Case Studies

Procurement Support

Background & Problem:

A number of Co-Lab’s smaller partner councils identified that they needed a professional to offer procurement and tendering advice, to mentor and train council staff, to check compliance and conduct reviews, and to monitor procurement performance.

Benefits:

Coordinated training outcomes: Procurement training has assisted with ongoing staff upskilling. The Co-Lab learning procurement module has also been well received by the councils and additional module development is underway. The service has also addressed specific needs, such as implementing a contract register for councils to support their contract management system and developing procurement quick guides for staff.
Knowledge sharing across councils: Having a shared resource has fostered networking, professional relationships, and knowledge sharing among council staff. Each council benefits from having a consistent approach and solutions for similar challenges faced by councils.
Improved internal reputation: The shared procurement service has been utilised for baseline reviews and specific procurement project support. This has raised the profile of the procurement function within each council.

Structural Asset Management Services

Background & Problem:

As part of funding from Waka Kotahi (New Zealand Transport Agency), councils are required to inspect their bridges, culverts, retaining walls, underpasses, and other structural assets on a regular basis.
Structural Asset Management Services (SAMS) was the retender of two existing bridge inspection contracts and was renamed structural asset management services, to reflect that the type of assets were more than bridges, and that the services were more than inspections.

Benefits:

The 2022 approach saved councils $550k (7%) over the life of the contract (compared to if the 2017 approach had been repeated).
Increased competition for future procurements.
Consultants committed to use hybrid or electric vehicles for travel to council offices and to purchase electric utes and vans when they become available on the market.
One consultant committed to recruit a junior technical person during year two of the contract. And another consultant committed to providing two days in the field for each council to help councils understand better the inspection process and the network status. A third consultant committed to working with Co-Lab and the councils to help build contractor capability within the Waikato bridge maintenance sector.