The Senior Commercial Officer/Director of the US Commercial Service Liaison Office to the ADB (CS ADB) interviewed a range of US firms that had been consistently successful in pursuing ADB-funded business opportunities—consulting, engineering design, project management, financial, and product supplier firms—to learn their secrets, or “best practices”. The principals of these US firms were asked to identify the five or six most important lessons the company had learned over the years that made the firm successful in winning ADB contracts. The company representatives were told that any information they shared would be recorded and shared, without attribution, with other American firms seeking ADB-funded contracts, possibly their competitors.
Of the firms interviewed to date, all were willing to share information. A typical comment was “… it is important to know what to do in order to succeed. It’s quite another thing to marshal the energy and resources to actually do it.” Firms were of the opinion that the best US companies could eventually learn what to do and could become competitive. If by sharing “best practices”, other quality US firms could be brought into the competition earlier, the men and women interviewed were willing to contribute to that goal.
These lessons and “best practices” have been organized by theme and are included in PowerPoint presentations to US clients seeking ADB-funded business opportunities.
ADB Best Practices