Adopting the ICMS for World Bank and IMF funded projects

Author: Bert vd Heever

14 July-August l 2020 “ The International Construction Measurement Standards (ICMS) presents the opportunity to make a meaningful comparative analysis of construction costs between countries on a global scale

Initiated at a meeting held in the offices of the International Monetary Fund in Washington in 2015, the International Construction Measurement Standards (ICMS) presents the opportunity to make a meaningful comparative analysis of construction costs between countries on a global scale, not least by international organisations such as the World Bank Group, the International Monetary Fund, and various other funding institutions, government and non-government organisations and the United Nations.

Given the interest by international funding intuitions for global consistency in construction cost reporting, as advocated by the ICMS, Karl Trusler, EduTech Director at the Association of South African Quantity Surveyors (ASAQS), says the government’s planned infrastructure roll-out makes it necessary for Quantity Surveyors to be open to expanding some of their cost reporting methods.

“With President Cyril Ramaphosa receiving a “firm commitment” amounting to billions of rands for the 55 bankable infrastructure projects, it is essential to know what reporting standards the big lenders will accept when reviewing project proposals. South African Quantity Surveyors who want to do work across borders or overseas will also benefit from familiarising themselves with the ICMS, as global consistency in construction cost benchmarking is becoming increasingly sought-after among critical stakeholders in the international built environment,” says Trusler.

What is the ICMS?

The ICMS is an international standard that aims to provide greater global consistency in classifying, defining, measuring, analysing and presenting construction costs at a project, regional, state, national, or international level. It isn’t a detailed method of measuring construction works. Instead, it is a high-level benchmarking and reporting framework for international cost classification, reporting, and comparison.

“Project developers and financiers want to be able to compare apples with apples when reviewing project costs across the globe. The data bank of crucial information provided by the ICMS enables informed decision-making. Although not mandatory, the ICMS is likely to become an increasingly valuable requirement for South African Quantity Surveyors who are involved on large infrastructure projects that are funded by foreign investors,” Trusler says.

The first ICMS was launched in 2015 and it was a guideline for reporting on the capital investment costs of a project. Last year, the ICMS Coalition – which consists of 45 organisations from around the world and 27 Standards Setting Committee members – published the second edition of the ICMS.

A benchmark for international lifecycle cost reporting

“The new ICMS provides a lifecycle cost reporting guideline so that developers and infrastructure owners know how their investments will perform once they are operational. This type of information is crucial for both private and public-sector role-players who are more motivated than ever before to invest in the development of world-class infrastructure,” says Trusler.

Among the 55 projects that government has earmarked for development is an aviation park near Upington, a smart city in Lanseria, a R3.1-billion Space Infrastructure Hub, a 516-hectare citrus farm in the Eastern Cape, and a water project that includes some 160km of pipe, and pump stations to get water to Eskom’s large power stations, Medupi and Matimba, among other projects.

There is sufficient overlap between the current cost reporting methods that Professional Quantity Surveyors use and the ICMS, so we are working towards delivering a solution that enables the ICMS report to be generated in parallel with the way we currently do cost reporting in South Africa. I look forward to helping members embrace and benefit from this solution,” concludes Trusler.

An industry-wide invitation is open to all, to attend for free, a 1-hour live international panel discussion on the ICMS from 4:00 – 5:00 pm on Tuesday the 1st September 2020. The panel will comprise of Justin Sullivan (ICMS Coalition Chair) Ken Creighton (ICMS Coalition Past Chair) Gerry O’Sullivan (Standards Setting Committee Vice-Chair) and Julia Dela Cruz (ICMS Coalition Trustee) and will be hosted by the ASAQS. To gain more insight into the ICMS, please register for the webinar

Increasing redundancy in GNSS services to DP

Image: Courtesy

Suppliers of accurate dynamic positioning (DP) data are preparing for the next generation of global navigation satellite system (GNSS) constellations by reconfiguring their hardware and software. For years, offshore vessel DP systems have relied on the existing US-funded global positioning system (GPS) and Russia’s Glonass satellites for accurate positioning data. This data is offered to vessel operators with greater accuracy from a variety of providers.

