Getting best value for money for small to medium sized councils - NEC3 and relationship management in operations and maintenance

Attracting competent contractors to manage term maintenance contracts who provide competitive prices and add value is always a major challenge for small to medium size rural based council. The expiry of Maintenance Contacts is always a daunting time for any Local Authority. Build into that contacts that had not been let for 10 years since divestment, using NEC3 as the contract and getting ‘the best bang for buck’ ,and you have some daunting challenges.

Horowhenua District Council went to the market with an innovative contracting format using request for proposal and NEC3 as the form of contract. Just to make matters more of a challenge HDC added into the mix partnering, relationship management, ‘One delivery Team’ concept, capital incentives linked to performance in key result areas and contracting innovation.

With one year of the new contract with HDC and Downer under our belts we are now able to look back on how we got there and what we have achieved during this time and frame the path for the next four years.

This paper gives the HDC perspective on why we put the challenges in our path and how we overcame them. The Downer perspective of being engaged through the process and the HDC/Downer perspective of what the first year has brought, ups and downs, and what we expect the next four years to look like.