Contract/Asset Management
Contracting for maintenance has become one of the major new strategies for highway and transportation agencies around the world to cope with the changing face of road construction and maintenance. Constrained by tighter budgets and limited personnel with the appropriate skills, agencies are turning to contracting to meet many of their maintenance responsibilities. Helping governments to understand the importance and burden of economically viable road maintenance is a key goal and challenge facing the IRF.
IRF executive seminars on contract maintenance offer participants an opportunity to learn about the developments in contract maintenance and the chance to visit many contract maintenance projects currently in progress around the world. In this way, attendees see first hand work methods and management procedures used by various contractors. The seminars focus on issues and strategies that affect both government agencies and contractors who are in the business of providing maintenance services. The seminars also allow participants to meet and discuss maintenance issues both contractors who perform the work and government managers who oversee the projects.
The seminars are especially designed for: government managers and senior staff looking at or implementing contract maintenance programs; consultants involved in assisting agencies with maintenance programs; contractors interested in getting into contract maintenance work; and senior managers from funding agencies monitor these programs.
When faced with budgetary constraints governments are tempted to cut their road maintenance programs. Without proper maintenance, even the best roads fall into disrepair and cause serious safety and mobility problems. The IRF emphasizes the importance of maintenance around the globe in both developed and developing countries. The challenges for developing countries are particularly acute. The IRF works to make governments both realize the importance of road maintenance and to help them find economically viable methods for doing this.
