Contractor Management Review

⁠⁠⁠Hunter Water is required to provide, construct, operate, manage and maintain efficient, coordinated and commercially viable systems and services for supplying water, providing sewerage services and disposing of wastewater throughout its area of operations under an Operating Licence granted by the NSW Government.

At present Hunter Water employs 490 staff. Head Office houses approximately 355 employees with the remaining 135 field staff employed across 3 regional depots. Hunter Water Corporation is structured into five areas of business comprising:

Customer Services The Customer Services Divisions major responsibility is to serve a diverse range of customers in a variety of ways. The core functions of this division are Billing and Collections, Commercial Services, Customer Contact, Developer Services and Technical Services. In addition Communications, Marketing and Stakeholder management are conducted by this division.

Planning & Operations This division is responsible for the planning and delivery of the capital program along with the operations and maintenance of the capital infrastructure assets. Planning and Operations is the engineering division within Hunter Water that provides water and wastewater services to our customers. This division is considered to present the largest safety risk to Hunter Water. The Planning and Operations division includes Civil Maintenance and Electrical Mechanical Maintenance teams.

Civil maintenance has a core of 74 in-house personnel and use subcontractors as required for peak workload management and some specialist services. Some of the varied tasks performed by the Civil maintenance team include repairs and maintenance to water and wastewater systems, maintenance of open stormwater channels, reservoir cleaning and maintenance and the maintenance and repair of the Chichester Trunk Gravity Main.

The Electrical Mechanical Maintenance team undertakes all electrical and mechanical maintenance activities - both reactive and preventative. The group uses a core in-house workforce supplemented as required by sub-contractors both for peak workload management and also for some specialist services. In addition to the daily maintenance role, this group also has responsibility for developing asset management strategies, setting design standards, reviewing detailed designs and monitoring asset performance for all electrical and mechanical equipment.

The group has a total workforce of 45 staff, divided across both a field based trades maintenance team and a Head Office based engineering and contract management team.

Finance The Finance division undertakes the financial corporate and external reporting for Management, the Board, regulators and other stakeholders. They coordinate the corporate budgeting process and provide assistance to business units for managing operating and capital budgets. This division also manages the corporate liabilities and cash flows to ensure there are sufficient funds to operate.

Shared Services The Strategy, Governance and Corporate Division delivers shared services across the business. The core focus areas of this division are People and Safety, Corporate Strategy and Regulation, Corporate Services, Internal Audit and General Counsel. Corporate Procurement also sits within the Shared Services division, managing all procurement, accounting, tendering and contractual functions ensuring the strategic objectives of the business are met, while minimising any risk or exposure to the Corporation at all times

Information Services Information Services is responsible for the planning, development and implementation of ICT systems and the management of information to support the business operations of Hunter Water.

The purpose of this contract is to conduct a review of the Contractor Management processes, work practices and supporting tools currently used within Hunter Water, with the aim to identify gaps and provide suggested actions to resolve gaps.