Expo2020 saw procurement combat Covid impacts to deliver – and dismantle – a unique show with a lasting legacy.
More than 24m visitors from 178 countries. 50m meals served. Over 35,000 events. In numbers, the sheer scale of Expo2020 Dubai is staggering. The six-month-long World Expo may have been delayed by Covid – kicking off a year later than the originally planned October 2020 – but its impact was perhaps even greater, welcoming international visitors after 18 months of consecutive global lockdowns.
For the procurement team, headed up by director of procurement and contracts Adam Bektic, the challenge of delivering a mega-event from scratch, in what Bektic describes as “a barren desert landscape” and against a ticking clock, would have been tough enough without the pandemic. But thanks to Covid, the team found itself facing far bigger hurdles.
“When you’re working towards a fixed opening day, time is always of the essence,” recalls Bektic. “Then in March 2020, you can’t get goods out of China, and that spreads not just into movement of goods but movement of people. At that point we didn’t know it would be postponed, and we were still working towards the opening date.
“When it did get postponed by a year, you have even greater complexity. You’ve got that extra 12 months, but what about the contracts you now don’t need for 12 months?
A whole replanning exercise had to take place around the event time, operations, movement of people and site capacity. Suddenly masks and gowns had to be factored into the pricing, for example.”
Still, Bektic’s team of up to 80 procurement and supply professionals (the size of the team fluctuated with the event lifecycle) managed to pull it off. Against a total spend of billions, they engaged with 3,245 suppliers in 101 countries, issuing more than 20,000 purchase orders and awarding over 2,500 contracts. But most importantly, they were integral to ensuring that Expo2020 was able to open its doors to the world on its revised opening date. “Value for money is always on our agenda, but it’s not the main priority,” Bektic says on the impact procurement achieved. “Our priority was delivering an exceptional Expo, and that’s what we managed to do.”
How do you deliver a mega-event?
Expo2020 Dubai transitioned through four stages in its lifecycle, Bektic explains, and procurement and contracts had to support the organisation through each phase. The first stage incorporated start-up and initial capex to include planning, design, infrastructure and building a site that included multiple event venues, recreation facilities, parks and more.
The focus then shifted to operations, with expenditure on things such as cleaning, waste management and landscaping, as well as working out staffing requirements.
Phase three covered the six months of the actual event. Phase four, which Bektic is leading now, is the shutdown, dismantling and repurposing of the site, selling off assets and preparing to handover to the legacy entity, which will ensure the success and spirit of the Expo lives on.
“People think that you close the doors and that’s it; everyone packs up and goes home,” Bektic says. “But it’s not as straightforward as that. The focus is to make sure that we don’t hand over any open liabilities to the legacy entity or back to the government.”
Sustainability and adhering to ESG standards were key guiding principles for Expo2020, and by extension for Bektic and his team. In fact, the event was one of – if not the – most sustainable expo ever run, as it aligned with the UN’s sustainable development goals (SDGs). And not just internally, procurement made sure that sustainability was a key component when it came to evaluating suppliers.
“There is significant scrutiny placed on the Middle East around social responsibility,” Bektic explains. “We made sure worker welfare practices were not just in line with the law, but above it. We ensured that our supply chain conformed with our supplier code of conduct, and that we enforced the highest standards of worker welfare.”
Alongside this responsible approach to doing business, the procurement team also went out of its way to engage SMEs, giving small businesses invaluable exposure to the mega-event. The Expo set a public commitment to ringfence 20% of the total spend for small businesses – a target it exceeded, with 26% of spend going to local and international SMEs.
“Whereas a typical organisation would seek to consolidate its supply chain, aggregate spend to achieve economies of scale and always seek the most value, Expo2020 Dubai was different,” Bektic says, adding that the commitment to SMEs sometimes meant putting social value above getting the lowest offer.
Make a team that can flex with the project’s needs
One of Bektic’s key challenges in ensuring delivery was getting his team right in terms of size, structure and capabilities. He used a category management approach, but alongside deep expertise in areas such as construction, marketing, technology and events, team members needed to be agile and adaptable enough to flex as needs changed with the event lifecycle.
With the project having a clear end point, one other challenge was keeping people engaged and retaining top talent when they knew they would be out of work after Expo.
“Throughout the eight years we’ve supported, upskilled, trained and motivated team members,” says Bektic. “Having this on your CV is a huge thing and puts you on the top of the pile when it comes to finding your next role.” He advises any other procurement professionals given the chance to work on a mega-event to “go for it”, given the diversity of experience and amount of learning you will gain.
As his own Expo 2020 experience draws to a close, thoughts turn to what could have been done differently. Bektic would have implemented digital solutions earlier, he says, and made sure they were fully integrated with the main ERP. “We had platforms that were effectively stand alone, which introduced duplication of work,” he explains.
But that is nit-picking, as procurement was undoubtedly a major player in making the Expo so successful, winning a host of accolades including a CIPS Excellence in Procurement Award in the UK – the only expo to do outside the Olympic and Paralympic events – and multiple CIPS Middle East Awards including overall winner in 2021.
Bektic and his team have much to be proud of. As he says: “Look at the statistics – the number of visitors and events. None of that would have happened without the support of procurement, and that speaks for itself.”
