Introduction
In
recent years, New Zealand District and Regional Councils spent
over $2 Billion on their capital and renewal projects. The expenditure
total for 2004 to 2005 is expected to be substantially larger
than this. Local government is reckoned to account for 6% of the
nations GDP. At this scale, market intelligence concerning Council
expenditures is vital for business planning purposes.
Firms of
suppliers, contractors and professional advisors wishing to tender and
contract for their rightful share of this work need timely,
useful and comprehensive information about Council's current-
(2002-2003) plans. This information is now available.
Welcome
to the revised and fully featured NZLG "CAPEX Annual"... subscribers
to this publication-reference directory will discover that it is an
invaluable tool to assist in doing business with New Zealand Councils.
"CAPEX"
is short for CAPital EXpenditures
- the " CAPEX Annual" is a very detailed and comprehensive
publication containing particulars of all proposed
Council capital works.
The publication
in CD ROM format is produced each year- as early as July 1, a date set
so as to allow the maximum possible lead time to consider tendering
and service provision strategies.
The "CAPEX
Annual" has been both carefully and thoughtfully designed to meet
the specific needs of the market. A comprehensive survey-questionnaire
completed by a cross-section of suppliers and professionals was conducted
last year. The survey asked for opinions relating to the type of information
needed by the respondents. Respondents were unanimous in requesting
a publication that fulfilled the following needs:
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Firms
surveyed insisted upon timely information "as soon as practically
possible"- many of those surveyed noted that information
currently received is only available by the end of the calendar
year- far too late when many of the Council's plans by this time
"are already well underway".
The need for
prompt-timely information has been met- the new "CAPEX Annual"
is available from July 1st of each year..the first day of the
new financial year and prior to the formal tendering of Council
contracts. |
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Many
of those surveyed favoured receiving more useful information to
assist in marketing their services to New Zealand Local Government.
The need for
more useful information has been met- the "CAPEX Annual"
contains, for every council, grouped, detailed project- by- project
listings of proposed works together with Contacts and Useful-standing
data pages.
The Contacts
page besides containing all Council addresses and contact particulars,
(including website/emails), also identifies contact officers of
the Council with whom to deal- (CEO/GM, finance and engineering
managers).
In addition,
a brief listing of existing water and wastewater facilities as
well as a note relating to current "engineering arrangements"
for each Council is included on the Contacts page.
FLASH: A new
feature of this years CAPEX Annual is information (where available)
held on the 'Contacts' page for each Council on detail of the
tendering of major operational/maintenance contracts. This covers
utilities management, refuse collection computer operations etc
and records dollar amounts and dates for re-tenders.
"Some"
additional useful information- based on recent survey data- is
included where available. The survey information reports upon
such matters as operational and maintenance contract arrangements
and backlog projects which are included at the end of each project
list. |
- Marketing
planning and assessment data:
|
Every
Council presents tenderers with different prospects based on a
Council's size, its demographics and financial position. To enable
well- rounded marketing judgements to be made, survey respondents
favoured receiving key statistics that would assist in framing
marketing plans.
The need for
the inclusion of key-"vital" statistics for each Council
has been met- the new "CAPEX Annual" contains a selection
of graphs and tables drawn from the NZLG "Base Stats"
reports. Population and roading densities, per capita expenditure
levels, niceties to amenities ratios are just a small sample of
the measures provided. |
Editorial Commentary
1. The need for
timely reporting.
To meet market expectations
for early advice of Council plans, "Draft Annual Plans" have
been used to compile the proposed capital expenditure project lists.
This strategy is expected to give results which are much more timely
than if "Adopted Plans"- often not available until later in
the year were used.
2. Completeness
and accuracy assurances.
Accuracy levels
gained from the approach adopted are favourably "comparable"
with other ways of obtaining data. To put this matter into perspective,
many of the planned Council expenditures, though formally approved are
often not contracted in the ensuing year. This can be due to changes
of plans arising from unforeseen financial constraints, weather or a
range of conditions including RMA consent processing and resource limitations.
In short, the use
of Draft Plans and the need for timeliness of tendering and contracting
information has been given appropriate emphasis without prejudicing
acceptable standards of completeness and accuracy.
Some information
relating to engineering arrangements has been gained on a "best
endeavors basis" as a result of an informal survey. The data is
by no means complete. In subsequent editions of the CAPEX Annual this
information will be comprehensively surveyed.
3. Capital items
and Regional Council's project lists.
It should be noted
that the detailed Council listings of expenditures include all reported
"capital" expenditures, although in some cases-particularly
for Regional Councils the distinction between true capital, renewal
and in some cases operating expenditures is blurred. In these cases
the "CAPEX Annual" lists all expenditures as reported accompanied
by annotations such as "renewals" or "maintenance"
etc.
4. Backlog items
of proposed expenditure.
Where information
has been made available, lists of proposed expenditure conclude with
a footnote of "Backlog projects". These are projects- still
to be contracted for expenditures- that have been approved within earlier
plans and not yet finalised. For fuller particulars enquiry's should
be addressed directly to the Council concerned.
5. Appreciation.
The compilation
of this publication has been a major logistics exercise. To the many
who assisted with its planning and production-
"a
big thank you".
6. Future developments.
Constant improvements to the "CAPEX Annual"
will be made. Proposed enhancements include expansion of the existing
"Base Stats" database to include more information as it comes
to hand on all aspects of Council contracting including backlog works,
engineering details, Council LATE's etc. This process will involve survey
data - not merely data that is contained in Annual Plans.
Comments
Suggestions or subscribers
comments, favourable - or constructively not! - should be addressed
to :
Larry.
N. Mitchell
Local
Government Finance & Policy Analyst
PO
Box Puhoi, Northland, NZ.
Email
larry@kauriglen.co.nz
www.kauriglen.co.nz/larry
Phones;
027 479 2328 or 09 422 0598.
Fax
09 422 0700
Orders
to the above: enclose cheque for $441 includes GST and
postage.
Draw
cheques to Larry. N. Mitchell at PO Box Puhoi.
CAPEX Annual presentation- layout
The CAPEX
Annual is presented in a straightforward and logical sequence designed
to assist subscribers to readily obtain the information they seek. Its
order is as follows:
Copyright Notice.
The
New Zealand Local Government "CAPEX Annual" is published annually
by Larry.N. Mitchell and Associates, Local Government Finance &
Policy Analyst.
All
rights to this directory are reserved. This publication is protected
by copyright and no part of it may be reproduced, copied, transmitted
or stored in a retrieval system in any form or by any means whether
electronic, mechanical, photocopied, microcopied, recorded, taped or
otherwise without the express permission of the publisher except in
accordance with the provisions of the Copyright Act.
The
2002 - 2003 CAPEX Annual Publication is produced in a CD-ROM format.
Its copying is permitted within
a paid up subscribing firm only after the express permission of Larry.
N. Mitchell has been given and acknowledged in
writing.
Under
no circumstances may any of the content of the CAPEX Annual be reproduced
in any form to other parties, firms or individuals not directly associated
with a paid up subscriber to the publication.
