BrazilFirms partner to accelerate Best Value adoption in Belgium
Three firms in the professional services landscape – Best Value Group, Deloitte and Deloitte Legal – have teamed up to accelerate the adoption of the best value approach in Belgium.
Developed in the United States, the ‘best value approach’ is a method that helps improve the efficiency and performance of project delivery, project management, risk management and contracting. At the heart of the approach stands the principle that service providers thrive in an environment built on credibility, transparency and collaboration, enabling them to utilise their expertise, and so ultimately yielding more value for all parties concerned.
The methodology stands in stark contrast to the traditional way of project management and contracting, which is based on rigorous management, planning and governance. Here, external experts hired – for example: contractors and consultants – are prescribed in much detail what is expected of them, when and how, leaving them with little room to come with innovative solutions or demonstrate entrepreneurial willingness.
According to best value’s originator Dean Kashiwagi from Arizona State University, the method can be up to 30% more efficient, while creating other win-win situations for players in the value chain.
Best Value Group is a Dutch consulting firm with a firm background in the best value method. The firm’s team has delivered dozens of best value projects in home market the Netherlands, as well as in Poland, the Czech Republic, Belgium and Norway. Its founders meanwhile are highly regarded experts in the field and authors of three books on the best value approach and management, published in the Netherlands, Norway and Poland.
In recent years, the boutique consultancy has supported a number of best value projects in Belgium, including at Brussels Airport and energy company Fluvius. “Our experience has shown that writing over-detailed specifications does not always help. The best value methodology helps in finding ways to better meet procurement needs and project delivery,” says Jeroen van de Rijt, co-founder of Best Value Group.
With “several opportunities unfolding to implement best value in Belgium”, Best Value Group has now joined forces with the Belgian arm of accounting and consulting giant Deloitte and with its Deloitte Legal wing (previously operating as Laga). “While we have the expertise and experience, we are limited in size. Deloitte Legal (Laga) is an expert in the field of Belgian regulation and has an extensive team of public procurement law experts and Deloitte has the capacity, additional advisory services and of course the network.”
Together, the three firms believe they have what it takes to provide an end-to-end best value offering to organisations in the Belgian market, both in the private and public sector. Backing the proposition will be a Centre of Excellence which will lead research and best practice development for the profession, stimulate knowledge sharing and advance professional development through a certification scheme.
