Serco Middle East Completes Knowledge Transfer Training for Expenditure & Projects Efficiency Authority (Expro)

Serco Middle East, has just announced the successful completion of its Knowledge Transfer programme as part of the Expenditure & Projects Efficiency Authority (Expro)’s Kingdom-wide asset and facilities management transformation project. Twenty-eight Saudi nationals were trained by Serco experts to be able to educate the different entities on the use of the newly developed National Manual for Assets & Facilities Management, mandated for use by all government sectors.  

Serco’s ‘train the trainer’ training approach is based on day-to-day job learning, coaching and mentoring, ensuring that each individual in the programme builds the right sets of skills and knowledge to be able to pass them on to more people, for continuous knowledge transfer.

On this occasion, Patrick Hallgate, O&M Technical Director from Serco Middle East, commented: “We’re very proud to be partnering with the Expenditure & Projects Efficiency Authority and facilitate a programme that supports the Kingdom’s 2030 vision for assets and facility management. The programme is a chance to create a snowball effect where new opportunities will be created for Saudi nationals, as the competencies, skills and experiences of the expatriate workforce will be transferred to them. Saudi Arabia will then be able to operate almost solely on a nationalised workforce that then transfers knowledge and grow internally in a dynamic way.”

The one-time training programme consisted of interactive presentations, workshops and real-life problem-solving related to operations and maintenance and was delivered in line with the 18 volumes of the National Manual Assets & Facilities Management. As part of the training scope, Serco’s team of experts from across the globe designed and delivered the Serco Facilitation Accreditation process, designed the digital tools that support with the verification progression of the knowledge transfer and built ILM (Institute of Leadership Management) qualification into the training.

The manual is a new product, produced for the Kingdom. It is mandated for use by all government sectors and is formulated through 18 chapters; 25 guidelines, 88 plans, 192 procedures and 564 templates. The complexity means this level of training, and continuous upskilling and knowledge transfer is necessary for the success of the programme.

Khalid Al-Ammar, Engineering Director, Expro conceded saying: ‘The Expenditure & Projects Efficiency Authority (Expro) seek to enable public entities to raise the efficiency and quality of government facilities so that the infrastructure asset and facility management sector is in a high level of quality in accordance with the best international practices within the domain, to ensure the sustainability of assets and facilities by maintaining methods of operation and maintenance. Amongst the results of the knowledge transfer programme is the publication of more than 210,000 training hours. This comes within the framework of the Kingdom's Vision 2030 and the Financial Sustainability Program and creates social and economic progress. ’

Through the process, the knowledge transfer quality was measured through key learning performance indicators to track progress within the programme. In total, 210,392 training man hours were deployed in this project with 100% completion rate.

Expro (Expenditure & Projects Efficiency Authority) was established in by the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia’s government to provide expertise and international best practices in project and facilities management efficiently and in a cost-effective way, and to enable public entities to work competently towards constructing and managing sustainable infrastructure, which contributes to improving the quality of life for the Kingdom's residents.