ATEC News

With Graham Poon

Newsletter No. 3, September 08

Hello Everyone,

Tropical Expertise Website

At the last seminar on Sept 11, Advance Cairns announced the launch of the vastly upgraded and interactive Tropical Expertise website at http://www.australiantropicalexpertise.com.au

This will be a major support to this DTRDI-funded project to help you source and win opportunities in the four major areas of Tropical Health, Environment, Agribusiness and Tropical Living. Through this website, you will be able to:

• Source business opportunities relevant to your organisation in “Opportunities and Tenders”
• Allow project proponents or potential project partners to find you
• Update your database listing
• Contribute relevant information to the “Media Centre” to publicise your activities
• Communicate with other participants in the Australian Tropical Expertise Consortium

 Please promote this website to your colleagues. The creation of networks and the building of critical mass to bid for projects will be facilitated through active participation via the website with benefits for all!

 Don’t Miss This Event:

Tropical Expertise – Business Matching for Global Opportunities Expo, Nov 7th, 08

 Many overseas projects or whole programmes are handled by the large firms called “Australian Managing Contractors” (AMC’s) or other organisations who look for sub-contractors. Advance Cairns, with support from the Dept. of Tourism, Regional Development and Industry, will be holding an event on Nov 7th to introduce you to firms who may be interested in utilising YOUR services in projects. These firms will talk about the types of capabilities they are looking for and give you practical hints about getting involved in projects. Then you will be able to meet one-on-one with them to discuss your CV or your business’s capabilities for future projects with them.

 Just remember, they are always looking for project partners or sub-contractors so they will be keen to talk to you. This event will save you a lot time in searching for the “right person to talk to” and may give you a great short-cut to potential project opportunities.

To register your interest for this event, contact Dianne Vogel at Advance Cairns on (07) 4031 3999 or e-mail info@australiantropicalexpertise.com

Mentors Program (Win-Win!) 

Very often, individuals would like to be engaged with aid/development projects. However a CV with past project experience is usually necessary. We are developing a formal database of people who would like to offer their services to bidding firms to be engaged with projects on a “work experience” mentoring basis. This will allow the development of your CV with high-level international work. If you would like to be involved by either offering your services or would be interested in using these services, please contact Graham Poon at graham@kleinhardt.com.au or phone (07) 4040-7100.

 Upcoming Seminars and Events: 

• Business Matching Event: Cairns, November 7th 2008, organised by Advance Cairns. The larger contractors will be invited to Cairns to meet with those who are interested in working on projects with them. Set appointment times will be arranged beforehand. The perfect opportunity for you or your organisation to highlight your capabilities face to face!
• Trade Mission to Asian Development Bank, Manila, proposed April 2009. Seminars by ADB officers and appointments with project officers will be made. Arrangements will be made in conjunction with Austrade Manila. The cost of this event may be a qualifying expenditure under Austrade’s Export Market Development Grant scheme.
• Planned Trade Mission to AusAID, ACIAR, Australian Managing Contractors in Brisbane/Canberra, projected timing Feb-March 2009 (further details available soon)

 The One-minute Class:

Can I still get involved in a project even if I was not chosen for the shortlist after submitting an Expression of Interest (EOI)?

The short answer is a possible “Yes!” How do I do that?

Contact the short-listed firms for possible inclusion in their project. Often the firms chosen are selected for their project management ability and not necessarily because they put forward their final team yet. After being short-listed, they will then be asked for team members for their final tender. You can make an approach at this stage! Short-listings are often made public e.g for ADB, have a look at:

http://www.adb.org/Documents/ADBBO/ta-current.asp

Speak to the project officer. Sometimes they may suggest firms that may be looking for your abilities.

Here are some opportunities that may interest you: 

Asian Development Bank:

Project Name: HIV/AIDS Prevention in ADB Infrastructure Projects and the Mining Sector in Mongolia

http://www.adb.org/Documents/ADBBO/AOTA/42027012.ASP

Project Impact: Prevention of the spread of HIV associated with the major infrastructure development, particularly in road, transport, and mining sectors in Mongolia.

Expressions of Interest are being called for this project through the ADB’s “Consulting Services Recruitment Notices” (CSRN).

Go to http://csrn.adb.org:8080/csrn/publicProjectList.htm for further details. The due date is Oct 20th, 2008.

This project is interesting in that the ADB wishes to recruit one consultant at this stage for 3 months. The “Terms of Reference” (TOR) is available through the CSRN link.

Project Name: Capacity Building and School Networking for Educational Services (e-learning) in Thailand

http://www.adb.org/Documents/ADBBO/AOTA/42144012.ASP

The Executing Agency is Chulalongkorn University.

Project Impact: The impact of TA is improved NT scores of students in schools participating in the e-learning program, which will lead to greater opportunities for higher education. The TA outcome is the e-learning courses for the selected fundamental subjects including Science, Mathematics and English, which are required for the NT Grade 6 students.

One international consultant will work with 3 national (Thai) consultants.

Project value: USD$500,000

Project Name: Health Sector Development Program in Lao

Information can be found at http://www.adb.org/Documents/ADBBO/PPTA/41376012.ASP

Project Impact: Improved performance of the public health system in terms of use, quality and efficiency.

Project Outcomes: 1. Prepared inception report including detailed workplan for the TA; 2. Completed appraisal in particular for Primary Health Care, Human Resource Development, provincial management, financing, and program approach; 3. Completed program design, including policy/project framework, design details, and investment plan.

Project Value: US$500,000

An Australian consultant who has extensive experience in Laos has just advised he would be keen to assist a local bidder with this project. If you are interested, we can facilitate contact for a possible project partnership.

Contact Graham Poon on (07) 4040 7100 or graham@kleinhardt.com.au to discuss how you can engage.

ATEC members, keep an eye on this page for upcoming tenders and business opportunities.

Learn more about the individuals and organisations who make up the consortium as the Tropical Experts share their stories and achievements.

Contributions are currently sought from members of the Australian Tropical Expertise Consortium database.  Email your ‘word’ documents and jpeg images to info@australiantropicalexpertise.com

Click here for example of Registration page

Unsure how to fill in the Tropical Expert registration page?  Click on the above link to see an example.

Hints

Every field on the registration page will be accessible on the database, so please only include information you want publicly available.

Take the time to include relevant information in the ‘Qualifications’ and ‘Biography’ fields, this is an opportunity to emphasise your experience and credentials.

Please take care when entering your data as spelling, grammer and punctuation errors will degrade the professional look of the database.

You can change your information anytime, all you need to do is log in.