CICA working groups gather multidisciplinary international experts from our construction companies to discuss specific topics and issues. CICA regularly invites guests to participate to CICA works and make presentations on a particular subject be it through informal exchanges or on the occasion of round tables organized either by CICA or a member of CICA. The contents of the working groups discussions are regularly shared within the CICA network.

• Long-term financing of infrastructure
• Public-Private Partnerships
• Multilateral Development Banks
• Well Prepared Project
• Sustainable Construction
• Medium-Sized Companies
• Construction 4.0
• Construction Contracts
• Anti-Corruption and Integrity

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 working group on PPP is managed by Fernando LAGO, Strategic Thinking Area Director at the Argentine Chamber of Construction.
The group intends to:
• disseminate knowledge about the advantages and the minimum conditions to be met for a successful use of PPPs, to governments and enterprises;
• collect and disseminate new PPP regulations, covering inter alia improvement of institutional and legal framework to facilitate the use of the PPPs schemes;
• collect and disseminate “lessons learned”, around the world;
• deliver position papers to address the concerns and operational proposals of the construction sector in these regards.

The working group is particularly attentive to the following aspects:
• Capacity-Building;
• Lessons learned;
• PPP Tool-kit and links to MDBs and other Institutions resources;
• Social Economic Impact Measurement and in depth evaluation of a Project, in order to pay attention to the new « People First PPPs » UN policy and net positive/negative externality provided;
• Lobby with national and subnational governments, communities and stakeholders;
• Innovation.

The working group on Multilateral Development Banks, chaired by Richard Touroude, SEFI Director General, mainly focuses on following up the evolutions related to Procurement policies; Environmental, Social, Health and Safety (ESHS) requirements; capacity strengthening; Value for Money decision-making; International Competitive Bidding; and Integrity and fight against corruption.
CICA organizes construction sector missions to MDBs headquarters as well as regular meetings with Heads of Procurement. Indeed, since 2005, CICA, together with the European International Contractors (EIC) and the International Federation of Consulting Engineers (FIDIC), has been a partner in the successive consultative working groups set up by the World Bank in the context of its Procurement Reform.

This working group is managed by Michel DEMARRE, former SEFI Director General, Vice-president of the Europe – International Commission of the French Federation of Public Works (FNTP), European International Contractors (EIC) Past President.

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 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 World Bank’s 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 as well as 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 Permanent International Association of Road Congresses (PIARC).

This working group on Sustainable Construction is managed by Carlos Bascou, member of the Chilean Construction Chamber. Representatives from Paris, France, Brazil, Peru and Chile participate constantly in the discussion of the topics that CICA considers relevant for better environmental conditions in the construction industry.

This working group was launched when CICA joined the Global Alliance for Building and Construction (GABC) during the Buildings Day in the margins of COP 21 in Paris on December 3rd, 2015. The main goal is to facilitate the mobilization of ambitious levels of international resources for efficient local operational solutions, aligning existing initiatives, commitments and programs to achieve greater scale, and catalyzing greater pace and impact of climate action in the buildings and construction sector.

The Sustainable Construction group is following up the works led by the Global Alliance for Building and Construction (GABC), the B20, the European Construction Industry Federation (FIEC), the International Initiative for Sustainable Built Environment (IISBE), the Inter-American Federation of the Construction Industry (FIIC), the Sustainable Infrastructure Foundation (SOURCE platform), FIDIC and all the stakeholders that aim at a high level of sustainability and work directly and indirectly with CICA.

The working group is particularly attentive to the following aspects:
– Built Environment
– Urban Development
– New Buildings
– Energy
– Certifications

This working group on Medium Companies is managed by Jose Carlos Martins, President of CBIC (Brazil, FIIC).
The group elaborates recommendations for a better support and accompanying of the medium-sized contractors. The group also looks at capacity strengthening actions delivered by International Organizations, MDBs and DFIs to improve medium-sized companies’ management, financing capacities and financial structure. The strengthening of the local private sector is at the centre of the reflections which also include the reinforcement of the local workforce through contractual training during the execution of the projects financed by the MDBs and DFIs.

The working group on Construction 4.0 is chaired by Jean-Louis Marchand, former FIEC President. This group was introduced and approved at the General Assembly in Paris, November 6, 2018.

The main objectives of the group are to:
– Raise awareness on the activities of the construction sector (building & infrastructure) and especially the role of contractors (contractors as assemblers);
– Clarify the added value of CICA for the construction industry;
– Strategic watch: Be aware of what is happening in the construction sector at worldwide level in the area of Construction 4.0;
– Widen representativeness and scope in themes and countries (be aware of approaches and perceptions of other countries);
– Create a position paper (4 to 8 pages) on how digital and new technologies impact the construction sector (for the next General Assembly in Paris).

The working group on Construction Contracts is chaired by the Chilean lawyer Alex Wagemann. It was introduced by the General Assembly in Paris, November 6, 2018. This working group focuses on improving the contractual conditions of the engineering and construction standards with a special focus on FIDIC.

Although the contracting standards of engineering and construction 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, with a special focus on the FIDIC Rainbow Suite;
– 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.