Council opens up tender process

The Queenstown Lakes District Council has decided to take millions of dollars of capital project work to the open market, QLDC infrastructure services general manager Mark Kunath said.

“The council considered the panel contractors framework at its May meeting and decided not to accept a two year renewal,” he said.

The council entered into the ‘panel’ contract in October 2007 with seven contractors, allowing those contractors the certainty to resource their organisations for the delivery of capital works in the Lakes District. The contract still allowed 20% of capital work to be tendered.

“The arrangement has worked very well but the general view was that market conditions have changed since the council entered into the panel arrangement,” Mr Kunath said.
The council chose not to enter into a two year renewal option with the panel, instead opting for a one year contract.

“It has also reduced the work allocated to the panel to 50% with the other half to go to open market tender,” Mr Kunath said.

The decision held positives for the community on a number of fronts, QLDC chief executive Debra Lawson said.
“It is also consistent with the council’s push for value for money and efficiencies,” she said.
Although the capital works programme was smaller than previous years the total budget sat at approximately $20 million.

“So that will be some $10 million dollars worth of capital work that will now be tendered,” Mr Kunath said.
It was anticipated the arrangement would enable local contractors to price more work and allow the council to take the best advantage of market conditions with contractors and panellists.
“There is nothing to prevent the panel from tendering for work on the open market but opening up more of the work will give us a strong indication that we are receiving best value for money,” Mr Kunath said.