | Series 2:
Economic Analysis for Scientific Decision Making – The Missing Piece: Session 1 to 5 Speaker : Mr. Ramapriya, CCP | The session covered areas on financial and cashflow analysis, corporate investment decision making; statistics and probability concepts; risk management fundamentals and overview to total cost management. The virtual program was formulated to familiarize the economic and financial aspects of project and asset management in a succinct manner to act as foundation course for further development in the domain. |
Launch of Pragya and Tenka:
August 15, 2020 marked the 74th Independence Day of India. The day of national pride and honor was equally historical for the India Section. The day marked the launch of two key initiatives of the India Section namely, Pragya and Tenka.
Pragya, a Sanskrit word, refers to the highest and purest form of wisdom, intelligence, and understanding. Pragya is one hour knowledge sharing monthly lecture series by expert speakers within and outside India Section to share their knowledge and experience with the attendees. The following sessions were conducted under the Pragya series in 2020:
Date | Topic | Speaker |
15-Aug-20 (14:30 to 15:30 hrs IST) | Understanding the techniques to update a schedule | Mr. Paul Eastwood Harris, President, Australia Section, Director and President, Eastwood Harris Pty Ltd |
15-Aug-20 (15:30 to 16:30 hrs IST) | Lessons Learnt from Estimating Cost and Commercial Risks of Oil & Gas Decommissioning Projects | Ms. StephanieWan Ullok Project Services Consultant Secretary, Malaysia Section |
19-Sep-2020 (14:30 to 15:30 hrs IST) | “Advanced Techniques in Scheduling” | Dr. J. Uma Maheswari Associate Professor – Department of Civil Engineering Indian Institute of Technology, Delhi |
19-Sep-2020 (15:30 to 16:30 hrs IST) | “Risk Management” | Mr. Ashutosh Maurya Project Controls Head Large Aviation project Turner India |
17-Oct-20 (14:30 to 15:30 hrs IST) | “Cost Engineering –Project Management –From a Japanese Perspective” | Mr. YonezawaTetsuya President, Japan Section |
17-Oct-20 (15:30 to 16:30 hrs IST) | 2020/2021, How do I ride this tsunami!!! Provoking Project Professionals for out of the box thinking | Ms. BinduAmin Cost specialist, Husky Energy in Calgary Canada |
19-Dec-2020 (14:30 to 15:30 hrs IST) | Primer to Forensic Schedule Analysis | Mr. ManojKumar Pradhan Project Control Manager Odisha Power Generation Corporation |
19-Dec-2020 (15:30 to 16:30 hrs IST) | Project/Program Management Astrology Framework | Mr. S. Sankar Regional Director, Region 8, AACE International
Mr. S. Nambiappan Project Controls Head, Karle Infra Pvt Ltd; Treasurer –India Section |
Tenka, meaning “Ignition” in Japanese, is the Educational Institutions Outreach initiative of the India Section. The idea behind the initiative is to introduce the latest concepts, deeper aspects of cost engineering and project management to young and budding engineers. Various programs are planned to be conducted in reputed institutions across India as part of this initiative. The launch event was conducted by the august presence of Dr. Ilavalagan from Hindustan Institute of Technology and Science, India. The section currently has active student sections in the Indian Institute of Technology, Madras, and is working with several institutions for opening new student sections.
Members are the strength of any organization. In order to provide a platform for members to connect, the India Section organized a virtual member connect program: “Coffee with the India Section”. The program not only provides a virtual networking platform for the members of the section, but also an avenue for the section members to meet representatives from AACE International. The outreach programs conducted to date have been graced by the presence of invitees from AACE International.
- 26th July 2020: Mr. Jaimin R. Mehta, CCP PSP, VP Membership Board – International
- 27th Sep 2020: Ms. Marina Sominsky, PSP PMP EIT, Vice Chair Education Board
India Section – CII USA Virtual Symposium:
Out of all the programs the India Section conducted during the year 2020, the crowning accomplishment for the section was the Virtual Symposium on “Redefining the Capital Projects Business Model – Operating System 2.0”. The India section and Construction Industry Institute (CII) USA hosted a virtual symposium on 21st November 2020, in partnership with the premier institutes, Indian Institute of Technology Madras and Indian Institute of Technology Delhi; Indian School of Business, a leading business school of India and the Construction Industry Development Council (CIDC) of the Indian government. The highly interactive panel session addressed the future of project control and the goal of creating a healthy and robust engineering and construction industry.
