What is Inroads?

..and what role does it play in the bay?

With over 5 years of the Inroads-managed PBC-01 contract now completed, the lump sum contract continues to provide a winning solution for all the parties involved. But, what is Inroads?

As one of three companies selected to submit a bid for the new-style Performance Based Contract (PBC–01) for roads in the Western Bay of Plenty, Opus Consultants established a bid team to put together the winning tender in 2001.

The winning submission was based on an alliance partnership between Opus, McBreen Jenkins (now Transfield) and Works Infrastructure (now Downer EDI Works) and was branded as Inroads, the contractor to deliver all the maintenance, capital work and long-term asset management strategies required under the contract. The Inroads management team now comprises 18 full time staff, including three staff who have been seconded from Downer EDI Works and Transfield.

The Inroads logo was developed to represent three basic principles of Integration, Innovation and Integrity. Integration of WBOPDC, NZ Transport Agency and Opus, as well as the three alliance partners; Integrity in the way we work in an open, transparent, trusting and honest manner; and Innovation, always seeking innovative approaches to everything we do.

Delivery is performance based and is driven by many operational, key and management performance measures – OPMs, KPMs and MPMs. Reporting on achievement against the wide range of performance measures is no simple task but it is done on a regular basis and is closely monitored by the two clients – Western Bay of Plenty District Council and the NZ Transport Agency. The key performance measures - which drive the long term strategies of the contact and determine the asset standard which must be achieved at the end of the 10 year period - are generally being achieved, as are the other performance measures which the contract requires Inroads to meet. Communication between the Inroads team and the client organisations is through the Bay Roads Superintendent, a position similar to that of Engineer’s Representative under conventional contract arrangements. With Inroads’ open-book policy and collaborative approach to achieving the best possible outcomes for everyone involved in PBC-01, sound working relationships and good channels of communication have developed between all the parties.

Since its inception there have been some significant improvements in the delivery of PBC-01, principally through development of the systems and processes we use to achieve the contract deliverables. In particular, the data management processes used by Inroads have progressed in leaps and bounds since the start of the contract. Our innovative approach has gained us widespread recognition, with the Inroads Data Management Team being awarded the 2005 Opus Technical Excellence Award and a number of the systems we have developed now being used by other Opus teams. A further example of how we continually seek new approaches occurred in the middle of 2006 when the Inroads team took over direct control of the plant and staff undertaking the maintenance work on the network. Applying the systems which we have developed has enabled us to better understand the asset and this in turn has resulted in a noticeable improvement in the performance of the maintenance related OPMs and consequently significant cost savings.

A further step in the integration process was relocating to a new purpose-built office in south Tauranga in December 2006. Apart from needing more office space, the major benefits have been that Inroads is now closer to WBOPDC offices, is located in the same yard as one of our alliance partners and getting out onto the network is much easier. With all Inroads personnel operating from the same location, there is now a real sense of ownership and team spirit.

This contract is a significant one for Opus. Its progress and achievements are being closely monitored both within the industry and by road controlling authorities who can see the benefits which such a contract provides. Opus is leading the way with this new style contract and its success has the potential to create great opportunities for Opus in the future.