After 8 intensive and competitive Preliminary Rounds, an international line up prepared to do battle in the Enginuity 2024 Final, with teams from around the globe, and only 170 points separating the teams going into the 6-round Final. Past Champions Jacobs and WSP were represented, with teams from Arcadis Australia Pacific, AtkinsRealis India, Hatch, Infraco Consulting and Stantec all hoping to become first-time winners.

During the early years (periods 5 to 12) the teams pitted their management skills in competition against computer-simulated rivals, but in the final, known as the later years, they were in direct competition for work against each other, with just one additional simulated rival. Only the team able to cope the best under the increased pressure, and with the most effective and robust strategy for competing in this challenging global environment, would eventually emerge as the 2024, and 15th Enginuity Champions. Who would it be ?

And so to the action in the first round of the Final, and period 13 saw the immediate impact of the increased competition, as growth rates and procurement margins were significantly down across the board. However, encouragingly every team was able to secure some new work apart from the leaders going into the Final, "Constructive Chaos" (Arcadis Australia Pacific, Australia), who slipped back to 9th after losing out on a key 19m Water and Sewage contract to one of their rivals, despite being lower on price, but the rival had a better client relationship with the client, London Water Services, which made the difference as the bids were close.

The early leaders in the Final are the "Fanatics" (AtkinsRealis, India), who grew by 7%, the best in the round, to move up one place to top spot with 2,514 pts, and they have opened up a 111 point gap to their nearest rivals, "Whatever it takes" (Stantec, Italy), who climbed two places to 2nd, and just ahead of another Stantec team, "Stan Movers" (Stantec, United States) who remain unchanged in 3rd. The best positional gain in the round came from "Powerhouse" (Jacobs, UK/Ireland) who surged 5 places up the table despite a modest 3% growth. Although the table looks well stretched out, it is still early days, and there will be lots more twists and turns in the 5 remaining rounds before we know the identity of the 2024 Champions.

A new dilemma being faced by the management teams during the later years is the level of dividend to pay their shareholders. In the early years there had been more certainty in the affect of paying particular levels, but the increased competition has seen shareholders looking around to see what others were receiving, and this was causing fluctuations in the dividend affects on share price as expectations went up and down. However, it is not just a matter of paying huge dividends, as this could put company finances under threat, and the key was to find the right balance between keeping shareholders happy, and what the company could afford.

Individual League Table after period 13
Improvements, or otherwise, during period 13
Share prices at the end of period 13
Bidding results for period 13 (PDF) (XLS)

Period 14 proved to be a dramatic one as previous leaders the "Fanatics" (AtkinsRealis, India) slipped back two places after a 2% deterioration to relinquish top spot to "Whatever it takes" (Stantec, Italy), who moved up one place to lead the table with 2,559 pts after a solid 6% growth. And it is Stantec 1-2 a the top as "Stan Movers" (Stantec, United States) also climbed one place to second. With the previous leaders losing what seemed like a large 111 point lead, clearly with the quality of the teams taking part any lead will come under threat each round, and it is already looking like a topsey turvey final, with 4 rounds still to go.

Once more it was an encouraging round on the bidding front with every team able to secure some new work, but growth figures were mixed. The best performance, and emphasising once more what a good period it was for Stantec, came from "Stantogether" (Stantec, Australia) with an impressive 12% improvement that lifted them off the foot of the table. Their success was built upon winning one of the largest job awards in the quarter, a large 23m project with the India Power Corporation, secured after they held off stiff competition from "HatchGPT" (Hatch, South Africa), and it was their superior relationship with the client that tipped the balance in their favour despite have a slightly higher bid than their rivals. The best positional gain in the round came from "Constructive Chaos" (Arcadis Australia Pacific, Australia), as their management team learnt quickly from a 5% decline in period 13 to come back strongly with 10% growth, and a 5-place climb up the table, and right back into a contention.

Those of you who were following the predictions of the ENGINUITY CRYSTAL BALL in the Preliminary Rounds will remember that very early on "Infraco Invasion" (Infraco Consulting, UK) had been picked out as dark horses, and they duly backed up the confidence in them by qualifying in 7th place for the Final. Well, they slipped back a bit in period 14, but I am sure they will be having a quiet word with the old sage for some words of wisdom to enable them to make a comeback in the next round.

With margins under pressure, progressing work as profitably as possible takes on added significance, and one key element of this is an effective risk management strategy. This can take a number of forms, firstly by building sensible risk contingencies into the original bids based upon the likelihood and cost of the risks occurring. Secondly, and just as importantly is mitigating the affects of any risks that strike through targeted investment into risk management companies, using a BIM model if available, and employing the most suitable project managers to jobs in progress.

Individual League Table after period 14
Improvements, or otherwise, during period 14
Share prices at the end of period 14
Bidding results for period 14 (PDF) (XLS)