The program started with a presentation by CII on how the capital projects are made more financially viable and sustainable using OS 2.0. How a dramatic reduction in time for planning, selecting, engaging, integrating and executing capital projects can take place with the help of OS 2.0. The session threw light on the research aimed at redefining new ways of doing business in the capital projects industry; the goal is to unlock value blocked by today’s engineering and construction practices. Dr. Stephen P. Mulva, Executive Director, CII; Mr. Stephen L. Cabano, Member – Board of Advisors, CII and Mr. Martin Darley, Opportunity Shaping Team Lead, Chevron Capital Projects. The audience, predominantly constituting of senior management from leading construction and allied industries in India actively participated in the session.
The presentation followed by a panel discussion constituting of Dr. Chandan Chowdhury, Senior Associate Dean, Indian School of Business, Dr. J. Uma Maheswari, Associate Professor, Indian Institute of Technology Delhi, Mr. Kalyan Vaidyanathan, Co-Founder and CEO, Nadhi Information Technologies Pvt. Ltd. and Dr. Madhu P. Pillai, symposium chair. The discussions covered the readiness of Indian industry to a similar change, required preparatory measures, skill development, understanding impact, if any, on prevailing project management systems. The Q&A session and panel discussion moderated by Dr. Ashwin Mahalingam, Professor, IIT Madras, was also highly appreciated by the attendees.
To summarize, the year 2020 was a year of initiatives and propulsion for the section and the section aspires to keep up the momentum in 2021!! The section is currently led by the following office bearers under the guidance of Mr. S. Sankar, Regional Director, Region 8: President – Mr. Sivakumar Venkatasubramanian; Secretary – Ms. Bhagya S. Nair, EVP; VP Technical – Ramapriya L. Valmiki, CCE; VP Marketing – Mr. Ashutosh Nema, CCP PMP VMA; and Treasurer – Mr. Nambiappan Sivasubramanian, EVP PSP.
Montreal Section
The Montreal Section, the first established Canadian Section, was founded in 1961. It has continued to thrive despite the worldwide pandemic in 2020 thanks to efforts of the Section Board led by President Hagire Emrani, Section members and friends and virtual meetings. While the Section members look forward to their return to face to face meetings one day, the sharing of meetings on platforms such as teams and zoom, opened up greater ability to reach others in remote locations and from across Canada and internationally. Streaming of our meetings is likely a feature to remain part of our format.
September 2020
The Montreal Section started the Fall 2020 with an annual traditional of more than a decade, the Highlights of the 2020 Virtual AACE Annual Conference & Expo. This theme was envisaged years ago to give to local members who could not attend a taste of the Annual Conference, encourage attendance for the following year, as well as reading of the papers and watching of the recordings. During the Live session, Beatrice Nasui from Hatch presented a few highlights of her paper, When is a Baseline Not a Baseline? Problems and Solutions of Using the P6 Baseline Function co-authored with Ron Winter. Susan Klucinskas from Revay summarized points from Introducing a New Critical Path Concept: The Most Labor Worker Hours Critical by Mostafa Abdel Razi. Les McMullan, Past President Montreal Section, discussed some points from Project Controls Reporting: having the Message Heard by Christopher P. Caddell, Charlene Sue de Beer and Nataliya Rutylo. A few thoughts on the benchmarking presentation, The Unit Price Process for Estimate Data Development by Peter R. Bredehoeft, Jr. and H. Lance Stephenson, rounded out the session, that was enjoyed by all. There were 65 online at this session including local members, friends and others from various locations, including France.
Presenters and members at the September 2020 Montreal Section virtual meeting included: top left, Susan Klucinskas, middle left, Rino Gosselin, bottom left, Beatrice Nasui, top right, Hagire Emrani, middle right, Chantal Germain, bottom right, Les McMullan.
Montreal Section speaker, Beatrice Nasui, showing some highlights of her presentation.
