Abstract:
iGPI, the National Initiative for Infrastructure Asset Management is a Portuguese collaborative project led by LNEC
(National Civil Engineering Laboratory, Portugal) through which 19 water utilities develop their own infrastructure asset
management (IAM) systems and plans in a joint training and capacitation programme. Technical assistance to the
participating utilities is ensured by LNEC, IST (Technical University of Lisbon) and Addition, a software development
company. The water utilities get collective as well as one-on-one support and specific training. They benefit from
networking with the other utilities in a common and simultaneous process, with similar difficulties and challenges, leading to
an effective sharing of solutions. The developed products, including training materials, templates and guidelines for
developing strategic and tactical IAM plans, are available to the general public. This project has greatly contributed to the
establishment of reference methodologies and standards for IAM planning, in a range of utilities of widely diverse size and
context, effectively defining an accepted best practice. This paper discusses the project’s format and its advantages, and goes
on to describe the main outcomes, including selected cases and final products.
