Last month, the Fiji Government in partnership with the Asian Development Bank (ADB), the Australian Government and the World Bank, hosted the inaugural Pacific Infrastructure Business Opportunities Seminar in Nadi for international, regional and local contractors and consultants interested in contributing to the infrastructure development activities in the Pacific.

The event attracted more than 400 participants who learnt first-hand what procurement opportunities there were in transport, energy, water, ICT, health and education infrastructure sectors across 14 Pacific island countries.

The Fiji Times spoke to ADB’s Sydney-based director of ADB’s Procurement, Portfolio, and Financial Management Department Galiya Ismakova on some of the key takeaways.

FT: What was the aim of this inaugural event?

Ms Ismakova: The aim of the event was to increase the quality of infrastructure procurement through increased competition, improved bid submissions and enhanced partnership across private sector.

This was done through presenting procurement opportunities across 14 Pacific island countries, including Fiji, which are funded by the ADB, the World Bank, Government of Australia including through Australian Infrastructure Financing Facility for the Pacific (AIFFP), Government of New Zealand, Japan International Cooperation Agency (JICA) and the European Union through the European Investment Bank.

We also had presenting Government funded opportunities, not those that are funded by development partners but are funded by the governments, informing private sector on the shift from the lowest evaluated substantially responsive bid to use of merit point based criteria.

So the difference: lowest evaluated substantially responsive bid is that anyone passing the minimum quality threshold is getting considered and then they are awarded on the lowest price. We are moving from this methodology to the methodology that differentiates quality. That allows the government to choose better quality for better outcomes.

We also had facilitated networking opportunities. Over 400 people were present at the event. These people obviously talk to each other, had some coffee breaks, formed some partnerships.

And we also discussed challenges and opportunities of working in the Pacific, including for example, challenges of insurance coverage. So all in all, and I have been attending and facilitating these types of events for the past 20 years, this was the best event.

FT: How was that?

Ms Ismakova: Because normally it is a one way street event. Normally we just present the opportunities that are funded by the ADB. In this one, the governments were saying “we are in charge” and we present the different opportunities, including government funded opportunities. Sometimes you wouldn’t expect that a reasonably small country would have $100m in procurement opportunities. But when you hear about it, you understand it’s not a very small market. There is a point of actually looking at these opportunities and participating. By consolidating, aggregating all these opportunities into the presentations of the governments. So each of the Pacific government was saying: this is our pipeline, this is where we want you to come and bid. And this was very unique and done only for the first time.

 

FT: What were some infrastructure needs presented?

Ms Ismakova: Roads, airports, water supply and sanitation, court houses…there were multiples of different types of infrastructure from small to large.

FT: Value of procurement needs for these projects?

Ms Ismakova: I cannot confirm this number right now but it’s in the billions. The ADB alone has $1.4b mostly for infrastructure. So you would understand the amount of opportunities is actually very large so we are talking probably at the very minimum $2b, probably more. That’s for 14 countries. The average project time for the ADB is between five to seven years. But what I was seeing in the presentations was mostly the pipeline presented for the next two to three years. What is very important is that we are planning to make public the recordings of all sessions. So that people who missed on this opportunity to attend will still be able to see what was presented.

FT: Who were the primary audience for the event?

Ms Ismakova: The primary audience is the private sector. So, private sector participants such as consultants, contractors, suppliers and service providers. These ranged from reasonably small companies that are able to perform only, let’s put it this way, small scope of works or limited scope of consulting services towards large companies including some that operate across national borders.

FT: What opportunities are there for Fijian consultants and firms with respect to ADB projects?

Ms Ismakova: Well, Fiji is regional leader in both your national infrastructure which underpins its role in the Pacific economy. It’s practically a hub. And Fiji Government is actually leading the agenda on mainstreaming sustainability objectives, including commitment to quality and developing local talents through increased local contents. And ADB is very supportive of this agenda and we will be using flexibility of ADB procurement framework to support the Government in this commitment. In Fiji you have a lot of talents so what is happening is that in the Pacific, sometimes we have lack of skills in certain locations and some of the international consultants may be missing the local knowledge and local understanding of Pacific background. And this is where Fijian consultants and consultant firms perhaps have an ability to bid not only for the projects in Fiji but also across the region. So, because they have this understanding of Pacific context and they might be able to actually offer good quality and value for money for their Pacific neighbours.

FT: Given the isolation and small size of Pacific economies, are there any consideration of aggregating demands and centralising supply of materials from, say, Fiji, given its central location and connectivity capability?

Ms Ismakova: We are talking about aggregating some demands but at this time we are not talking about centralising the supply. We are talking now about the use of something called framework agreement.

This is where companies can be pre-qualified for a type of work that they can do in one country or maybe across the region. In effect, this is about aggregating demand and it’s also about assuring quality and in the long run, it’s also about decreasing the time on which the implementation starts.

So we are working on several possibilities for the frameworks and this is a boost for consulting services and also for contractors.

FT: There’s strong emphasis on “quality infrastructure”. Specifically what would qualify as a “quality infrastructure”?

Ms Ismakova: What we mean by that is infrastructure that meets the highest international quality standards and it being fit for purpose for country context. What it also means is since Pacific countries are disproportionately affected by climate change, we would need to make sure that infrastructure is future-proof and resilient.

So, things such as flooding, typhoons, tropical storms, these are the factors that we need to take into account in designing and delivering the infrastructure. It also means that we need to maximise value for money, local participation including operation and maintenance. We need to make sure that whatever is built is built to the specifications that allow good maintenance of the asset. And that local capabilities exist to maintain this infrastructure. That’s why we are talking about local talents, partnerships and practically making sure that infrastructure is not just built for people, but maintained by people and they feel part of the process in designing, delivering, using and maintaining. We’re also looking at reducing lifecycle asset costs and overall, empowering economic development.

FT: What were some significant achievements of this event?

Ms Ismakova: To me, the immediate achievement is this sense of being involved, of being listened to, the increased visibility of the public procurement opportunities in the Pacific and enhanced cooperation with Pacific governments and development partners.

Long term expected impact is increased bidder participation in procurement opportunities, improved quality of bid submissions because we also had a seminar about how do you improve your bids, how do you understand what is required of you, how do you navigate complexities and at the end of the day, better quality outcomes and quality infrastructure that is fit for purpose for meeting the needs of Pacific people. Overall, this is the first ever inaugural event and hopefully not the last.

So a special thanks to the Government of Fiji, Fiji Procurement office were an absolutely gracious hosts.

It was such a pleasure to be welcomed to Fiji and to experience Fijian hospitality. Also, without the contribution and cooperation of our other development partners such as DFAT Australia, AIFFP, MFAT New Zealand, US Commercial Services, JICA, European Investment Bank, World Bank, this would not have been possible. And of course, special thanks to the 14 Pacific governments and their representatives. This was an absolutely unique opportunity to present and I would say it set a high benchmark for future events.