Contractor selection for performance-based maintenance partnerships

Dutch housing associations use new procurement methods such as performance-based maintenance partnerships for maintaining their housing stock. Such partnerships promise a range of advantages as compared to the traditional tendering of maintenance projects. For contractors a performance-based approach implies major changes in methods and work processes. A major change within this performance-based approach is that, the contractor acts as a maintenance-engineering consultant to the client. This requires new activities to be considered, such as providing advice on maintenance strategies, the design of maintenance scenarios, performance measurements and conducting customer satisfaction surveys. The execution of these activities demands additional capabilities from the contractor. This paper focuses on contractor selection and quality assurance for performance-based maintenance projects and partnerships. It highlights engineering-consultancy services that are delivered to enable design-build combinations in maintenance. The research explores the resources and capabilities that maintenance contractors need to enable them to act as maintenance-engineering consultants to housing associations in performance-based maintenance partnering. It also explores the way that housing associations can be assured of these resources and capabilities. The central case is VGO KEUR, which means Quality Mark for Real Estate Maintenance and is a newly developed independent quality mark for maintenance firms.