SYNOPSIS   

All companies in Malaysia and internationally put out tenders to get projects done and fulfill their Company operational business objectives, which includes Microsoft, Google, NASA, TNB, Telekom, MRT Corp, Petronas, Govt etc. So why is it that, the former has relatively very little problems but the latter has so much problems? Why it is that there are so many project management problems, operational teething issues and long-term maintenance issues once a tender is issued and awarded. This is because mistakes in tendering cascade down into project management and O&M issues. In addition, all such issues are getting worse over time instead of better, despite us getting technologically more advanced, smarter and have more sophisticated resources like AI. All these issues and more to the above, will be addressed and the possible solutions suggested during this talk and the subsequent workshops.

If FDIs are going to flow into Malaysia, then the projects have to portray that it is going to be carried out contextually correct, strictly implemented and continuously monitored during its tendering documentations. It is no point asking for a Ferarri in the tender with a Kancil budget, Proton Saga specifications and later asking, why doesn’t my ‘Ferrari’ go very fast? This is why Companies are not thriving nor FDIs are coming into our ‘backyard’. There have been ample tenders that can be used as examples for failed ‘requirement definition’, problematic project execution and life cycle maintenance issues, as the devil is always in the details. This has required that some entity asks; Why did the tender not fulfill its objectives? Have we benchmarked our tenders against others? What elements that should have been included but were not? In this talk, we will address some of these issues so that solutions can be implemented to improve the situation via training workshops.

This talk will look into the strategies of the tendering process, the elements that should be included, how to benchmark tenders and all other related issues that are of importance from the Client, contractor, vendor and deliverables, from the end-user’s perspective and business concern.


BIODATA OF SPEAKER

Ir. (Dr.) S. Vignaeswaran PEPC

Ir. (Dr.) S. Vignaeswaran has more than 40 years of working experience in the electrical, computer, IT, SCADA, Instrumentation & Control, project management and the tendering field. He has been involved in state-of-the art project applications which includes cyber-security, AI, big data etc projects from the 1990s. In addition, he has an Electrical Engineering degree from Australia, a MSc in IT/BIS from UK and an Honorary PhD from USA. He continues to publish international papers in Engineering, IT, Computer automation (SCADA), Computer Security, Tendering and Project Management fields. He has published numerous magazine articles and journals which has solely focused on the new developments in Malaysian approaches and trends, for the Malaysian engineering community.

He has to date, done over a 100 Malaysian Oil & Gas tenders up to RM 400 million as a Contractor, Client, vendor and end-user. This was carried out on Malaysian National Security projects and while being the Client’s HOD (Electrical & Automation) in the RM 8 billion Saudi Arabian project. Additionally, he has worked with international MNCs like ABB, Siemens, Honeywell to develop new solutions.