1. QUALITY ASSURANCE FOR CONTRACTED MAINTENANCE IN ONTARIO, CANADA
Prepared for MQA Peer Exchange, Madison Wisconsin - Oct. 11/04

2. Overview Ontario Provincial Statistics
Definition of ‘Maintenance’ in Ontario
Maintenance Contract Types
Maintenance Standards
Quality Assurance
Sanctions
Challenges
Questions/Contact Information

3. Ontario - Provincial Statistics
1 Million sq km (412,000 sq miles) and 10 million people
Climate varies north to south, with south similar to Niagara Falls or Buffalo NY
The Ministry of Transportation (MTO) is responsible for 16,500 centreline-kms (10,250 miles) and
2500 bridges
2 tunnels
29 remote airports
8 ferry services
Contracted Maintenance Expenditures are about $200M CAD
All MTO’s expenditures are only 1.5% of provincial government budget.

5. ‘MAINTENANCE’ IN ONTARIO
Routine Maintenance
Pothole repair
Shoulder grading
Repair guide rail and fences
Sweeping and debris removal
Traffic signal and illumination- scheduled maintenance and repair
Tunnel Maintenance
Bridge cleaning, scheduled maintenance (lift bridges) and minor repair
Sign replacement
Grass cutting and weed control
Winter Maintenance
Plowing, liquids, sanding and salting
Patrolling
Visual Inspection
At Least Daily in Winter
Emergency
Response to collisions, spills
This answers the question “What is Maintenance?”
Highlight the differences between maintenance and capital work – OFTEN CONFUSED BY THE PUBLIC AND IN SPEAKING WITH OTHER JURISDICTIONS.
Capital ‘Construction’ contracts - bid by ‘item’
NOT INCLUDED
Resurfacing
Rebuilding

6. MAINTENANCE CONTRACT TYPES
Area Maintenance Contracts (60% of Hwys.)
Management and work by Contractor
Vast Majority of work is Lump Sum
Contracts contain a count of inventory, and a 3-year history of work performed
7-9 Year durations
Proposal quality factor applied to price
Managed Outsourcing Contracts (40% of Hwys.)
Managed by MTO Staff, all work by Contractors
Usually at a bid price per day with risk sharing on annual quantity
Mostly Functional Contracts
Mostly 5 Year durations

7. MAINTENANCE STANDARDS
The Maintenance Quality Standards (MQS) set out maintenance requirements
Many are time-based, such as x days to fix a given-size pothole or to repair collision damage to guide rail
Mandatory patrolling frequencies are key to detection of defects
At a minimum, maintenance contract requirements meet the MQS
Bidding Methods – Looking for efficiencies in matching risk with the parties that can manage it.
Labour relations issues
Number of bidders, remote areas

8. QUALITY ASSURANCE
Front line field staff include Superintendents who have several Coordinators, about one per lane km, totalling 167 provincially
Key program development in concert with the Maintenance Superintendents Committee
Monitoring Manual sets out key requirements for each contract requirement
Contractors also propose quality control procedures that are marked as part of proposal scoring.
Bidding Methods – Looking for efficiencies in matching risk with the parties that can manage it.
Labour relations issues
Number of bidders, remote areas

10. SANCTIONS
Non-performance for key items identified in contract leads to the issuance of a “Demerit Point”
Thresholds of Demerit Points per year and overall can lead to loss of the contract
Process has been extremely effective, contractors take demerits much more seriously than the associated financial penalties.
Bidding Methods – Looking for efficiencies in matching risk with the parties that can manage it.
Labour relations issues
Number of bidders, remote areas

11. CHALLENGES
Ability (and need?) to express and summarize performance quantitatively
Time-based standards
Change in a large and proud organization, particularly with contracts working well
Bidding Methods – Looking for efficiencies in matching risk with the parties that can manage it.
Labour relations issues
Number of bidders, remote areas

13. FURTHER INFORMATION AVAILABLE AND SHARING WELCOMED
Sonya Skinner, P.Eng.
Head, Maintenance Contracts
Ministry of Transportation of Ontario