Building an Effective On-Call Delivery Model to Improve Equipment Availability

To reduce a growing backlog of maintenance work, improve equipment availability, and increase operations reliability, Gwinnett County Department of Water Resources (GCDWR) needed an adaptive and innovative delivery model that enabled quick response to emergency and urgent maintenance and repair challenges, operated within the County’s procurement guidelines, provided access to subject matter experts (SMEs), and built county staff capacity and capabilities to take over the key maintenance and management responsibilities.Over the last four years, GCDWR’s initiatives evolved into an On-Call delivery model that makes innovative use of established contracting methods to function within the County’s procurement guidelines. The On-Call model consists of the use of annual contracts competitively procured for facility repair and maintenance services that additionally utilizes the support of sole-source agreements with equipment manufacturers, demand-services agreements with engineers, annual contracts with specialty-service providers, and informal written quotes (IWQs) and bid lettings. This On-Call model enables GCDWR to form delivery teams that include engineers, contractors, manufacturers, and SMEs with skills and experience relevant to solving the immediate problem at the right time and to quickly restore equipment back to reliable operation. Availability of multiple contractors and engineers coupled with an open-book (time and material) cost contracting approach ensures cost-effective execution of quality work. The On-Call teams work in an integrated manner with County operations and maintenance (O&M) staff to help them build the maintenance, repair, and rehab skills required to maximize equipment life using historical data from Computerized Maintenance Management System (CMMS).The On-Call model has allowed GCDWR to improve equipment availability and overall operations effectiveness by eliminating maintenance backlog, minimizing procurement burden, and significantly reducing the mean time to repair (MTTR).