A new Cost Engineering Development Group established

The overall purpose of the the group is to contribute to the development to the development of the Cost Engineering Professions in Denmark. That implies a strengthening of the professional skills and the dissemination of the knowledge of the content of cost engineering.

The tasks of the working group are:

• Exchange of experiences and skills within the group and between the group and external persons / organisations;
• Development and disseminations of told and methods concerning cost engineering for the benefit of project management;
• Take the initiative in planning meetings and seminars on cost engineering, including inviting international and national speakers to these meetings;
• Planning and co-ordination of participation in external events;
• Development and establishment of cost engineering education and certification of cost engineering; and
• Co-operation with other groups, national and international organisations

The group is open to new members, and we would also like to establish contact with similiar groups abroad. If you are interested please contact Carsten Wredstrom.

Nordnet 2005 Conference - 27-28 October

Cost engineerng subjects will included in tracks conducted in both Scandinavian and English. Please visit http://www.projektforeningen.dk for further details.

The annual ICEC Region 2 meeting will be held in conjunction with this conference on Saturday 29 October 2005. For further details contact ICEC Region 2 Director, Carsten Wredstrom

Organisation of the Quantity Surveying Division

The Quantity Surveying Division is organized under the umbrella of the Ghana Institution of Surveyors, which has three (3) Division namely:

• Quantity Surveying Division
• General Practice Division (Valuation)
• Land Surveying Division

The Division is semi-autonomous as it has its own Executive and hold monthly Meetings at which decisions, which regulate Quantity Surveying Practice in the country, are made. However, these decisions when made have to be ratified by the Council of the Ghana Institution of Surveyors of which the Division is currently represented by six (6) Members and holds its Senior Vice Presidency.

The current Executive Members of the Division are:

• Mr. K. H. Osei-Asante (F) - Chairman;
• Mr. D. K. Kyere (F) - Vice Chairman;
• Mr. Ben B. Annan (PA) - Secretary; and
• Mr. J. A. Koranteng (PA) - Treasurer.

The Executive is assisted by six (6) standing Sub-Committees namely:

1. Education and Membership;
2. Members and Public Affairs;
3. Continuing Professional Development;
4. Research and Development, and
5. Finance.

Click here to view a current list Council Members of the GhIS.

Education and admission procedures

Entry to the Q. S. Division of the Institution is via three (3) routes:

• University Graduate Route;
• Polytechnic Graduate Route; and
• Matured Candidate Route.

The University Graduate takes structured Examinations after serving Probationership in an approved office for a minimum of two (2) years.

The Polytechnic Graduate initially is admitted as a Technician Member on passing an interview after having served a minimum of a two-year probationership. They may then graduate into the Professional Class, on taking further Examinations of the Division.

The Matured Candidate route relates to candidates with vast experience in Quantity Surveying Practice and of not less then forty-five (45) years hours in their offices and thereafter interviewed.

Notwithstanding routes, the Division grants exemptions, subject to interviews, to Candidates with certain Diplomas i.e. RICS, NIQS etc on the basis of reciprocity.

It is intended that with standardization and harmonization of syllabi, certification and accreditation under ICEC & AAQS umbrella, such exemptions may be extended to other sister Professional Associations and Societies.

Current Membership

The current Membership of the Division stands at:

Fellows	35
Professional Associates	153
Surveying Technicians	52
Total	240

Practising firms

Currently, there are fifty-two (52) Firms practising Quantity Surveying in Ghana and recognized by the Ghana Institution of Surveyors’ Council.

CPD Activities

The Division holds yearly Seminars and Workshops for its Members where topical issues are discussed. The 2004 Seminar and Workshop was on the “Public Procurement Law (Act 663): A Wheel for Transparency Accountability and Fair Competition in the Construction Industry. Four (4) Papers were presented besides the Keynote Address and a Workshop on the “Role of GhIS to ensure the efficient implementation of the Laws on Financial Administration” was held.

The communiqué / recommendations made at the seminar / workshop has been sent to the Public Procurement Board.

The GhIS will host the 2006 FIG Africa Regional Meeting in February, 2006 and it is intended that the ICEC Africa Regional Meeting is held in Accra to reduce costs, using the MOU with the FIG as basis.

In addition to this, Quantity Luncheon Meetings are also organized for Members to discuss topical practice issues and attending other Divisions’ Workshops, Seminars and Luncheon Meetings.

Publications

The Division publishes quarterly News magazines on it activities. Papers presented by its members and other allied professionals are published in them.

