Optimisation Modelling for Roads through an Outsourced Service Greater Shepparton City Council Case Study

Why might a Council outsource its Pavement Management System? It can be a more affordable option, especially for; resourcing issue (human resource or cost constraints). limited ability to attract and retain technical expertise to administer a PMS (primarily regional areas). PMS software (what to buy and how much to pay).

What is a Pavement Management System? It’s a planning and decision making tool for pavements. It allows you to; Model pavement deterioration– life cycle analysis Investment options v Consequences Activity decisions (treatment matrix) Optimisation

Our Decision It’s more cost effective (at this point in time) Removes risk (sourcing skills) To commence optimisation To introduce objectivity

Shepparton Region

Our Road Network GSCC Road Network Total Asset Value $1.3B Total Road Length 2400km Seal Roads 1143km Total Road Asset Value $519M Sealed Road Asset Value $421M Unsealed Road Asset Value $98M

The Forgotten PMS Greater Shepparton had a PMS up to 2010/11 2 staff with administration access Inaccurate data (PMS was resource hungry) Considered Risk Owning and operating software Recruiting and retaining technically competent people

8’s 9’s and 10’s 2010/11 Condition Survey was done by visual inspection Data reduced to an asset section condition score (0-10) Asset Management System Data Dump AMS our only source of (limited) information Resorted to “fix worst first” Making 8’s 9’s and 10’s our priority Considered Risk We are not optimising our spend That our assessment of roads is subjective

Keeping the Crew’s Busy Task 12/13 13/14 14/15 Reseals $1,955,000 $1,786,000 $1,790,000 Reconstructions $4,220,000 $3,860,000 $4,000,000 Asphalt/Major Patching 548,000 $634,000 $591,000

Indicative Optimised Program over 20 years

2016/17 Works Breakdown

Optimisation v Fix Worst First Where road investment is biased toward predictive maintenance, rather than allowing a road to deteriorate until it needs more extensive reconstruction. Fix Worst First An overall score is attributed to the road section based on the overall condition (based on the assessors perceptions) and the worst sections are fixed first.

Trigger for Change Trigger was our 2014/15 Tri-annual Condition Survey Opted for video and laser road surface profiling Road asset broken down into 20m sections, with each distress identified and measured within that section No need for 8’s, 9’s and 10’s.

Raw data

Assetic - Objectives Optimised Treatment Programs Rolling 3 Year Capex Program Consequence Modelling 1-25 year condition prediction modelling Funding Gap Analysis Ability to use data in GIS

Assetic Modelling Road Definitions

Asset life cycle profiles

Condition v Budget options The type of outputs we expect to see: A comparison of different budget scenarios where we can optimise the spend and compare the benefit in overall network condition

Backlog calculation at $5M per annum Calculate the backlog of works and see the impacts of different budget scenarios on the calculated backlog

GIS graphical comparison of service levels for different budget scenarios A visual representation of the of the network under different budget scenarios

Capital Plan by asset A breakdown of the spend required on each asset over the term of the model (i.e. 10 years). We will also get a list of which assets need work, when they require work, and what type of work they need (i.e. slurry seal vs AC overlay vs rehab)

Basic Comparative Costs – GSCC Network In House Cost Annualised Condition Data $40,000 (over three years) Technical/Administrator (0.5FTE) $50,000 inc oncosts PMS Software (licensed) $25,000 $115,000 Outsourced Annualised Condition Data $40,000 PMS Service $25,000 $65,000 “Piece of string” An internal service can be > $200,000p.a depending on staff and software. Network size is a major contributing factor e.g State Road Authorities

Wrap up Outsourcing can be an affordable option Comes fully resourced, low risk of service delivery problems Data hosted by third party PMS builds in objectivity to capex decisions PMS allows for optimisation/predictive models Private sector is willing to work with Councils