China recently gained IMO approval for its rival GNSS, named BeiDou. This provides accurate positioning of vessels and rigs in Asia to within 10m. China plans to continue expanding this system through more satellite launches to produce a strong regional service. It expects to improve accuracy to below 1m by 2018. The European Union continues working on its Galileo GNSS but has not yet commissioned a commercially available service. Providers of differential GNSS services expect this will happen in the near future.

This is why Fugro Satellite Positioning is the first company to offer offshore vessel operators positioning services involving all three of the available GNSSs and Galileo when it is ready. Product manager Anders Haneborg said the Seastar G4 correction service offers positioning to the decimetre level. “BeiDou is available, although it is not a full number of satellites, but it is good over Asia,” he said, speaking at the 2015 Annual OSJ Conference, Awards & Exhibition. “It is working well, giving added value and means more calculations can be done. With all these services (GPS, Glonass and BeiDou), there are 75 satellites available to provide positioning data. We are also ready for Galileo, when those satellites are operating.”

Fugro is able to calculate corrections to orbit and satellite clock values for all the available systems. Access to multiple lines of position derived from a mix of satellites means vessels operating close to large structures can still gain accurate positioning data even if some GNSS satellites are obscured. Multiple satellite access also means any inconsistent measurements can be treated as an outlier and ignored in the position calculator.

Seastar G4, like the G2 service, offers 10cm accuracy with data from GPS and Glonass on L1 and L2 frequencies. The network includes control centres in Perth, Australia, and Houston, Texas, and Fugro’s own reference stations. Onboard equipment includes an omni-directional antenna and a Seastar 9205 GNSS receiver with integrated L-band demodulator to receive Fugro’s differential GNSS corrections, which are transmitted via Inmarsat’s L-band third and fourth-generation satellites. Fugro also supplies other Seastar integrated systems with varying GNSS receivers for GPS and Glonass only.

C-Nav is preparing to introduce BeiDou services soon and Galileo when that is available. It has rewritten the software in its QA/QC solution to include the latest guidelines from the International Marine Contractors Association (IMCA), said European sales manager Emmanuel Blanchard. “We re-evaluated our entire QA/QC software to include all the latest GNSS guidelines from IMCA. This improves the situation awareness for DP operators, providing maximum operational safety from quality GNSS information related to position accuracy of 5–8cm, stability and source of correction modes feeding the DP system. Being in accordance with IMCA guidelines reassures our clients about the redundancy, accuracy and stability of our C-Nav GNSS services.”

The company has two alternate and independent precise point positioning software solutions (C-NavC1 and C-NavC2). C-NavC2 uses a proprietary global network of GPS and Glonass satellite tracking and system-monitoring sites equipped with C-Nav geodetic receivers. Two dedicated and independent processing centres each employ the advanced iCore proprietary precise point positioning software that is grouped under the C-Nav correction service. C-NavC2 has 2D decimetre level of dynamic accuracy, corrections over Internet and uses proprietary algorithms. The solution has orbit corrections and clock offset correctors for each GNSS satellite, patented multipath migration software and antenna technology.

The C-Nav3050 unit is a 66-channel combined multiconstellation GNSS and L-band receiver. It receives corrections over the Internet, via Iridium’s L-band satellites, and tracks the GPS and Glonass constellations, receiving data over the L1, L2, L5, G1 and G2 frequencies. Thus, the C-Nav corrections service over the Internet feature enables seamless operations even at high latitudes.

The C-Nav3050 receiver can be configured and monitored using the C-NaviGator III 14in touchscreen panel display, which has inbuilt QA/QC software. As an alternative, the C-Monitor QA/QC software can be loaded onto a PC with a dongle.

Veripos is also preparing for BeiDou and Galileo. It has used the opportunity to rewrite its software and add BeiDou to the service this year, said research and development project manager Andrew Lobban. “We are updating our software to build the platform ready for the new constellations. We are updating the visuals and our interfaces for web-based services.” He said the next step was to introduce a level of vessel monitoring and fleet tracking for shipowners. “The visuals will act as web pages and can run on any mobile devices with an IP address so operators can monitor and track vessels from the software and provide support,” he said.