Future electronic copies will be made available for publication on ICEC Website with your kind permission.

Other activities

The Division was involved with other stakeholders in the drafting of the Procurement Act for Ghana. It is also holding discussions with the Contractors Associations of Ghana to review the Ghana Government Conditions of Contract, which is widely used and understood in the country.

The Division was involved in the drafting of Survey Council Bill to ensure in the regulation of the practice of Surveying in Ghana.

GhIS AGM & Presidential Ball

The 36th Annual General Meeting (AGM) with a Presidential Lecture and Ball of the Institution took place on 11th and 12th February, 2005 at the Osu Presbyterian Hall and Aviation Social Centre, Accra respectively. The Vice-Chancellor of the Kwame Nkrumah University of Science and Technology was the Guest of Honour, where Ten (10) Professional Associates and eight (8) Technicians were admitted to the Roll of the Q. S. Division.

Number of Members by Category (as of 1 December 2004)

Seminar/Conferences/Congresses

• CPD one day Seminar - 19 August 2004;
• IQSK Golf Tournament - 17 September 2004;
• 10th Anniversary Dinner Dance - 3 December 2004;
• Various Industrial visits to manufacturing companies; and
• Luncheons with guest speakers.

Scheduled Future Seminar/Conferences/Congresses

• Annual General Meeting - 19 May 2005;
• Fund-raising Gold Tournament - 8 July 2005;
• CPD Seminar - 6 October 2005; and
• Annual Dinner Dance - December 2005.

Potential Future Events Under Consideration

• Major conference on Cost Information Data Center

New Initiatives/Innovations

Important New Publications

• IQSK Quarterly Journal; and
• Cost Handbook – Cost Data Centre.

Issues where cooperation with other member organizations are on-going desirable

• Working towards E. Africa region technical and profession co-operation.

*This report has been extracted from the IQSK Report to the 2005 ICEC Region 3, Annual Meeting.

Congresses & Symposia:

• The 11th General Meeting of JSCPE - The 11th General Meeting was held in Ashiya Citizen Center on February 25, 2005. The General Meeting and Special Lecture were done held at the same time;
• The Society of Chemical engineers- Japan (SCEJ)- SIS Sectional Committee, Cost Engineering Subcommittee and JSCPE Cooperation Training Camp - June 2005;
• The 38th Fall Meeting of SCEJ-Cost Engineering Subcommittee - September 2005; and
• 10th Fall Meeting of JSCPE, November 2005

New Officers Election

We have conducted the election of 2006 – 20074 Officers on 25 February 2005. The new officers and structure of JSCPE are outlined in the attached organisation chart.

Topics

Discussions have been held of how students and JSPCE members can acquire qualifications in Japan. Currently the Certified Cost Engineer qualification of AACE International and the Project Management Professional qualification of the Project Management Institute are available. JSCPE is also considering the possibility of conducting examinations for cost engineering certification.

Yoshimi Saito (President Director of JSCPE) plans to publish a guidebook with Cost Engineer's Qualification Authorization System of Item C in 2005.

Nigerian Institute of Quantity Surveyors (NIQS)

NIQS Council Election

The Nigerian Institute of Quantity Surveyors 21st Biennial Conference and General Meeting was held at Premier Hotel, Ibadan (the capital of the state of Oyo) from Wednesday 24 November to Saturday 27 November 2004. At this meeting the following were elected / coopted to run the affairs of the Institute for a period of two years:

New constitution

A new constitution was adopted by the Institute at the Conference / General Meeting.

The 3rd Triennial General Assembly

The 3rd Triennial General Assembly, jointly organised by NIQS, AAQS and ICEC was hosted by Nigeria at the Rockview Hotel II, Abuja, Nigeria. The theme was "New Economic Partnership for African Development (NEPAD), Challenges for the built-environment professionals".

The conference has the following sub-themes:

• Towards an African Economic Union;
• Unlocking the potentials in NEPAD;
• The role of African Quantity Surveyors in achievement of the NEPAD agenda;
• The imperatives of a uniform standard in quantity surveying practice in Africa;
• Quantity surveying education education and training in Africa;
• Quantity Surveying practice across Africa;
1. Ghanaian experience;
2. Nigerian experience;
3. South African experience; and the
4. Kenyan experience;
• Review of contracting business in African countries;
• Partnering government in professional practice development in Africa
• Putting the quanity surveying at the front-end of the development process; and
• Quantity surveying and engineering projects in Africa.