October 2020
In October 2020, the Montreal Section had the privilege of hearing a presentation entitled, Project Leadership : How to Balance Vertical and Horizontal Leadership in Management from guest speaker Natalie Drouin, Ph.D, MBA, LLB, Executive Director of KHEOPs, an international research consortium on the governance of large Infrastructure projects. Natalie is also a professor at the Department of Management and Technology at the Université du Québec à Montréal (UQAM) and the Chief Editor of the International Journal of Managing Projects in Business.
The presentation, based on a research project led by an international team including Prof. Drouin, discussed the nature of the balance between leadership on the personal level (vertical leadership) and leadership on a team level (horizontal leadership), quantified the impact of the two types of leaderships on the success of a project, and actual situations that demonstrated the balance between vertical and horizontal leadership.
Montreal Section guest speaker, Natalie Drouin, executive director of KHEOPS.
November 2020
Maged Abdelsayed, P.Eng. M. Eng. discussed the impact of Covid-19 on Construction Projects in a presentation to the Montreal Section in November 2020.
In November 2020, Maged Abdelsayed, P.Eng., M. Eng., a senior partner at Deloitte, Capital Projects, joined the Montreal Section with a very topical subject entitled, COVID-19: Impacts on Construction Projects for Owners and Contractors. Maged has over 30 years of experience in the construction industry, in project and site management for consulting and engineering firms, as well as for large contractors and has provided expert testimony, in the areas of delay, productivity and the impact of changes on the execution of the work. He also served the Montreal Section as a Director for close to 10 years. Covid-19 has indeed had a significant impact on construction activities since the spring of 2020 and been an industry focus. Mr. Abdelsayed noted that these impacts are likely to be felt well into 2021, as owners, contractors, and suppliers grapple with its effects. Many projects have seen work stoppages, delays, and slowdowns as a result of the pandemic. Owners have been forced to delay the capital projects and continue to factor Covid-19 into their strategic and operational decision-making processes. The presentation included a review of the Covid-19 impacts on construction projects in terms of direct labor and indirect labor and expenses based on industry feedback, how to document Covid-19 impacts on the projects, how to measure loss of productivity caused by the new protocols, contractual clauses related to the pandemic, as well as schedule impacts and how to assess them using industry standards apart from other causes of delays. The virtual meeting attracted 84 persons hailing from Vancouver, Manitoba, Montreal, Quebec City, Halifax and elsewhere across Canada.
Norway Section
Shown above are speakers from the November 2020 Norwegian Sections 7th annual Conference on Cost Efficiency. Shown from left to right are Magne Lilleland-Olsen, director Metier OEC; Per Arne Fredriksen, Norwegian Railway Directorate; Øyvind Moshagen, Director Nye Veier; Jan Bakken, Director Metier OEC; Matthew Ingham, Adv. Associate Project Analyst IPA; and Ewan Carmichael, Associate Director, PF/T&T Energy UK.
The Norwegian Section hosted its 7th annual conference November 19, 2020. Due to COVID-19 restrictions, this was the first digital conference that the Norway Section sponsored. An impressive audience counting to 200 participants showed up for the digital event. The Norway Section aims to strengthen the skills and knowledge within cost estimation, cost control and planning in Norway. These annual conferences are one of the main pillars in achieving this – together with other activities like courses, certification workshops and other networking events. This year’s main topic was “Cost Efficiency” – where the main goal was to improve knowledge and awareness on cost and value in projects. The conference consisted of presentation with limited time available for questions and discussion.
The conference opened with an introduction by Section President Lars Stenberg Berg of Metier OEC AS. The first presentation held by Magne Lilleland-Olsen, of Metier OEC, presenting “Value driven project development.” The next presentation given by Per Arne Fredriksen, of Norwegian Railway Directorate, who presented “Cost estimation in early phase.” Followed by Øyvind Moshagen (Nye Veier) and Jan Bakken (Metier OEC), presenting “Optimization of projects from NTP to project execution.” The next presentation given by Matthew Ingham of Independent Project Analysis (IPA), talking about “State of Industry and Drivers of Cost-Effective Project Delivery.” And then finally, Ewan Carmichael, of Performance Forum/Turner & Townsend, gave a presentation of “How to improve the performance of your project.” The event was very successful, and the Norway Section hopes they can gather people and raise awareness of the project control efficiency and project values in Norway. The presentations were excellent examples of how important skills and knowledge in cost engineering is for project success and showed examples on how it is done in projects. We are sure several of the lessons learned during the presentations will find their way to other companies and organizations, as well as to the universities teaching project management. This will be of great benefit to the Norwegian society at large, both in the short and long term. Thanks to everyone who contributed and helped making this day a success!
