Oversight of Tree Maintenance Service Contracts

The City has implemented a number of approaches to strengthen oversight and management of tree maintenance service contracts. These include: - Increased the number of staff performing crew oversight inspections; - Doubled the number of weekly daily log reviews; - Hired a third party service provider to perform physical observations of crews; - Held emergency meetings with vendors and issued letters of expectations; - Hold regular meetings with vendors to review performance and issues including but not limited to findings related to crew observations, deficiencies, and time management; - Implemented new/updated guidelines (Daily Work Activity Report, Forestry Performance Inspection Report, Towing, Hydro Hold-off); - Implemented new tracking spreadsheets (Centralized parked car call log, emergency hold-off log); and - Utilizing Management Services, a branch within Parks, Forestry and Recreation to provide additional assurance of oversight. Further, the City has incorporated additional measures into the new tree maintenance services contracts which commence July 1, 2021, including: - Introduction of unit rate pricing for some maintenance activities which will: - reduce paying for supportive and non-productive time; - transfer day-to-day oversight of crews to the vendors; and - require suppliers to meet minimum productivity requirements; - Full access to live GPS systems for further oversight; - Clarified roles and responsibilities outlining expectations of suppliers; - Service level agreements (SLAs) to address operational deficiencies; and - Several qualitative factors, such as quality control plans, innovative/value-added services and risk mitigation strategies, were included in the scoring evaluation of bids. In addition, the City is developing processes to strengthen contract management practices across Divisions. This will include the development of a working group to lead the development and implementation of policies and procedures in collaboration with Ernst and Young to enhance contract management and operational productivity and efficiency.