Establishing Beneficial Council - Consultant Relationships for Remote Road Repairs after Disaster Events

Abstract

The historical process for disaster recovery for Mount Isa City Council was managed and planned utilising internal resources only who had competing priorities. This meant that insufficient time was allowed to understanding the funding complexities in addition to allocating and managing resources and the gathering of evidence by remote work crews. The nature of disaster events means that systems and resources are overloaded during critical time periods. The current Council EMT realised this, and MICC tendered for a consultant project manager in 2020. Initially for a single project manager. Erscon submitted a conforming tender to provide a single project manager, however through their experience with other remote Councils in understanding the Queensland Reconstruction Authority (QRA) requirements also submitted an alternate tender consisting of a team of experienced engineers and project managers and technical staff to allow full management of the remote road repair requirements in conjunction with the additional office-based support. Council immediately saw the added advantage of this proposal and accepted the non-conforming tender. Upon successful appointment, Erscon worked with Operations to develop a roster to provide continuous supervision and assistance. This whole of project approach also allowed for design and drafting input and ensures that critical liaison with QRA continues uninterrupted whilst site staff are out of phone contact often during business hours. This becomes even more critical when Council is managing multiple Disaster Recovery Funding Arrangement (DRFA) programs simultaneously at different stages of delivery e.g. assessment, project delivery, close out. With the assistance of the ERSCON team of Heath Jones, Ben Faith, Brook Rech, Dave Mannix and Luke Sadler, MICC commit to delivery of the relevant DRFA program working within the approved project management Recommended Value to minimise risk and optimise the value to the community. Mount Isa City Council recognise the importance of delivering the works within the QRA project management budgets to ensure that Council are not required to utilise own-source funding unnecessarily. This team of combined resources from Erscon and MICC are vital for the success of this process. It is critical that Council are not exposed to undue risks including legal, quality, financial, and reputation in the delivery of these externally funded projects. The focus of the delivery methodology between Council and Consultant is to manage risk and has been achieved through review and update of the delivery methodology. This ‘whole of project’ approach allows for design and drafting input and ensures that critical liaison with QRA continues uninterrupted whilst site staff are out of phone contact often during business hours. This becomes even more critical when Council is managing multiple DRFA programs simultaneously at different stages of delivery e.g. assessment, project delivery, close out. The site-based demand often means that on-site resources are not as available as necessary to liaise with QRA and other stakeholders which can result in delivery delays if the office-based support is not provided. The Council and Consultant functional relationship allows for increased efficiency for the site-based team and a higher level of service from the office-based staff.