U.S. Department of Transportation
Federal Highway Administration
1200 New Jersey Avenue, SE
Washington, DC 20590
202-366-4000
The active promotion and support of asset management by professional associations and local transportation officials were important factors in the success of asset management in many of the sites the scan team studied. This support included not only advocacy on changes in laws and guidance, but also development of technical materials that define the overall framework for asset management in the countries. Some of the publications prepared by these groups have become standard reading in asset management. Two groups, in particular, stood out as being significantly involved in asset management, one in New Zealand and another in England.
Austroads, an association of Australian and New Zealand road and traffic authorities, has provided important leadership in asset management for its member institutions. Austroads defines asset management in the following way:
“Road asset management is a structured approach to the delivery of community benefits through the management of road networks.”
Asset management is one of the five strategic priorities Austroads members have selected, along with addressing the future freight task, optimizing the use of the road network, enhancing the security and integrity of information, and improving road safety. The asset management priority objective is to develop and deliver a research program that will assist road and transport agencies in their efforts to minimize the whole-of-life cost of road infrastructure assets. Four key themes are part of this objective: 1) determining optimal levels of service, 2) identifying road-user requirements, 3) monitoring and reporting performance, and 4) capital investment. Austroads is developing an extensive series of technical publications on asset management that will examine the technical challenges facing those interested in establishing an asset management program. For example, publications on the following topics are or will soon be available:
The Austroads asset management Web site is at www.austroads.com.au/asset/index.html.
The National Asset Management Steering (NAMS) Group was formed in 1995 to further asset management best practice and knowledge in local governments in New Zealand. The group consists of the top infrastructure-related associations in the country:
NAMS has defined asset management as the process to “plan, create, acquire, maintain, operate, rehabilitate, replace, and dispose of assets in the most cost effective (sustainable) manner required to meet present and future corporate objectives and demands for service levels.” The impetus for the formation of NAMS was a 1993 report of the Office of the Auditor-General of New Zealand on the weak financial condition of local authorities, along with a local government task force recommendation to adopt a nationwide asset software package. This initial motivation to create NAMS was confirmed in 1996 when a law was passed requiring local authorities to prepare 10-year asset management plans. Given infrastructure's significant role in a local authority's responsibilities (between 60 and 80 percent of the budget), NAMS decided to take a more proactive role in fostering nationwide consistency in asset management planning. Today, NAMS helps local authorities move beyond the basic plans developed in response to the 1996 law to more advanced concepts in asset management. In addition, it encourages communities to apply asset management techniques to asset-based activities outside the core (i.e., transportation and water infrastructure) of a community.
The major vehicle for asset management at the local level is the 10-year Long-Term Council Community Plan (LTCCP), which each of the 86 local authorities must prepare every 3 years. The LTCCP must describe desired community outcomes, identify activities that will be undertaken to assure these outcomes, adopt a long-term focus, and provide for public input and participation. As an interesting linkage between asset management and community planning, the Office of the Auditor-General of New Zealand is required to audit the LTCCPs, and determine if the plans are indeed concerned about total resource use in the public sector and the processes described for dealing with the challenges are sound. The auditor-general is a strong supporter of asset management in the context of a community's strategic planning effort.
As a sister organization to NAMS, a Road Information Management Systems (RIMS) Group has implemented dTIMS for deterioration modeling and RAMMS inventory software in all New Zealand councils. This ensures that road information is collected and stored in the same format throughout the country. RIMS continues to develop the software in conjunction with New Zealand users and programmers to enhance the quality and usability of the systems.
NAMS organizes many technical seminars and workshops on a variety of asset management topics. Perhaps most important for developing consistent approaches to asset management are the internationally recognized manuals NAMS publishes on asset management. For example, NAMS manuals on International Infrastructure Management, Optimized Decision Making Guidelines, Creating Customer Value from Community Assets, and Asset Valuation and Depreciation Guidelines are important contributions to the theory and practice of asset management. The International Infrastructure Management manual is undergoing a significant review and the new edition will include U.S., Canadian, and U.K. -specific sections, and several U.S./Canadian case studies. The manual on Asset Valuation and Depreciation Guidelines is also being reviewed to align with the new international accounting standards.
The NAMS Web site is at www.nams.org.nz.
The County Surveyors' Society (CSS) was established in England in 1885 as an organization aimed at supporting local governments in their responsibilities for infrastructure and service provision. It represents the local authority chief officers from across the United Kingdom with responsibility for strategic planning, transportation, the environment, waste management, and economic development. The authorities that belong to CSS represent 68 percent of the road network, 79 percent of the land area, and 50 percent of the population.
CSS became involved in asset management because its government members faced increasing community demands on limited infrastructure, but did not have the necessary tools to deal with the challenge. In addition, national legislation for best value, asset valuation, developing local transportation plans, and privatizing service delivery suggested to CSS officials that some effort to provide its members with tools to deal with asset management was warranted.
CSS defines asset management as follows:
“Asset management is a strategic approach that identifies the optimal allocation of resources for the management, operation, preservation and enhancement of the highway infrastructure that meets the needs of current and future customers.”
The benefits of such an approach are defined as reducing life cycle costs; allowing officials to define levels of service for infrastructure and track performance against these variables; improving transparency in decisionmaking; providing staff with the ability to estimate the consequences of budget changes; reducing the risks associated with financial uncertainty, operational unreliability, and legal challenges; and meeting government requirements for reporting.
Perhaps the greatest contribution CSS has made to asset management in the United Kingdom is the publication of Framework for Highway Asset Management in 2004. The intent of this manual was to provide a framework for implementing asset management at the local level, with specific steps to take governments from concepts to a working asset management process. Figure 55 shows the asset management framework recommended in this manual.
Figure 55.Asset management framework recommended by the County Surveyors' Society in England.
The manual has been used in many instances to frame the approach taken for implementing an asset management program in a local authority. A number of authorities have appointed asset managers and assigned them responsibility for developing an asset management plan. Others have hired consultants for a similar purpose.
In addition to developing the asset management framework, CSS conducts workshops and offers guidance through its Web site. It has held numerous conferences on specific technical aspects of asset management. Perhaps the most important activity now underway is development of a manual on asset valuation. This manual is intended to meet the requirements of whole-of-government accounting and resource accounting and budgeting (RAB) requirements of the national government (see England case). The manual will show how to value the highway network in direct support of the Framework for Highway Asset Management. Guidance will be provided on condition and performance data that need to be collected to show the linkage between budgets, performance targets, and asset valuation. This will be a timely addition to the reference library that CSS is providing the profession.
The CSS Web site is at www.cssnet.org.uk.
