“Do more with less!”  That is the battle cry of the new millennium.  The public demands that we work efficiently and effectively.  Many taxpayers believe that government would cost less if all activities were privatized.  But privatizing is not cost effective at well managed agencies.  We can help you prove it.
Managed competition is a process to compare the cost and quality of work by agency crews with work accomplished by contractors.  Plans and specifications are developed for work, which is then put out for bid.  Agency crews and private contractors then submit a bid.  The contract is awarded to the lowest and/or best bidder.

The idea of managed competition is sweeping the country.  It sounds easy, especially to the political body and the public.  However, it is anything but easy, especially for road and street maintenance.  There are several reasons for this:

• Many of the traditional construction specifications do not work well for maintenance specifying.  They require too much engineering and construction management activity.  It makes them labor intensive and cost prohibitive for maintenance work.

• It is difficult to pre-define the right balance of work quality for maintenance work.

• Many agencies do not have good unit cost information for their maintenance activities.  They have a difficult time comparing costs, and a more difficult time justifying them.

Managed competition can be both a cost effective and motivational exercise for your agency.  But it is difficult to do an “apples to apples” comparison.  It is difficult to determine the true benefit.  We can help you:

• Select work activities that would be good candidates to consider.

• Develop specifications that fully describe the work and still allow for minimal contract management and inspection.

• Develop specifications that are fair to both the bidders and the agency.  They must fully describe the level of quality.  They must enable all bidders, including the agency, to give a firm bid.

• Determine the correct overhead costs for administrating the contract, whether they are for private bidders or agency bidders.

• Provide contract management so that the agency gets all that it has coming and the contractor, either private or agency, is treated fairly.

Fleet Engineering Services is ready, willing, and able to help you with these and many more of your management needs, customized for your agency.  We also provide training in all of these areas.