13 April, 2017
New suppliers confirmed for Auckland-wide maintenance contracts
A four month long procurement process has identified innovative suppliers for council maintenance services.
The new contracts, which take effect from 1 July, will see streamlined local maintenance services with enhanced outcomes
and better value for money.
Suppliers fall into three contract types; Full Facilities (parks, open spaces and building maintenance); Arboriculture
Services (tree maintenance), and Ecological Services (restoration, biodiversity, pest control). These new contracts will
cover the whole Auckland region, but are structured in service areas aligned with local board boundaries. The council
will continue to manage local suppliers on Waiheke and Great Barrier Islands, due to their unique characteristics,
through its Community Facilities department.
The successful new suppliers are:
City Care (Full Facilities contract) - City Care is a leading provider of maintenance and management services across New
Zealand's built environment. They have expertise in maintaining parks, gardens, sports fields, cemeteries, waterways and
coastal areas, buildings and public facilities, roading networks and water, wastewater and stormwater networks. They are
well-established in Auckland and are an incumbent provider to Auckland Council.
Wildlands (Ecological Services contract) – Wildlands is a New Zealand ecological firm who provide specialist skills and project
implementation in relation to ecology; biodiversity; ecological restoration and revegetation; survey and monitoring;
assessments of ecological effects; environmental monitoring; indigenous flora and fauna; exotic pest plants and animals
and wetland restoration.
Treescape – (Arboriculture Services and Ecological Services contract) – Treescape is an established New Zealand ecological firm
who has a reputable track record providing specialist skills and project implementation in a vast number of areas.
Treescape are the largest arboriculture provider in New Zealand and have a large resource pool available to them.
Urban Maintenance Systems (UBS) (Full Facilities contract) – UBS is a facilities and infrastructure maintenance and management provider with a strong,
almost exclusive, focus on local government. Primarily working in Australia, UMS has already established a small
footprint in Christchurch and Wellington and is expanding its operations in New Zealand.
Ventia (Full Facilities contract) – Ventia is an infrastructure service company in Australia, New Zealand and the Pacific
specialising in long-term operation, maintenance and management of critical public and private assets and infrastructure
with a focus on safety and sustainability. The company is well established within Auckland, with nearly 200 office-based
staff, 600 field workers and 500 subcontractors within the Auckland region.
City Park Services (Full Facilities and Arboriculture contract) – City Park Services are a division of Auckland Council and provide a full
range of cost-effective and innovative services to maintain streetscapes, parks, sport fields, public spaces and other
open space environments across the Auckland region. Services range from asset management to wetland restoration and weed
control.
Under the current contract model there are seventeen suppliers operating across the region, eight of which are overseas
owned.
Rod Sheridan, General Manager Community Facilities, says that with all of council’s current maintenance contracts
expiring on 30 June this year, the time was right to go out to market and identify innovative suppliers that could
provide better value for money and better local services for Aucklanders.
“Our current suppliers do a great job delivering the requirements of the contracts in place at the moment. This process
has been about creating a new, bolder maintenance model that helps position Auckland as one of the best performing
cities in the world.”
“The absolute priority throughout the procurement phase was securing suppliers that met our demands of value for money
for ratepayers, efficiency and innovation. As such, suppliers were not evaluated based on prior history as incumbents
with Auckland Council, or country of origin, but rather their ability to deliver the desired outcomes.”
“Throughout the procurement process we looked at how suppliers could meet our requirements to deliver the most
cost-effective solutions, reduce duplication of services, embrace world leading and emerging technology and introduce
new social and environmental targets for management and maintenance of our assets and spaces, among other things. We
found that in the six successful suppliers.”
“With the process efficiencies and increased levels of service we estimate that the added value in delivering these
improvements under the new contracts is in the vicinity of $30 million per year.”
Sheridan adds that council staff are working with suppliers to ensure that enhanced services are incorporated into the
contract funding, rather than tapping Local Board funding, as much as possible.
“We are looking forward to workshops with all twenty-one Local Boards in May where we will finalise their local asset
lists, ascertain their local maintenance priorities for the next year and identify and agree any site-specific
requirements that may require enhanced service levels. We will also work with them at that time to set smart procurement
targets and supplier key performance indicators (KPIs) for localised outcomes, including employment. In June the Local
Boards will meet with the new suppliers start their new partnerships. On the whole this is a great example of how we are
making our size work and remaining committed to local results,” says Sheridan.
“We’re committed to a smooth transition for all involved and right now we are working hard on the mobilisation process
which includes finalising legal contracts, defining health and safety requirements and setting up reporting and auditing
processes.”
“We sincerely thank all of our outgoing suppliers for their dedication to Auckland Council, and to Aucklanders, over the
course of their contracts and we look forward to working with new and returning suppliers from July.”
More information will be available on the Auckland Council website closer to the 1 Julycontract commencement date.
ENDS