As part of a broader reform strategy by the Western Australian State Government, Main Roads WA has implemented a program of reform that is designed to move Main Roads from being a provider and builder of roads to a manager of the road network, and to subject the delivery of road construction and maintenance to market competition. A significant part of Main Roads' strategy was the contracting to the private sector of all road maintenance for the Highway and Main Road network in Western Australia. Six of the contracts are fully outcome based and two are a combination of outcome based and Principal scheduled works. As the contracts have now been in place for periods between 2 and nearly 4 years, it is timely to reflect on the experience to date, and particularly on the lessons learnt from that experience. This paper outlines Main Roads' experience with the contracts, the contracts' performance in maintaining the Highways and Main Roads in Western Australia, and provides comment on key lessons learnt over the period of their operation. (Author/publisher) For the covering entry of this conference, please see ITRD abstract no. E208431.
Abstract