2007 APWA Streets and Technology Conference
4/18/2007
Summary:
Experience of “Bid to Goal” in Various Agencies
Public Agencies can compete. In one agency in Florida that is exactly what occurred. There was strong pressure to contract costly mowing performed by the County employees to contractors. Prior to doing this County administrators allowed the employees the opportunity to compete in a bid to goal process. Employees were given one year to reduce cost per acre to mow below the cost of the contractors. Given the opportunity they took it. The first step was identifying opportunities on how to improve efficiency. Ideas included staging mowers closer to the job site, grouping area that needed to be mowed and purchasing the smaller equipment that could be maneuvered around obstacles in an area that was becoming much more urban. As an added motivation to improve the County developed an employee incentive program (EIP). Each employee involved in the bid to goal process would receive a percentage of the money saved by mowing in house versus contractors. In the end of the one year time frame the employees proved they could compete. They had reduced the cost per acre to below the established contractor price. Employees are now expected to receive their incentive as a result. The process proved that public employees given the right tools and opportunity can get the job done in a cost and time effective manner. The presentation will demonstrate this as well as clearly define the bid to goal process, the employee involvement and how the County expects to continue to maintain the improvement.
Title 20 Years of Pavement Management
County public works maintenance responsibilities can significantly change over time. The transformation from a dominate rural setting to an urbanized environment provides new challenges for public works such as controlling urban runoff, increased use of roads and other public infrastructure, and more communication efforts with the public. One characteristic associated with counties experiencing dramatic growth in population and economic development that is often overlooked is the formation of new local governmental agencies. Maintenance areas that were at one time the responsibility of the County have systematically, over the past several years, been turned over to newly incorporated cities. This has resulted in less infrastructure for the County operations to maintain. The challenge that urbanized counties now face is justifying their resources during these tough times of reduced budgets and changes in maintenance requirements. This presentation will begin with an overview of the historic maintenance effort of a county that is currently in this period of transformation. Information will include activities performed, amount of public assets that are maintained, maintenance efforts levels, required staffing levels, required equipment needs, and the growth of local governmental organizations. The second part of this presentation will focus on how a county is meeting this transformation challenge head on with implementation of computerized Maintenance Systems. A computerized system can provide a completely objective justification of the county’s resource needs. Public leaders have a responsibility to ensure efficiency and effectiveness of operations and that the required resources are in place to match the current needs. This presentation will provide details of a 5-Year Resource Plan that will match the level of maintenance responsibility with the required resources and ensure that the work gets done. This plan utilizes maintenance systems information, staff expertise, and staff judgment.
Speakers:
Harry C. Lorick, PE, PTOE
Principal, LA Consulting Inc, Manhattan Beach, CA
Lydia Cox
Senior Associate, LA Consulting INC, Manhattan Beach, CA