Outsourced design services lessons learned from LHC civil engineering

In April 1996 CERN awarded three contracts for the provision of civil engineering design and site supervision services associated with the LHC Project. These three contracts with an average value at signature of 12MCHF were placed using the “two envelope” award system. Eight firms from six member states were integrated into three Joint Ventures. For Projects prior to the LHC, CERN would have carried out the design and supervision using in-house staff. The change to out-sourced services represented a major step for CERN. After seven years, the contracts are now coming to their conclusion. This paper aims to discuss the reasons why these contracts were originally implemented, the lessons than have been learnt over the last seven years and conclusions on how CERN could approach the need for civil engineering design services in the future.