Chile case stady

dyGame On!
Backed with Aggressive Project Management Standards, Chile’s Government Rises to the Challenge
of Building Four New Soccer Stadiums in Less Than a Year
There was just one problem; none
of the cities had soccer stadiums
that complied with FIFA’s strict
regulations. And they had less
than a year to produce them. This
involved an unprecedented
challenge: building four stadiums,from the ground to the sky, in only
nine months’ time.

Background
W hen democracy returned to Chile
in 1990, sustained growth and the
development of the country
demanded the overhaul of a
decaying public infrastructure.
Chile’s Ministry of Public
Infrastructure (Ministrerio de Obras
Publicas, or MOP,) responded by
making substantial internal
changes, including the adoption of
a newmodel favoring private
concessions and a closer working
relationship with local city
governments, which allowed a
major upgrade of Chile’s airports,
seaports, roads, water systems
and public buildings.
Led by President Michelle

Bachelet and backed by the
government’s goal to attract major
sporting events – and improve the
country’s infrastructure in the
process – Chile won the rightto
host the 2008 Federation
Internationale de Football
Association (FIFA) Under-20
W omen’s World Cup. Deemed a
“national” project sponsored by the
Presidency of the Republic, this
initiative had presidential priority,
and its results were highly
anticipated by Chile’s residents.

Challenges
Four cities – Temuco, La Florida,
Coquimbo and Chillan – were
selected as potential hostvenues
in an open-bid process for FIFA.

Another challenge: though the
return of democracy led to a
substantial growth in investment
funds and a project portfolio ten
times larger than it was before, the
quantity of people available to plan
and execute these projects did not
change. So the MOP now had a
far higher number of complex
projects with very aggressive
deadlines, but very limitedexperienced and certified project
managers with which to
accomplish these high-profile
projects. The need to strengthen
Chile’s human capital to improve
the efficiency of its projects was
paramount.

Solution
Chile’s MOP quickly realized that
they would not be able to build four
stadiums in nine months using the
informal, decentralized methods of
planning, managing, and executingprojects that had used for projects
in the past. The associated
timelines, costs, and requirements
were too complex to use outmoded
project management principles and
practices. MOP had to modernize

with new techniques and practices.
By adopting standards from the
Project Management Institute
(PMI) the MOB was able to
implement the structure it needed.

Kick-Off
MOP traveled far andwide,
including to Spain and Mexico, to
find new ideas and ways of
thinking to maximize the value of
its projects and the performance of
its teams. On its journey, it met
with PMI leaders and learned that
the MOP’s project management
office (PMO), which was already in
place, had to be elevated to a
strategic role within of the
organization, prioritized above
operational services andclosely
aligned with the MOP’s strategic
goals. In 2006, Victor Orellana,
executive secretary of the project
management committee for the
MOP, attended PMI’s global
congress in Santiago, Chile.
During the three-day event, by
learning about PMI’s standards,
the agency found exactly what it
needed to implement at the MOP.
Soon after, it partnered with PMI
Santiago de Chile chapter todevelop what it called the GIP
model, Gestión Integrada de
Proyectos, or integrated project
management. The approach was
composed of the following:







An extensive training program
in its project managers;
The development of
standardized project
management processes based
on A Guide to the Project
Management Body of
®
Knowledge (PMBOK Guide);
A new organizational...