Council adopts first-of-its-kind ‘Three Waters’ contract

Published on May 01, 2017

Horowhenua District Council is leading the way again by adopting a first-of-its-kind ‘Three Waters’ contract for the operations, maintenance and renewals of its drinking-water, wastewater and stormwater assets.

Council adopted the new type of contract at its meeting last week. Combining the three water services into one contract is a first-of-its-kind in New Zealand.

It also adopted the Tenders Committee recommendation that the contract, that will take effect from July 2017, be awarded to preferred and incumbent contractor Downer, which has provided services to Council since mid-1997.

Council’s Infrastructure Services Group Manager Gallo Saidy said that considering the scale of the Three Waters contract, it was decided to tender it to ensure best value-for-money for Council and ratepayers.

“Council ran a full procurement process to select a preferred supplier, and nine firms expressed their interest. After evaluating the tenders, the incumbent contractor Downer was chosen as our preferred contract partner.”

Mr Saidy said the Three Waters contract is also a ‘collaborative outsourced contract’, better-known as an alliance contract. He said this would enable “enhanced collaboration between Council and contractor”, providing efficiencies and better value-for-money.

He said that “working even closer together” would extend to some staff from Council and Downer sharing office space.

“This contract is another step forward in our intention to achieve greater efficiencies and the sustainable delivery of excellent drinking-water, wastewater and stormwater services for all communities throughout our District; including improved response times to customer requests.”

Downer’s Water General Manager David Simpson said they are proud to be awarded New Zealand’s first Three Waters contract.

“As one of New Zealand’s leading service providers in the water sector, Downer is committed to continuous innovation and improved delivery for our customers. We are excited about the opportunity to work closely with the Horowhenua District Council to provide excellent water services to residents and businesses across the District,” Mr Simpson said.