Govt procurement hampers speed, innovation

Government infrastructure could be built faster and to a higher standard if construction firms were engaged early in the planning process, according to the Australian head of Spanish engineering giant Acciona.

But, according to Acciona Australia chief executive Bede Noonan, WA was performing better than the rest of the nation when it came to engagements between government and industry.

Speaking to Business News for a recent feature on infrastructure resilience and funding issues, Mr Noonan said government procurement often stood in the way of innovative thinking.

“What we are used to seeing in Australia is the government departments very strongly specifying exactly what they want, which then means we can’t really give them alternatives,” he said.

“It is sort of the nature of our forms of government that, because of good governance we have processes … that actually guard against us doing stuff sometimes.

“Where we are able to get involved earlier and change the actual physical work that might occur, we are really able to have a game-changing approach.

“I feel there is a journey to be had where we have got to collaborate more to enable smart solutions and plan to deal with this stuff further in advance so society is not caught on the hop.”

Severe weather is front of mind for many infrastructure projects today, evident in climate risk assessment workshops being held for projects in areas prone to adverse conditions.

But climate is not the only threat to public infrastructure, with wear and tear from heavier vehicles and more frequent use also a factor.

“Lots of structures, bridges, roads, which were built fifty to 100 years ago actually need to be lifted, need to be built differently,” Mr Noonan told Business News.

“In order to be efficient, our society has moved on, and yet our assets haven’t necessarily been upgraded.”

Mr Noonan said international knowledge could deliver lighter, cheaper and greener builds, should procuring agencies be open to listening.

“Resilience meaning ‘let’s make sure the structure withstands the future’,” he said.

“That doesn’t actually mean it has to be the biggest amount of concrete and steel, and that tends to be where some people’s minds go.

“It is not the concrete structure that fails, it’s the fact that it’s not high enough; it’s how they’re able to handle the flood.

“Government delivery agencies are getting better, but they have got a journey to go to feel more comfortable in allowing experienced construction contractors and experienced designers to say ‘You know what, we can actually give you some alternatives’.”

High bar

Reconstruction of the Fitzroy Bridge following last year’s flood has set a high bar.

The Georgiou Group, BMD Constructions and Main Roads alliance completed the build in just nine months, with the structure opened six months ahead of schedule.

Mr Noonan said that project was a good example of what could be achieved when industry and government worked together in the early stages.

“I would imagine it would have taken your minister, (Rita) Saffioti, to actually get personally involved to bang heads of departments to actually get them to approve stuff in a way that they have never done before,” he said.

“For the future, the right answer is having construction companies – it might be a panel – work with (government) and think about where the next Fitzroy Bridge is, what are the other things where, before something goes wrong, we actually have a planned approach to dealing with floods?”

As for the WA government’s efforts in general to work with industry, Mr Noonan was full of praise.

“Our ability to connect and talk with the deputy premier and the heads of departments is closer in WA than it is in other states of Australia and New Zealand,” Mr Noonan said.

“When I speak to any politician in Australia, I really do encourage them to be more like WA and say [to them] ‘We need to be engaging with you, especially on the big stuff because you are the ones that are going to get phone calls from voters if they’re not happy’.

“Not overtaking the role of the delivery agency, but [politicians] have got to be engaged and I do feel in WA, probably they are the best example of being engaged.”

In that regard, he said, the construction industry still had a way to go to encourage out-of-the-box thinking.