New Contracts for City Parks Provide Value for Money

Christchurch City Council has awarded contracts for the maintenance of city parks to two new companies, following a competitive tender process.

Chief Operating Officer Jane Parfitt says the rigorous tender process has resulted in the best financial and service outcomes for the city.

"The two successful companies, Recreational Services and Delta Utility Services, have excellent track records and clearly came out on top of the tender process, which considered price, performance, methodology and resources."

Christchurch parks contracts are split into three ward-based areas, covering the east, north and south of the city, and a separate contract for sexton services. The Council budgets $7.2 million for all four contracts. The work is at present contracted to Council-owned City Care Limited. City Care will retain the contract for sexton services. The new contracts come into effect from 1 July 2015.

"The open market process undertaken for the re-tendering of our parks contracts is the best commercial model for managing our contracts and ensures transparency," Mrs Parfitt says.

"Seeking value for money was one of our top considerations and, as well as helping us to achieve that, the new contract model will see city park maintenance delivered in a different, more open way. Contractors will attend Community Board meetings, engage with the community and performance targets and achievements will be publicly available."

About the contractors
Recreational Services is a family-owned company with more than 400 staff working for seven Councils across New Zealand. The company has been operating in the local government and open space sector for over 23 years. Recreational Services is proud to be a total parks, green space specialist company that has built a strong reputation in providing a high quality level of service, particularly adding value in regard to community engagement and innovation.

Delta Utility Services (Delta) is an infrastructure specialist in environmental and energy services owned by the Dunedin City Council. Delta has built a solid reputation delivering parks maintenance services throughout the South Island, including for the Waimakariri, Hurunui and Kaikoura District Councils.

City Care is a proven performer in the community for sexton services with a strong reputation for providing excellent customer service in an area that requires extreme sensitivity.

ENDS

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