Standards Australia joins the team
By Ross Moody *
The move towards uniform national contract specifications takes a gigantic leap forward from 1 July 2003. Standards Australia International (SAI) and the Institute of Public Works Engineering Australia (IPWEA) have entered into new joint arrangements to develop and deliver the AUS-SPEC range of technical specifications across Australia. These arrangements have the potential to take AUS-SPEC to a new level in the civil construction and public works industry. Standards Australia brings significant resources and expertise in technical publishing and the delivery of products through the use of the latest in technology.
AUS-SPEC will be jointly badged and actively promoted under the banners of both organisations. Importantly, User Groups will be established in liaison with IPWEA State Divisions to provide valuable input into the ongoing development of both existing and new specifications. Both the Victoria and Queensland Divisions are keen to see the benefits of their work in this field considered in future updates. The documents will be progressively converted to SAI Technical Specifications under the guidance of an industry based Technical Committee.
SAI has appointed Richard Bickle as the full time National Project Manager for AUS-SPEC. Richard will be responsible for coordinating the updating and ongoing development, marketing and distribution of the AUS-SPEC series of documents. Richard is a civil engineer with background experience in Local Government, consulting, construction, the IT industry and Standards Australia itself.
One potential for the future is greater use of transportable media (CD ROM but progressively migrating to DVD) and online internet delivery of the AUS-SPEC specifications. This is an area where Standards Australia can add great value.
The key features of the AUS-SPEC series of documents include the following.
- Written in plain English.
- Clear definition of the requirements for Principal and Contractor.
- Clauses are organised to a systematic sequence and have permanent clause numbers for easy reference and recollection.
- Clause titles are supplemented by key words shown in the margin for easy cross reference.
- A ‘Quality Management Requirements’ approach can be used, or the alternative traditional ‘Quality Control’ approach.
The eight products in the existing AUS-SPEC series cover the following.
- Development works design and construction specifications
- Asset owners roadworks specifications
- Standard contract documents
- Road reserve maintenance
- Guidelines for the development of period supply and service contracts
- Parks and recreation area maintenance
- Building and facilities maintenance
- Design manual.
There are now plans to develop new specifications beyond the existing range of products to meet the needs of our industry. Feedback from users as to their particular needs is welcome. There are significant advantages to the public works and civil construction industry – and indeed the wider community – of contract documentation and service agreements built on a uniform national platform. The benefits of a national specification system are clearly evident rather than the present situation of having 700 individual documentation sets from Councils all across Australia – not to mention the numerous State agency approaches.
IPWEA is pleased to welcome Standards Australia to the AUS-SPEC team and looks forward to jointly taking AUS-SPEC to a new level in the industry. I encourage you to have a close look at AUS-SPEC.
For further information, please contact Richard Bickle on (02) 8206 6470, email Richard.Bickle@standards.com.au, or your local IPWEA State Division.
* Ross Moody is the National President of the Institute of Public Works Engineering Australia