Seattle Section
The Seattle Section conducted its monthly virtual meeting on Dec 17, 2020. During presentation, the Port of Seattle’s diversity strategy and goals on public contracts and within internal departments were shared with members. The Section and the Port of Seattle agree that diversity, equity and inclusion will add value to teams and produce excellent results.
Shown above participating in the Seattle Section’s December 2020 virtual section meeting were: Norman Melendres, Jianhao Zheng, Kamran Hazini, Coleman Lawrence, Payman Shirpay, Steven Li, Robyn Coates, Joah Morton, Dylan Hirsch, Kong Roger, Mark Shelton, John Haynes, Dale Clark, and Abdullah Akpinar. Not shown are: Christina Burdett, Hanif Khan, Yosef Fekadu, and Jim Ogata.
Toronto Section
Guest Speaker Jim Morrison presenting the topic: Introduction to Value Management and Value Studies.
Part of the audience, engaging and interacting with the guest speaker.
Members and friends of the AACE Toronto section enjoying the virtual social event.
The Toronto section teamed up with five other AACE sections in North America, including : Atlanta, North Florida, Greater Miami , Bruce Power, and the National Capital Section, to deliver a joint virtual technical session on Tuesday, November 17, 2020. Guest speaker Jim Morrison, CCP, a fellow of AACE and the president of Value Management Consulting, presented an introduction to value management and value studies followed by an engaging discussion with the audience. The event was hosted by the Atlanta Section and attended by more than +100 members and guests from all across North America. The success of the session provided the participating sections with the foundation to do more collaborations across the various sections in 2021.
On December 10, 2020, The Toronto Section sponsored their annual social holiday event to celebrate the holiday season and the end of a very challenging year. Members and friends of the Toronto Section enjoyed casual conversations with each other and shared their wishes for a festive season and a happy new year. A raffle draw took place at the end of the event and the winner walked out with a $50 Amazon Card.
United Arab Emirates Section (UAE)
Lokitha Karavita presenting a webinar on ‘Efficient Procurement Techniques (Selection by Two-Stage Tendering and EPC Approach)’ on 01 November 2020 at the UAE Section meeting.
The UAE Section continued offering free webinars for its members and non-members during the months of November and December of 2020. The UAE Section organized two webinars, its fifth and sixth technical events for the year 2020-21, in November 2020. The first webinar in November was conducted on 01 November 2020 on the topic, “Efficient Procurement Techniques (Selection by Two-Stage Tendering and EPC Approach)”, which was presented by Lokitha Karavita, BSc(QS) Hons, MSc(PM), AIQSSL, MAIQS, CQS, MRICS, and the second webinar was conducted on 17 November 2020 on the topic, “The Detail in Disruption (2020 Update)”, which was presented by Ian Maund, BSc (1st Hons) MSc. MRICS FCIOB, Michael Davies, BSc (Hons) MRICS MCIArb MCABE, and Linus Dunn-Backstrom, BSc (Hons). The seventh technical event for the year 2020-21 was conducted on 15 December 2020 on the topic “The Concept of Duress” and presented by Ian Maund, BSc (1st Hons) MSc MRICS FCIOB. All the three webinars were attended by more than 100 attendees from across the globe and all the feedbacks received from them were encouraging. The Board of Directors of the UAE Section wish all the AACE International members a happy, wonderful, and blissful New Year 2021!
Ian Maund, Michael Davies, and Linus Dunn-Backstrom presenting the webinar on ‘The Detail in Disruption (2020 Update)’ on 17 November 2020 at the UAE Section meeting.
Ian Maund presenting the webinar on ‘The Concept of Duress’ on 15 December 2020 at the UAE Section meeting.
Good to see that some of these sections are having a great year.