Inspiring - "Working together, we mutually support each other"

Better together: According to this motto, PB Consult GmbH , GRE German Rail Engineering GmbH and KREBS+KIEFER Ingenieure GmbH companies in our Dorsch Gruppe , together with two Nuremberg architectural firms, won the contract for the general planning services of the Nuremberg Pl?rrer - the main traffic junction in the city area of Nuremberg. In the interview, Maximilian Krug, Dorsch International Consultants GmbH, tells us about the concept development and the advantages and challenges of joint bidding.

It is the main traffic hub in Nuremberg: the Pl?rrer. The hub, which is important for both individual and local public transport, is getting on in years and is to be redesigned. The overall concept jointly submitted by PB CONSULT, GRE German Rail Engineering and KREBS+KIEFER convinced the client. We talked to my colleague Maximilian Krug of Dorsch International Consultants. In his role as cross-company business developer, he coordinated the acquisition from the beginning to the concept development and ensured the quality.

Mr. Krug, many different partners - both internal and external - were involved in developing the concept. How did that work out?

The client, the Nuremberg City Planning Office, invited tenders for this project as a general planning service, a trend that we are seeing more and more frequently, by the way. In this case, the Nuremberg City Planning Office wanted to have everything planned from a single source. In addition, the project is THE traffic junction in Nuremberg, where all modes of transport, from the subway and streetcar to car and bicycle traffic and pedestrians, all come together at one point above and below ground.

?In fact, a large number of extremely different partners come together here in terms of their technical orientation, and they all have to be involved in the concept development. All of them are equally important and everything depends on each other. A concept like this, which is part of the offer and which is evaluated by the client according to specified criteria, cannot be created by anyone alone. There is input from everyone and the genius is that those who work together "cross-fertilize" each other. 90 percent of the order volume goes to members of Dorsch Gruppe Europe, only 10 percent are external, part of the acquisition success is certainly due to the fact that we are a group - and we have also expressed this in the concept.

What were the particular challenges here - and how were you able to solve them?

In these multidisciplinary large-scale projects, which are the focus of public attention and thus under high pressure of expectations, the representatives of the disciplines involved first have their "own" view of the project. In order to develop a coherent concept from this - there are several concepts, by the way - all those involved must have the same understanding of the project. Working this out is a particular challenge. In other words, to reach a consensus during the concept development phase: What is really important to the client? What are our unique selling points? What does our bidding consortium stand for? How intensively do we already work on sketches of ideas for technical solutions in this phase? What has the client already specified and is therefore untouchable? To name just a few examples.

?So if we succeed in developing a common understanding of this project, the contributions to the concepts to be submitted will also be more compatible with each other. Incidentally, this also applies to the design of the bid price. It is at least as challenging to reach agreement on the pricing as it is to come up with coherent concepts.

How did this work out in the collaboration?

In terms of methodology, the "concept frameworks" were created, the main chapters of which corresponded to the evaluation criteria. The participants fill this out from their professional background, then a small "editorial team" developed coherent concepts from this and still worked out or advertised unique selling points, such as that we can fall back on extensive resources and competences as a well-rehearsed Dorsch Group. The technical contributions were indeed already very good, there was already highly motivated planning by the colleagues in the acquisition phase. From this you could already see that the team wanted to have this project assignment.

"This acquisition success confirms that we are among the top engineering firms in Germany and it shows that together we can play to our strengths." Michael Schanzenbach , CPO Dorsch Europe

What are the strengths and advantages of this joint approach?

The advantages are obvious, with Dorsch Gruppe Europe we are now in a position to successfully promote such lighthouse projects. The available "construction kit" is extremely competitive and often it becomes even more dynamic when approaching the application together.

A single company of ours would never have been able to apply without an external partner. Each of us would have had to look for suitable cooperation partners - or in all probability would not have applied. It is therefore all the more gratifying that we were able to win the bid together - despite well-known competitors.

If more and more general planning services tend to be put out to tender now, as you mentioned at the beginning, will everyone always have to apply together in the future?

Of course, it should not be a dogma - to have to bid for everything together. The overriding goal is the acquisition success of an economically successful project. And for a variety of reasons, this can also be achieved with external partners.

Before the start of the joint application in the "Pl?rrer Redevelopment" case, other application constellations were also examined for their chances of success. It is therefore all the more pleasing that we were right in our assessment that we could develop an absolutely competitive team from within our own group.

How long did it take - from the tender to the concept?

Projects like this often take a very long time, but the city of Nuremberg really kept to its award schedule. As prescribed for public-sector clients, the contract was awarded in a two-stage VgV procedure. The first stage, the suitability procedure, was published at the end of February. Then on April 18, 2023, we were notified that we qualified for the 2nd stage, the award procedure. From then on, we had until May 31, 2023 to prepare the bid and concepts.

As usual, the bid had to be presented to the client. The date was June 15, 2023, and served to give the client a comprehensive overall impression. It was important to us for participation in this presentation date that at least one representative from each partner in the bidding consortium attend. The formal contract was then awarded by letter dated August 15, 2023.

In your view, what are the important criteria in a process like this, what is important?

