We provided PMCA support to the Australian Government in delivering the PEQ project. This entails the establishment of an agricultural quarantine facility in Melbourne, which houses all fauna (domestic and livestock) and flora introduced into the country until they can be released, with the aim of protecting Australia from exotic diseases and pests.
The Department of Agriculture (Agriculture) leased and operated five Post Entry Quarantine (PEQ) facilities for the management of imported animals and plants under the Quarantine Act 1908. Existing leases on all existing sites expired between 2015 and 2018 with no opportunity for lease extensions in the medium term. New PEQ facilities and infrastructure were required to satisfy contemporary high biosecurity quarantine standards and meet future demands, for high-risk species. The vision was to create a single, consolidated complex on a 144- hectare greenfield site north of Melbourne Airport.
The project was delivered by the Department of Finance (acting as the Property Owner), which purchased the site in June 2012 and owns the facility, while Agriculture will operate and manage the PEQ facility.
The project was delivered in stages to align with expiration of leases and the funding profile. It went through multiple gateways including Planning Phase approval and Federal Government approval before being successfully awarded to the contractor at the conclusion of the Planning phase.
AECOM was contracted through the Department of Defence – Defence Infrastructure Panel to provide Project Management and Contract Administration (PMCA) and Cost Management services for the project.
We were involved in the administration of the managing contractor (MC) agreement with CPB, the design and build (D&B) contractor. The MC agreement included two distinctive phases, including the Planning Phase (PCSA phase) and the Delivery Phase (under a design and construct contract). The role included a multi-stage design development process where the contractor in conjunction with the Principal and PMCA (AECOM) collaboratively developed design solutions in response to the Principal Requirements, including comprehensive cost estimates, risk management strategies and design and construction programmes. We worked ‘side by side’ with the Principal through a complex commercial negotiation process to agree on the D&B price.
Specialised team and targeted support
For this project, we have put together a selected group of personnel from diverse professional backgrounds with the range of skills necessary to be able to effectively anticipate, work through, and mitigate challenges posed by a project as large, complex, and specific as this one. Our project managers and quantity surveyors were supported by technical specialists to oversee project delivery.
Our team included senior team members previously involved in health and biosecurity facilities. We also had a construction programmer to test and challenge the contractor’s program and facilitate realistic forecasting. This helped manage risk (in an industry with a reputation for optimistic programming) and drove realistic programs from the Contractors, resulting in a focus on risk management strategies.
We also brought in internal specialists to respond to specific issues as they arose and provide reassurance to the client and stakeholders as the project progressed. During the design phase, for instance, key stakeholders within the agricultural sector questioned whether the Mechanical Systems Options report for the bio secure plant houses was sufficiently robust to cater for the full range of plant growth environmental conditions they wished to replicate. Our internal senior mechanical engineer with extensive experience in quarantine and laboratory environments peer reviewed the report, confirming that the recommended option and mechanical solutions within the report were appropriate.
Operational commissioning
PEQ is a crucial biosecurity measure to protect the local plants and animals of Australia, the country’s $42-billion agricultural industry, and its unique environment, tourism industries and lifestyle. Agriculture is both the regulator and operator of the bio secure quarantine facility. The reputational risk of such facilities not meeting the required standards would be severe. As a result, the contract for the managing contractor was modified to include an operational commissioning period post completion and prior to the defects liability period, enabling Agriculture to conduct a number of operational tests to certify that the facilities were fit for purpose prior to commencement of operations.