Report: Procurement and Contract Management for Gawler East Link Road

This report provides an analysis of procurement and contract management practices in the context of the Gawler East Link Road project. It begins with an introduction to contract management and its importance in the procurement lifecycle, emphasizing the need for effective planning and monitoring to ensure successful contract delivery, particularly in public projects. The report details the project particulars, including its objectives, scope, budget, stakeholders, and timelines. It examines the procurement process for engineering services, assessing the contract's performance and identifying areas for improvement. The report concludes that while the design contract largely meets contract management requirements, further enhancements are possible, such as incorporating performance measures, continuous improvements, public disclosure, and a dispute resolution mechanism. The report also highlights the importance of building information management (BIM) systems for effective lifecycle management and the need for explicitly defined project success parameters.

Procurement and Contract Management

Introduction
Contract management forms an integral component of the procurement life cycle and a plan for
managing contracts helps managers mange contracts professionally by addressing such issues as
performance monitoring, transition management, and ensuring both parties involved in the contract
fulfill their legal obligations under the contract (Goodrich, 2013). The effective management of
contracts post award of the contract, in addition to quality evaluation processes and effective
planning during the project initiation stage help ensure the successfully delivery of contracts. This is
especially true for public contracts in which taxpayers expect to get the best value for their money
apart from getting public services that improve the welfare of the majority, for instance the
construction of roads. Contract management refers to the process of managing the creation,
execution, and analysis of contracts in order to maximize financial and operational performance for
an organization, while reducing financial risks in the meantime (Stackpole, 2010). There are four
stages in the process of procurement management that include planning procurement management;
conducting procurements, controlling procurements, and finally, closing procurements. This report
outlines the procurement management for the provision of engineering services as a prerequisite for
the construction of Gawler East Link Road. Included in the report is the particulars of the project
from a project management perspective and an evaluation if the performance of the project is
satisfactory in the context of procurement and contract management.
Part A: Project Particulars
The tender for the construction of the Gawler East Link road has the objective of catering to the
growth in housing in the Gawler East area in alignment with the Gawler East Development Plan
Amendment. The road will offer local traffic direct access to the Main North Road without having
to pass through Gawler town center helping reduce travel time and cutting costs as well as
improving safety on the road. Further, the project will confer social and economic benefits to the
Gawler Town residents.
Project Scope
Upgrading of the Potts Road intersection with Para Road and Main North Road
Upgrading of Potts Road between the Gawler East Link Road and Main North Road
Construction of a three kilometer Gawler East Link Road starting from Potts Road to Calton Road
through the Springwoods development site; this section will include building of a new bridge over
South Para River.
The contract is for the provision of engineering services intended to provide support in procurement
of the Design and Construction Contract.
The Client

The client in this case is the Department of Planning, Transportation, and Infrastructure,
Government of South Australia
Budget
The budget for the contract is $ 55 million and the project is to be undertaken in the Gawler East
Region, under the municipality of the Gawler Council. The exact location of the road is shown in
the map below (marked by the yellow line)
Source: (Gameng, 2018)

Stakeholders
The main stakeholders for the project include the main sponsor, who is also the client; the
Department of Planning, Transportation, and Infrastructure, Government of South Australia. Other
stakeholders include the Municipal Council of Gawler, the local developer Springwood
Communities as well as the local MP who represents the people of Gawler Municipality.
The issued tender (Tender Number AS4122: 2010) has a validity of 90 days
Time Frames/ Duration
Post award of the tender, the following time frames apply;
Phase One will run for a period of 31 weeks which will entail making the proposed designs for the
road.
Phase Two will run for three weeks during which the designs will be presented and evaluated before
being approved.
The project organizational chart is as shown below;

The main stakeholders are the local council that will provide the licenses and monitor construction
standards, in conjunction with the Transport, Planning, and Housing Department to ensure that the
construction meets environmental as well as technical standards. The persons issuing the tender
document for m part of the management team that will evaluate all submitted tenders and use
specified criteria as listed in the contract documents to award the tender to the most qualified
bidders. The project will have a project team headed by a project manager whose role is to ensure
the deliverables are met within the specified time and budget. The design company that wins the
tender is of course responsible for ensuring the contract terms and deliverables as stipulated in the
contract are delivered and accepted. The executive sponsor for the project is the Department of
Planning, Transportation, and Infrastructure, Government of South Australia.

