The Coronavirus pandemic has put at risk the delivery of local government services and good governance. At the same time, it has also challenged our thinking about the way the way in which we deliver services to the community and we are starting to adapt to remote service delivery using a variety of tools to support the work undertaken.
One area where we need to adapt is the need for managing projects remotely. The pandemic has brought into question the ability of councils to successfully deliver on their promises to the community this financial year, with some projects at risk of delay while they find ways to adapt in their delivery. In addition, many councils don’t commence their capital works expenditure for a new financial year until the budget is approved. With an extended timeframe being allowed to finalise Victorian council budgets this coming financial year, this may result in capital programs being delivered in a compressed timeframe. This year, 2020, is also a year that will end with local government elections with the caretaker period limiting the time available to approve critical capital works contracts.
Some councils also have the added burden of delivering bushfire and flood recovery programs and when we get to the other side of the of socially isolation further State and Federal funding may arrive to deliver economic stimulus programs.
All of this is leading up to the perfect storm where the capacity for councils to deliver on their capital programs will be at risk. Research undertaken by CT Management Group has already identified that there is already a capacity shortfall in the Victorian local government sector to deliver on capital programs (see insert weblink to Michael’s analysis). Improvement in that capacity is not likely to occur in the near future.
At this critical time and in the lead up to the local government election caretaker period, CT Management Group associates can continue to successfully deliver your capital and strategic projects, working with you in programming the 2020-2021 financial year and managing projects remotely. Our associates come with their own IT equipment and are already set up for remote access. We understand local government and therefore can fit in and respond quickly, operating within the federal government’s social distancing laws and requirements.
The Victorian Department of Health and Human Services has announced that construction is an essential service and can continue whilst workers observe social distancing protocols. Project management and delivery of capital works programs is a key specialisation of CT Management Group.
We work under a project management framework with the necessary checks and balances to ensure good project assurance and quality outcomes. We can continue to deliver your capital projects, at the same time working with you to transition your current operating procedures into more resilient offline (remote access) procedures that can be used in the future.
CT Management Group can continue to assist you with the detailed scoping and programming of your projects. This will save money, provide more accurate project staging and allow more projects to progress to achieve planning approval, costing and tendering, ready to commence construction as soon as possible.
For more information on how CT Management Group can assist your council in managing projects remotely and delivering them on time, please contact us on 1300 500 932 or via the form below.