In order to get halfway through this process, interim targets and deadlines must be well thought out - this is practically like a real project in which the bidding consortium is already practicing perspective operational cooperation. So even in the bidding phase, there are qualities, quantities and deadlines. At least our deadlines are fixed and non-negotiable. Getting to the "point", so to speak, welds a team together in advance.

What tools were used for collaboration?

Right from the start, after the bidder constellation had been established, a One Drive drive was set up for the participants, to which all access rights were assigned. The folder structure of the drive was set up according to the project and expanded as the process progressed, Stage 1 and Stage 2. There were "work folders" for all participants, in which their own work statuses or work files were stored. In addition, there were master files, i.e. files that were processed jointly by all. This principle was applied in the first stage and continued into the bidding phase, i.e. when the concepts and the joint fee calculation were carried out.

A lot of research was done, beyond the documents we had received from the AG. Documents such as old photos from the construction period of the Pl?rrer at the time or corresponding publications, all this was filed for all accessible.

What is particularly important in the case of shared file storage?

It is of great importance that the shared drive is maintained and that all and always the current documents provided by the client are stored here. As usual, there is new information from the contracting authority during the course of the procurement process. It is a great responsibility to keep an eye on this, to retrieve the information, to file it and to inform the parties involved. Accordingly, PB-Consult has made a competent colleague available to the team for this purpose.

What lessons have you learned already, also for other projects?

In principle, the process described above is not a new approach. The process is basically "well-rehearsed" and clear, as this is more or less always the case with bidding consortiums. But what has been added as a new dimension is our new, extensive portfolio from our own group. We can now offer general planning services with a large internal coverage of services and show this as an advantage to the customer: The planning comes coordinated and interface-regulated "from one house", the Dorsch Gruppe.

Due to our extensive portfolio, the combination possibilities are enormous. Extremely attractive for the customer we can combine the individual services modularly to an overall planning. In the end, the group combination made a project award possible, where parts of the group would not have applied individually for understandable reasons, but have now received an order. However, due to the fact that they "participated", PB-Consult was able to acquire one of their largest projects to date, with which they can continue to develop.

"Due to the local connection to the Nuremberg Pl?rrer, we are looking forward to this complex inner-city project and especially to the cooperation within the team of the Dorsch Group. We find the coordination of the many different interfaces of the respective trades within the city administration, the authorities, the planning team and all technically involved in the project particularly exciting" Alexandros Vavvas (Project Leader PB Consult GmbH), Dieter Roth (Head of Infrastructure Department and Authorized Signatory PB Consult GmbH)?

?What are the next steps?

Specifically, in the case of the "Pl?rrer redesign" project, a "joint venture" must now be formed from the bidding consortium; this obligation was entered into when our bid was accepted. This is a formal process that is equivalent to the formation of a project-specific company. After that, the operational work on the challenging project will begin. This is where other units of the Dorsch Gruppe come into play, such as the spiekermann ingenieure. I am very confident that the outstanding team will also deliver an economically successful project with the greatest customer satisfaction.

How do you look to the future when it comes to joint acquisitions and projects? What is important to you?

When it comes to exploiting the synergies and advantages of the Group, we are far from having reached the end of the line. There are still a lot of possibilities, each of which has to be considered on a tender-specific basis. Incidentally, the acquisition of the Pl?rrer conversion is one of a number of acquisition projects that I have been involved in. Other examples include the Rhine water transport pipeline and the 17th construction phase of the A100 in Berlin. However, unfortunately, it doesn't always work out.

With this Pl?rrer project, we are making a significant contribution to the urban traffic turnaround by transforming an "autophile" traffic junction into a square with a high quality of stay while maintaining mobility requirements. This is a major sustainability issue. Getting that right, both internally and externally, and then marketing it, that's a job for all of us.

"I personally look forward to further projects with this luminosity, here are some topics that we can still open up! Please feel free to contact me.“ Maximilian Krug (Senior Manager Business Development, Consulting Engineer)

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A few facts about the most important traffic junction in Nuremberg, the "Pl?rrer"

• 1835: Starting point of the first German railroad (Adler), since then the Pl?rrer has been one of Nuremberg's central traffic junctions for streetcars
• 1966: Car-friendly reconstruction of the Pl?rrer, assuming the complete dismantling of Nuremberg's streetcar system
• 1978: Construction of the Pl?rrer subway station under the square, since then no further major reconstruction of the Pl?rrer, making the junction out of date!
• Reconstruction and redesign of the Pl?rrer in accordance with the framework plan provided by the city administration
• Restructuring and reconstruction of the traffic facilities (road, rail) in favor of the environmental alliance
• Redevelopment and adaptation of the subway structure below the Pl?rrer
• Creation of square-forming structural engineering projects (platform roofs, functional buildings and the "puk")
• Planting of 100 new trees in addition to the existing ones
• Planning scope approx. 37,500 square meters
• Planned completion by the end of 2028.
• The word Pl?rrer (originally Plerrer) is derived from Middle High German and comes from the so-called Plerre, which means "free place". In the Middle Ages, merchants who did not have a concession for the markets within the city walls of Nuremberg could advertise their goods on this free square.

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