As we come to the end of 2007, we have had the most exciting year in the history of Best Value research. We have:
• Run best value on services (food services, escalator services, IT services, laundry service, janitorial,
  landscaping, and design services.)
• Created a process whereby to realign a company and measure the company.
• Realigned client/contractor practices to allow best value in the price based environment.
• Assisted state entities to change their law.
• Motivated our own university procurement office to take the next step in minimizing activity and forcing
  accountability.
• Shown that public sector or private sector, the problem is the same.
• Assisted visionary leaders to make the leadership based structure “stick.”

This year for the first time, in our annual conference, we are attempting to:
• Teach clients how to do best value delivery in three days. With proper preparation, walk away and do
  best value delivery.
• Grading out the project managers on every day, identifying their areas of deficiencies throughout the
  conference, allowing ample time to ask questions, study and discuss issues in breakout sessions.
  All exam questions are multiple choice, and will be corrected at the end of each day for quick results.
  The results will be posted by the next morning.
• Accepting issues from attendees ahead of time then answering those issues in the presentations.
• Allowing attendees to have one on one meetings with the highest performing general contractors,
  subcontractors, services, and clients in the program to get insight on how to change their culture.
• Introducing a concept to clients’ PMs on how to get performing contractors to bid on your work even
  though it is previously “low-bid” work.
• Introducing the step by step methodology for groups such as building trades councils to make best
  value stick, to get the documentation and regulation in place with the assistance of clients who want
  high performance, and how to work with clients.

The conference will bring the greatest minds together. We will have a CIB TG 61 meeting which is being transformed from a traditional CIB TG to a Type A visionary group of industry and academics who will assist others in the industry to lead the way and document performance information.

The meeting will include representatives from the following organizations:

These folks are the most visionaries we can bring together. Anyone who has been around them know how quick, visionary, and energetic they are. If there are any of you who do not know each other, every person in this group is just like you, creative, impatient, wanting to make things better, trying to bring change, and won’t take no for an answer. The task of the CIB TG 61, to get the journal off the ground which lists experts worldwide in the use of performance information, either as a research group, collaborators, professional experts, or industry participants. If I have left anyone off this list, because of my poor memory, please contact us.

Conference Agenda/Topics:

The highlight of this conference will be the breakout sessions on how to deliver services contracts, IDIQ contracts (how, what to do, why, when), designer/consultant services, how to deliver school bond programs for 50% of the cost with better quality construction and performance, and how to deliver construction – beginning to end. The new manual will be completed by December (finally!!!!!!). It has been a real struggle because of all the upgrades in the process this year.

Project managers will be educated/trained, tested, and their weakness identified and graded. The entire goal is to help attendees be efficient, cut down activity by preplanning, and know whose button to push if something doesn’t happen. We will have a block on how to get people to be accountable without offending anyone, simply by allowing the structure to do its work.

The agenda will be posted on the web shortly. The following conference events include:
• Monday morning AM is by invite only. This is the CIB meeting, members and Type A visionaries only. If
  you are not invited, and you think you are a Type A, contact us.
• Monday afternoon PM is for newcomers or PMs trying to pass the certification exam. This will cover
  IMT/KSM, industry structure, and leadership/management.
• Tuesday – Thursday, the main part of the conference. Wednesday are the break out sessions.
• Tuesday evening is the icebreaker to get to know the experts.
• Friday – One-on-one session with clients, manufacturers and PBSRG staff (must be reserved ahead
  of time).

Breakout sessions: walk project managers/procurement personnel through the entire process. Bring your specific project to the conference after giving advanced notification, and your project will be used as a teaching model.

One on one or small group Q&A with the following entities:
• Tremco roofing on best value modified bitumen/BUR roofing.
• Neogard/BASF roofing on best value coating/SPF roofing/waterproofing.
• Ray Jensen, John Riley, Sam Wheeler on delivering services contracts for universities.
• Mike Perkins and Justin Grussing, University of Minnesota on optimizing client’s structure/delivery of
  services.
• Herman Koebergen and team on implementing design/construction projects from a City procurement
  group. They are the recipient of two 2007 COAA gold awards.
• PBSRG staff on how to run a bond issue for 50% of the normal management/delivery costs and get
  higher performance, quality, and accountability.
• High performance general contractors/subcontractors who show how they minimize your risk at the
  best price.
• Aramark Food Services on how they can optimize a university food services contract by using best
  value concepts.

If you are a member of NIGP, PMI, ISM, NAPM, IFMA, CEFPI, or ASHE affiliate, , you cannot afford not to miss this conference. For those of you who attended in the past, and thought the conference was innovative, and the conference electrifying, this year it will be twice as good. For anyone delivering services, procurement, construction, design, or consulting, this conference is mandatory. If you have been frustrated by bureaucracy within and without, this conference will give you the mechanism to make it disappear…..without arguments, with simplicity, and without threatening the masses.