Part B
The contract is still ongoing; so far, however, the management of the contract has been done well,
with the contract having clear objectives and specifications set for the would be contractors. The
tender is also open and has been floated publicly, this means that the client is seeking to give as
many contractors as possible the opportunity to participate in the project and therefore, get the best
value by having the best qualified contractor getting the nod to do the design. This ensures the
interests of the public are upheld, there is greater value for money, and the outcomes have a
likelihood of being high quality work given that the best and most qualified contractor is awarded
the contract. It has specific time-lines which ensures that the deliverables are time bound and
specific. The tender document is also highly detailed, with all qualification parameters for would be
service providers (design) being clearly specified so that those not meeting those requirements are
automatically disqualified. This ensures only those tat meet requirements are shortlisted, reducing
the number of submissions to go through and increasing the chances of a quality evaluation that
results in the most qualified contractor being awarded the tender.
Being floated publicly also encourages competition, ultimately befitting the tax paying public. At
present, the project is already underway and being executed with major earth-works already
ongoing, on schedule and there are no reports that the project has had any major delays. This is
attributed to the tender documents having had given specific timeliness for submission of
expression of interest and accompanying documents by interested contractors. The client (the DPTI)
has posted the progress of works and execution of the project on its website, with an April 2019
notice being posted for the Upgrades for the staging map of the main North Road intersections
(stages 1 to 3). the staging map for the detour and construction of the Potts road has also been
posted with notice of works given as well as for the Main North Road that contains the GELR
project and the the Tulloch Road Interchange Project. The temporary traffic staging time-lines are
also reported in the client website. According to the DPTI website, stage 1 of the works begins in
May 2019 (mid-May) and should be completed in early 2020.
In relation to the procurement process, the contract performance is satisfactory; this is because the
intention of the procurement was to invite and award a design contract for the construction of the
road and bridge as well as other features, that together constitute the contract AS4122: 2010. most
of the terms of the contract for the design have been fulfilled, with a map and design for the
Concept Map, an Aerial Project Map, the Calton Road Map, the Potts Road Roundabout Map, the
Potts Road Map, and the Gawler One Tree Hill Road Map. The contract terms outlines a
requirement for the design of the road infrastructure which as reported by the council are nearly all
complete. The design of the landscape is also continuing as per the contract terms which specifies
the contractor must undertake an urban landscape design where the works will be done. Acoustic

modeling for the road is also underway, which as specified in the contract is also being done.
(Town of Gawler, 2017). The relationship must also be manged effectively through communication
between the service provider/ vendor and the client and this has been done through the tender
document requirements and in the subsequent periods during tender review, award, clarifications,
and signing of the contract (Snijders, Wuttke and Zandhuis, 2010).
The contract document has been formulated well and according to requirements as set by the
PMBOK that includes development of the contract to include legally binding terms and agreements
with terms and conditions set out in detail (Project Management Institute, 2018). The contract is
administered well, considering the deliverables have been met (some are ongoing) and progress
update shared with the public, demonstrating progress. However, some improvements can be made
in future contract awards; while the design company may have fulfilled all procurement
requirements, the project is still public and requires disclosure to the public on elements such as the
environmental impact assessment map. This is not available online, even though it is likely it was
done. In the modern construction and design environment, life cycle management is a very
important aspect and the use of Building Information Management (BIM) systems should have been
specified in the contract. This is an important lesson to include in future contracts for effective life
cycle management of public infrastructure and to ensure the highest value for public money.
Further, effective contract management requires the management of contract performance through
agreements and performance measures that are not evident in the case study and should in future be
included; for instance, time to deliver against actual delivery say of designs (Open Campus, 2018).
The contract should in future also set out terms for making improvements as improvements within
procurement are required to ensure greater value for money. In future, the contract terms should
also specify parameters for project success explicitly so that this can act as a background for
evaluating performance against set objectives, including on time, cost, quality, and risk
management. A mechanism for dispute resolution should also be included in future contracts. The
contract type and its execution so far has merits and demerits and based on the above discussion, its
benefits and merits far outweigh the demerits
As a conclusion, this report notes that the design contract for the construction of the Gawler East
Link road fulfills most of the contract management requirements for effective project management.
However, some improvements can still be made, including specifying measures of performance,
making continuous improvements, and ensuring all contract deliverables are done and made
available for public consumption given this is a public project as well as putting in place a
mechanism for dispute resolution.

References
Gameng, M. (2018). $55m Gawler East Link Road project in SA given the green light. Retrieved
from https://blog.plantminer.com.au/55m-gawler-east-link-road-project-in-sa-given-the-green-light
Goodrich, R. (2013). What is Contract Management?. [online] Business News Daily. Available at:
https://www.businessnewsdaily.com/4813-contract-management.html [Accessed 25 May 2019].
Open Campus (2018). Control Procurements | Project Management Professional (PMP). [online]
Greycampus.com. Available at: https://www.greycampus.com/opencampus/project-management-
professional/control-procurements [Accessed 25 May 2019].
Project Management Institute (2018). Guide to the project management body of knowledge. 8th ed.
New York: Project management inst.
Snijders, P., Wuttke, T. and Zandhuis, A. (2010). A pocket companion to PMI?s PMBOK® Guide.
1st ed. Zaltbommel: Van Haren Publishing.
Stackpole, C. (2010). A user's manual to the PMBOK® guide. 4th ed. Hoboken, N.J.: John Wiley &
Sons.
Town of Gawler (2017). Gawler East Link Road | Town of Gawler. [online] Town of Gawler.
Available at: https://www.gawler.sa.gov.
au/community/gawler-east-link-road [Accessed 25 May 2019].