Some highlights from the Norwegian PM-scene

Membership and local chapters

NFP has close to 600 members.

Local chapters in Oslo, Stavanger, Trondheim and Telemark are active in promoting project management in their communities. Member meetings attract typically some 15-20 people. Effort is being put into increasing the number of local chapters.

AACEI Norway

The local chapter of AACEI is counting some 45 members, mainly from the large engineering companies and oil & gas companies in Norway. Their main focus is on cost engineering and cost estimating. The activity is reduced compared to the level 3-5 years ago.

NSP

The Norwegian Centre for Project Management (NSP), established in spring 2000, continues to play an important role in developing Norwegian PM-competencies further. So far 26 companies and organisations have joined NSP. NSP has held several seminars on different aspects of PM. NSP is also funding PM-research. The following research projects are currently in progress:

• Organizational Challenges in Digitized Value Chains;
• Risk Management;
• Public Private Partnership in Construction Projects;
• Teams and Team Development in Projects;
• Knowledge Management in Projects;
• Risk Management as a Learning Arena; and
• In addition NSP is participating in Concept, a major research program financed by the Royal Department of Finance, Norway.

Certification

Since 1998 PMI’s certification of project management knowledge (PMP) has been offered in Norway. Some 300 persons have been PMP-certified in Norway, up from some 175 in 2004. A local Norwegian PMI chapter in Oslo was founded in 2000 and has currently more than 330 members. Several candidates are in the pipeline for PMP-test in April and November 2005. A local PMI chapter in Bergen has recently been officially chartered by PMI. They are also offering PMP-certification in 2005.

The CCE certification is not more progressing. Of the some 40 persons that have been certified in Norway so far, most have not maintained their certification.

IPMA certification is also offered in Norway. The first batch of candidates has been certified. NFP is the driving force with excellent support from the Danish PM association.

Competence baseline

The Scandinavian Competence Baseline on Project Management is completed and is ready for sale. This is a joint effort between the national project management associations in Denmark, Sweden and Norway, Denmark being in lead.

Publications

NFP’s Norwegian magazine “Prosjektledelse” (Project Management) continues with two issues yearly, each with 1000 copies. The magazine continues at a high professional level encompassing articles from many application areas of project management. The magazine continues to be THE arena for the Norwegian PM-society.

NFPs new book on Project Management, in very handy format, has sold in more than 1200 copies.

The PMBOK® Guide, translated into the Norwegian language, has been a success, recognized and used in several companies and student PM-training programs. 1000 copies have been sold.

Congresses/seminars

NSP has a workshop on knowledge management in March.

NFP yearly conference “The frontiers of project management” is due in May. The yearly NSP conference “Project 2005” is due in September. These are main events and draw regularly 200-300 participants each.

Education

Several project management education programs are in progress on Norwegian universities and business schools. The project management programs continue to be among the most popular programs.

Håvard O.Skaldebø
ICEC Delegate, NFP

Project Management Austria (PMA)

Review 04 - Preview 05

2004 was a successful year for PROJEKT MANAGEMENT AUSTRIA (pma) in many respects: about 700 new certified project managers, over 100 new members and about 700 guests at events organized by the Austrian member association of IPMA really are a satisfying reason to start the new year highly motivated!

With more than 2.000 certified project managers, Austria now is on the 3rd position of the international ranking of certifying countries (behind China and Germany). About 700 PM-professionals (66 level B, 300 level C and 314 level D) have proven their knowledge and experience by becoming certified Project Managers. Mentioning the comparatively small population of Austria, this probably is the most efficient way of fulfilling the purpose of the association - promoting Project Management as a profession!

Being an interesting platform for members and all others persons interested in Project Management, pma will continue its attractive offer of services and events. Just to mention one event – pma focus 2005 will take place September 21st and 22nd, 2005 and cover the interesting topic of “Linie.Macht.Projekte.”, to be translated as “Line.Power.Projects.” – if you´re interested in the area of conflict between line-organisation and project management, please refer to out homepage for more details and register soon!

In January pma has introduced a new version of “pm baseline”, the national competence baseline, which was revised and updated. The focus of the new version is on offering the competence baseline for hands-on deployment but also assuring the high level of quality in certification.

Contact: PROJEKT MANAGEMENT AUSTRIA, Palais Schlick, Tuerkenstraße 25/2/21, A-1090 Vienna, Tel.: +43 (1) 319 29 21, Fax: +43 (1) 319 29 21 - 29, Email: office@p-m-a.at. Internet: http://www.p-m-a.at