Major Roading Contracts Awarded

Dunedin (Friday, 22 March 2013) – Fulton Hogan is the successful tenderer for Dunedin’s multi-million dollar road maintenance contracts.

Both the urban and rural road network contracts for the entire DCC area have been awarded to Fulton Hogan, which holds current contracts for these areas. The new contracts are larger, with more work built in to create efficiencies and savings.

The new contracts are both for a three plus three year term, which means a three-year term followed by a three-year right of renewal at the discretion of the Dunedin City Council. The contracts, which start on 1 July, have a combined value of $39 million for the initial three-year period.

DCC Transportation Operations Programme Engineer Michael Harrison says staff spent considerable time looking at ways to bundle up the contracts and whether there were more efficient and cost-effective ways of providing the services. This included looking at how other local authorities organised their roading contract work.

The decision to retain separate urban and rural contracts was in part to maximise the number of suppliers available to tender and to ensure the opportunity remained for smaller contractors to participate in the process.

Mr Harrison says there was a very competitive tendering process with three tenderers for the rural contract and two tenderers for the urban contract. As a result of the tendering process and the bigger contracts, there will be savings which will flow through to the2013/14 Annual Plan.

Under the current contracts, Fulton Hogan’s responsibilities include fixing potholes, grading gravel roads, spraying roadside vegetation and maintaining road signs. The new contracts include the current responsibilities and add work such as the resealing of roads and footpaths, shape correction work, kerb and channel replacement.

Mr Harrison says the new style of contracts, which provide the same service levels, focus on a ‘best for network’ result.

“We are trying to move closer to a ‘fence to fence’ regime.”

Fulton Hogan Dunedin Regional Manager Richard Fulton says the company is delighted to have been awarded the contracts and to continue its successful partnership with the Dunedin Area Roading Team.

DART is comprised of DCC staff and Fulton Hogan staff and their subcontractors. They have the job of responding - at any time of the day or night - when floods, slips, snow or ice pose problems for the city’s roading network.

“Fulton Hogan works with a lot of smaller local subcontractors and we are keen for this to continue,” Mr Fulton says.

The company also plans to invest in new equipment to ensure its already modern fleet can provide a high level of service over the term of the contracts.

The new contracts also give the company more flexibility around its work programmes.

The City of Dunedin covers one of the largest city areas in New Zealand, with about 1000km of sealed roads and 700km of unsealed or gravelled roads.

ends

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