SportsTurf provides current, practical and technical content on issues relevant to sports turf managers, including facilities managers. Most readers are athletic field managers from the professional level through parks and recreation, universities.
Issue link: https://read.dmtmag.com/i/232221
Facility & Operations productive and efficient. This commitment has led to the lowering of contract costs over time for the City of Roseville and has also resulted in a sense of ownership within the employees of their partners due to the numerous years that they have spent maintaining portions of Roseville parks and streetscapes. The City of Brentwood regularly meets with contractors to see if there are improvements that can be made in the contract. The intent is to get a great partnership that will last over time to the benefit of both partners. Quality assurance is critical to the success of any contract and true partnership. The City of Roseville and the City of Brentwood both use the quality assurance process to assist in building relationships and partnerships between their staff members and the staff members of their private partners. Quality assurance inspections are necessary and can be very time consuming but are critical. If you do not do regular inspections, how do you know if your partner is meeting the standards you require? The quality assurance inspection should be a tool used to ensure that your partner is achieving their contractual obligations but can also be a valuable tool that builds the concept that "we" are maintaining this area for "our" residents and the inspection is just another tool that your partner can use in their scheduling, planning, and prioritizing. To simplify the process and reduce paperwork, inspections can be exception based, meaning that unless indicated otherwise, the site meets standard. This requires that the only information you need to identify relates to what does not meet standard. Additionally, the standards should have only two measurements: meets standard and does not meet standard. Measurements such as "needs to improve" only add additional time and misinterpretation between the contractor and the agency. Remember, friends are friends and business is business. When done properly your quality assurance inspections can meet your contractual compliance needs while enhancing the sense of partnership for both entities. A comprehensive background check of any prospective contractor is important so that you know what they can do in like environments. Is the company fiscally solid? Do they have references that you can check where they do work similar to what you are asking for? Do they use technology and can 10 SportsTurf | January 2014 they be flexible when necessary? Are they responsive to requests, especially in emergency situations? What is their quality control plan that will provide you a level of comfort that they are paying attention to the details you need? How do they resolve differences with they disagree on the terms of a contract? How did they do in the interview (yes, a formal interview should be a part of your process and you should request that they bring the staff to the interview that will be overseeing your contract). Having the comfort level that a company understands your expectations and can deliver the maintenance you expect is more than just a price consideration. REMEMBER THE TRUE CUSTOMER Customer service is many times a misunderstood component of maintenance contracts. Though it is important for the contractor and agency to provide excellent customer service to each other throughout the contract, the real customers of both the contractor and the agency are the citizens of the community. Many times we lose track that the citizens who pay the taxes and/or assessments, the very ones who actually use the facilities and landscape areas, are the customer. A contract should in take into consideration the wishes of the community related to standards and expectations as the agency is just the administrator of the contract when the citizens are providing the funding for the maintenance. Having users understand what they should expect from a maintenance standpoint helps the agency keep the contractor on track and builds on the partnership that should be one of the guiding principles of the contract. The quality of a contract is what the citizens and users want and expect. Truth be told, they care very little how you get there. Finally, a contract needs to have corrective measures to insure that the work is done to the level the agency expects. Once a situation has been identified as not meeting www.sportsturfonline.com