The Netherlands faces a major challenge. Much infrastructure from the 1950s and 1960s is due for renovation or replacement. Our networks are more heavily burdened than ever, and climate change poses additional demands: heat, drought, and extreme rainfall.
The renewal task therefore requires higher production: more and faster. We achieve this by working more with standards and bundling similar objects into portfolios. To tender these portfolios, Rijkswaterstaat has developed a Procurement Strategy Renewal Task together with the market.
The first project in which this approach is applied is the maintenance of six bridges in Zeeland, for which the tender started at the end of September. Roger Mol (Chief Procurement Officer Rijkswaterstaat) and Jan Theelen (Contract Manager Rijkswaterstaat) explain.
Photo left Jan Theelen, photo right Roger Mol
Why a Procurement Strategy Renewal Task?
Mol: We need to do more work with the same people. This can only be achieved if we collaborate smarter throughout the entire chain, both as Rijkswaterstaat and with the market. The core of this procurement strategy is the portfolio approach where multiple similar objects are bundled into one project. The procurement strategy describes how we can accelerate together with the market by tendering in portfolios. This reduces the tender effort for market parties and makes investments in knowledge and innovation more attractive.
The Zeeland bridges form the first portfolio, where six bridges are tendered in one package. These bridges form a train of bridges that will be tackled, with learning experiences continually being taken into account.
The first portfolio: the Zeeland bridges
The first portfolio Zeeland bridges consists of six bridges: two in the Canal through South Beveland (the Vlake Bridge and the Post Bridge) and four in the Ghent–Terneuzen Canal, namely two bridges at the East Lock in Terneuzen and the drawbridges at Sluiskil and Sas van Gent.
These bridges share the need for significant variable maintenance. The work mainly consists of preserving the steel structures, repairing damage, and where necessary, adding local reinforcements to these structures, concrete restoration and preservation, and replacing, among other things, bearings, expansion joints, wooden decks, and pavings/wear.
What makes this project special?
The innovation lies not in the work itself, but in the way of collaborating. Theelen explains: Just like with a two-phase approach, the exact scope of the work and the price are not fully fixed in advance. After awarding, we work together with the contractor on the design and planning. This requires more consultation and necessary transparency.
The risk distribution also changes. Mol: In renovations, you often encounter unexpected problems. By working in phases, both the client and contractor can better manage those risks together. This makes it more attractive for the market and better executable for us.
Benefits for the market, Rijkswaterstaat, and society
For contractors, this approach means more continuity. The contractor who is awarded the portfolio can work on six bridges in the case of the Zeeland bridges. Without this approach, the contractor would have to participate in a tender six times. For Rijkswaterstaat, this results in faster and more efficient execution of the projects. For society, this leads to less inconvenience, lower costs, and more sustainable maintenance.
Learning and improving together
Learning is an essential part of the strategy. Theelen emphasizes: We do not want to reinvent the wheel each time. By placing objects in a train one after the other, we use the experiences of the first bridge for the next. This saves time and costs. Mol adds: This requires a different way of collaborating where learning from each other is self-evident. By bringing portfolios to the market, companies can invest and innovate and recoup their efforts over multiple objects.
New way of collaborating
The approach requires a different attitude, both from Rijkswaterstaat and the market. Mol says about this: It remains client-contractor, but we work more equally and intensively together, and Rijkswaterstaat involves the market early on. After all, we have a common interest: to realize the renewal task as well and as quickly as possible because delaying maintenance can lead to higher costs or other necessary measures for those objects.
To support this, there is extra attention to communication and trust. Theelen explains: We start with a three-month start-up phase to get the relationship and systems in order before the execution begins. Collaboration and trust are of great importance here.
Challenges and lessons learned
Since the Zeeland bridges are the first portfolio to work with this procurement strategy, not everything is set in stone yet. An important challenge is to actually get the train moving, focusing on learning, optimizing, and accelerating. Also, the selection of objects and tasks within a portfolio is very important.
Theelen: When bundling, it is essential to look carefully in advance at which objects fit together in terms of task. Additionally, we must ensure that this task remains consistent throughout the duration of the portfolio. This keeps the pace high. Mol concludes: What we learn from object 1, we apply to object 2, and at object 3 even more effectively and efficiently. This brings acceleration and cost savings.
Sustainability and innovation
Our sustainability goals are described as requirements in the contract. Theelen: We do not ask for extra plans or innovations, as that takes time while we want to accelerate. Smart maintenance extends the lifespan of bridges, which is always more sustainable than replacement. Mol: However, we are currently in discussion with the market on how to effectively integrate sustainability into the portfolio approach. After all, we must realize the sustainability ambitions, and the market also asks for the ability to recoup its investments.
When is it a success?
Theelen considers this first portfolio successful when Rijkswaterstaat and the market really start to collaborate differently, when learning and improving takes place, and when the cultural change is continued. This, of course, besides executing the maintenance on time and within budget. Mol adds that success goes beyond this bridge portfolio. If the Zeeland bridges demonstrate that this approach works or needs adjustment and the next portfolio benefits from that, then the strategy is successful.
Get involved!
Mol concludes with a clear call: Get involved. We need each other badly. There is enough work for everyone. Let’s ensure together, Rijkswaterstaat and the market, that the trains really start running. Curious about this new national approach to the tender for the maintenance of six Zeeland bridges? Then view the tender announcement.
Top objectives of the Renewal Task
With this procurement strategy, Rijkswaterstaat contributes to the main goals of the Renewal Task. It is about ensuring that objects are renovated or replaced in a sober and efficient manner, while maintaining quality and safety. The strategy must also address the sustainability task. Furthermore, the intention is to accelerate the preparation and execution, for both Rijkswaterstaat and the market to manage available capacity efficiently, and to ensure that financial resources are used in a controlled manner so that the task remains affordable.
