JULY/AUGUST | COVER FEATURE
Securing
events
Security is an increasingly
complex part of major events,
and Russia and Qatar are no
exception
Michael Roberts, project stadia
manager, INTERPOL
What are the main threats to
Russia 2018? Violence and
hooliganism springing out of the
Euro 2016 events in Marseille
particularly between English
and Russians is one priority.
Conflicts in the Middle East and
counter terrorism also factor,
as there’s been a long history
of problems. Hooliganism took
on a new paradigm in 2016.
Individuals were well trained
and organised, and very fit. They
had mixed martial arts fighting
gloves and mouth guards. There
was even support shown for
the fighters within the Russian
government. However, the word
from the ground during the
event is that the problems came
from Argentina and Brazil, with
isolated incidents low-level
conflicts [as of 3 July 2018].
How do you protect big events?
Work together from early stages,
and spend time years out doing
test exercises and build up into
multi stakeholder simulations.
These build trust. The response
is about understanding what can
go wrong. The Boston Marathon
attack, for example, had medical
intervention pre-planned by the
finish line, but a low death to
injury count was perhaps down
to the staff being prepared.
What new threats are
emerging? Cyber warfare is
an increasing threat now. Prior
to Winter Olympics Opening
Ceremony, the website received
a denial of service attack.
Above, left to right: Dutton (right)
promoting Rugby League World
Cup 2021; Birmingham 2022;
Invictus Games’ patron Prince
Harry
transparent from the beginning,
and be reactive when the need
arises. Communication is vital as
something will always go wrong
and you need to work together to
fi nd a solution.”
Thinking in advance is also
critical. Mike Wragg, executive
vice president Nielsen Sport says:
“When working with, for example,
The World Cup or the IOC, you
need to work at least two years in
advance and think about what the
action standards are. Look at what
might happen if you get outcomes
diff erent to the ones you expected.
How will you react? Get the right
KPIs involved early on.
On the subject of the Toyko 2020
Olympic Games, he adds: “We’ve
spent a lot of time in Tokyo and
have been working there for 30
years. However, we have learnt as
much again in the last two years.
Things are changing very fast, so
it’s hard to make any assumptions
on how it will play out.”
A TENDER DILEMMA
The all important part of getting
involved in a major event comes
down to some often frustrating
documentation.
The 2019 Pan American Games
are scheduled to be held from July
26 to August 11, 2019, in Lima, Peru.
The tender documents won praise
from Major Events International
Summit attendees.
“The most important aspect
is the technical part, we want
to encourage those aspects. The
tender response time will be
two months, and then there’s a
clarifi cation process that’s very
open,” says Carlos Manuel Lazarte
Labarthe, director of operations,
Lima 2019 Pan American and Para
Pan American Games.
Meanwhile, João Saravia,
founding partner at Circular
Solutions, gives his tips on
successful tendering. “In the case
of Rio 2016, we had a Portal that
communicated tenders years in
advance, so we made suppliers’
life much easier. Then focus on the
entities that may contract your
services, and begin to develop a
closer relationship with them, to
understand what they will need,
when, and how can you participate
on their tenders.
“Once you’ve discovered which
organisation will contract the
services you provide, fi nd out
who will be the key users to your
services inside that organisation.
The procurement or purchasing
areas do not usually defi ne what
needs to be contracted.”
“Procurement will contract
IT Services that are asked for by
the IT area, infrastructure items
such as cabins, tents, stands that
are needed by the infrastructure
area, marketing material for the
marketing area, and so on.”
Simple then, right?
Well, we’ll see. But with some
blockbuster major events on
the horizon, many of which are
occurring in the UK, now might
be the time to get in front of the
people that matter.
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