Maintenance Outsourced Contracts

A baseline report to evaluate the need for

a performance measure
March 8, 2004

Definition of maintenance. Maintenance can be defined from several aspects 1) the source
of funding (maintenance appropriation vs. construction appropriation); 2) type of activity (routine
or preventive maintenance vs. rehabilitation, reconstruction or new construction); 3) who does the
work (maintenance workers vs. contractors). For purposes of this report, a combination of these
definitions was used. Maintenance is defined as those activities that are typically aligned with
maintenance and operations, normally funded from non-capital appropriations, and may be done
with Mn/DOT workers. It includes maintenance activities that Mn/DOT has a responsibility to
provide, but may choose to outsource.

Data collected for this report. To collect the data, the Office of Maintenance requested contract
lists from the districts and the Office of Maintenance for FY03 and estimates for FY04.

What is included. Contract information was collected for the four categories Buildings,
Equipment, Highways and Other. The Highway category was further divided into sub-categories
Bridges, Pavements, Roadsides, Signs/Markings, Snow & Ice, Signals/Lighting. The report
basically includes activities funded from maintenance operations budgets but may include BARC
contracts if they are maintenance-related (sign replacement, striping). It also includes support
services such as training and software, but excludes contracts for materials. If a service contract
includes materials (e.g. roofing), the contract is included. Training or management systems are
included only if they align with a specific maintenance category.

What is not included. The following activities, funded from the construction budget, are not
included:
Major bridge maintenance contracted by the Bridge Office
Reconstruction
Rehabilitation
Major resurfacing
Preventive maintenance

How we decide what to outsource.

1. Measure customer expectations and satisfaction to learn what products and services they
value most.
2. Define desired outcomes and identify the products/services to provide.
3. Determine who can best deliver the services, based on these considerations:
Emergency (snow & ice; other weather-related cleanup; signal repair)
Competitiveness (striping, sign shop, snowplow fabrication)
Cost
Quality
Timeliness of delivery
Capacity of available, skilled workforce (building design; snowplow fabrication; fleet
maintenance)
Skill/expertise (building design; snowplow fabrication; fleet maintenance)
4. Prepare Mn/DOTs workforce in size and skills to deliver desired outcomes.

1
Data
In FY03, Maintenance outsourced contracts worth $37,750,134. In FY04, the total is estimated to
be $25,234,854. FY03 totals were considerably higher that the FY04 estimates for two reasons
1) Building contracts are usually higher in the second year of a biennium, and 2) end of biennium
funds were reallocated to building projects in FY03. The annual maintenance/operations budget
is $166 million. Maintenance activities funded from BARC funds is approximately $4 million per
year. An average of FY03 and FY04 outsourced contracts is $31,492,494, or 18.5% of the annual
budget.
The contracts are divided into the 4 categories -

Buildings (HVAC; roofing; repair/operate; water/sewer; yard; testing/engineering; radio

towers)
Examples: Consultant design services
Construct salt sheds/storage buildings
Truck station paving
Rest area janitorial service
Asbestos compliance
Upgrade ventilation
Replace roof
Install water line
Upgrade wiring
Install fire sprinkler system

Equipment (Preventive; breakdown; body work; operations; rental/storage)

Examples: Snowplow buildout
Tire repair
Mower tractor rental
Glass replacement
Loader storage
Sandblasting/painting units
Car washes
Oil changes

Highways (Bridge/culvert; pavement; roadsides; signs/markings; snow & ice; signals/lighting)

Examples: Sign replacement
Aggregate shouldering
Mill & overlay
Build right turn lanes
Emergency culvert repair
Road/Weather forecast
Chip seals
Pavement message marking

Other
Examples: Omnibus survey
Hazardous waste removal
ESS certification training