Five of the top six are still there for Period 9. Atkins India's 'Spartans', Atkins China's 'One Atkins', Arup's 'SUPERnOVA' and Atkins India's 'Singularity' all retain the top four places in the same order. Mott MacDonald's 'Nott MacDonalds' rise one place to fifth and the new comer to the top six is Arup's 'Overated' who come in at sixth rising from eighth and displacing Atkins India's ATRIUM who slip three places.
Amey's 'je t'amey' stay still at tenth place and haven't yet broken into the top six but they are certainly threatening. AECOM's 'AECOM and get some' and the HK Drainage Service Department's 'Cosmos Engineering' are also inching towards the top. A little further back Buro Happold's 'MERITocracy' and AURECON's 'AureCAN' are moving too. Atkin's 'Atkins Brum' seem to be on a roller coaster coming back well from a drop in the last round.
The average improvement is around 10% with a standard deviation of about 7% so the movements are a bit smaller than before. A move of about six places seems to feature quite a bit.
In the Sponsors Award, a competition between the sponsors who have entered three or more teams the leader is Atkins India followed by Arup, Fluor, Akins UK, AURECON.
Last year's winner of the Sponsors Award were Atkins Asia Pacific (styled Atkins China this year) previous winners have been Arup, Mott Macdonald, Aurecon, Calibre Projects, Wessex Engineering and Construction Services and Amey/Mouchel.
Aspects that some teams might like to consider a little more carefully is matching the project manager to the project, a critical factor in efficiency, the number of measurement staff helps recover all you are due, the estimating effort required for accurate estimates and the company's capital. Yes there is a lot of variables and they all interact which is why disciplined decision making is required.
We're at the stage where it is getting interesting as the leading teams will now get twitchy and cautious. A final place in their grasp but a mistake, a silly decision, a reckless decision that goes the wrong way could change all that. This caution and defensiveness will give opportunities for those in the chasing pack to show their flair and take courageous decisions to catch them. The top six are looking over their shoulder the chasers are breathing down their neck.
For all teams, If your strategy hasn't been reviewed this is probably the last opportunity to do so. It is time for a serious review of the strategy you've been following to determine what changes in the next three rounds will yield the biggest gains. It's time to take some decisions that earlier you might have considered as risky. This is when leadership and disciplined decision making should show its value. Teams can greatly improve their ranking in these rounds.