HomeMy WebLinkAboutDTS-10-024 - Engineering Project Management InitiativeJ
KrTC~r~R
Financial Services
REPORT T0: Councillor C. Weylie, Chair, and Members of
the Development and Technical Services Committee
DATE OF MEETING: January 25, 2010
SUBMITTED BY: Jeff Willmer, General Manager of Development and Technical
Services
PREPARED BY: Grant Murphy, Director Engineering Services
WARD(S) INVOLVED: All
DATE OF REPORT: January 15, 2010
REPORT NO.: DTS-10-024
SUBJECT: ENGINEERING PROJECT MANAGEMENT INITIATIVE -
CONSULTING SERVICES
RECOMMENDATION:
That the normal procedure be waived for the selection of consultants and that the City retain
1614310 Ontario Inc. to provide consulting services on project management services and
training;
-and -
Thatthe Mayor and Clerk be authorized to execute an agreement to provide consulting services
on project management services and training between the City of Kitchener and 1614310
Ontario Inc. from January 1, 2010 to December 31, 2010 at an estimated cost of $37,000 plus
GST.
BACKGROUND:
In 2007, an engineering audit was completed which identified several gaps in the business
processes of the City's Engineering Services Division, one of which was inconsistency of project
management methodologies. Over the past two years efforts have been made to improve
project scope definition, resource capacity planning and project cost control.
In 2010 the Engineering Services Division project management initiative will be undertaken, as
part of a continuing effort to deliver high quality infrastructure programming to the citizens of the
City. The initiative will implement project management practices, processes and methodologies
in accordance with Project Management Institute (PMI) best practices. This is an international
organization generally recognized as determining good practices in the Project Management
field.
REPORT:
The project management initiative will be two-pronged and will provide a good starting point to
institutionalize project management across the functional areas of the Engineering Services
Division. The key activities included are the following:
8-1
1. Establish Project Management Methodologies and Templates. This will be a change-
managementfocused initiative which will be based on:
a. Data collection and assessment of existing project management templates.
b. Perform survey to assess project management maturity.
c. Analysis and development of enhanced project management templates, building
on existing practices.
d. Institutionalizing project management templates for the Engineering Services
Division.
2. Upgrade Engineering staff knowledge on Project Management. This will be a formal
classroom training focused initiative which will be based on:
a. Fundamentals of project management.
b. Exercises based on approved Engineering Services Division templates.
c. Optional examination for staff to test their knowledge on concepts and templates.
3. Key deliverables to Engineering Services would include:
a. Development of project management templates.
b. Training engineering staff on fundamentals of project management.
c. Define processes to institutionalize project management methodologies.
The consultant is a certified project management professional, demonstrating competency in the
field, and provides project management instruction at Conestoga College. The consultant has
been providing project management services for the City related to the Project Delta over the
last 18 months, with high quality results. As such the consultant is familiarwith City practices
which would provide benefit in the overall delivery of the proposed work plan.
FINANCIAL IMPLICATIONS:
The contract for the project management consulting services is estimated to be $37,000 plus
GST and would be equally funded from the development charge reserve fund, sanitary utility
capital budget and water utility capital budget; as approved by Council on January 18, 2010.
ACKNOWLEDGED BY: Jeff Wlllmer, Interim General Manager of Development and
Technical Services
8-2