Current Government Fleet and Procurement Practice

1 Executive Summary

2 Background to Report

3 Summary of Report Findings and Baseline

4 Improving Performance

5 Data Analysis

6 Survey and Phone Interviews

7 Vehicle Costing and Fuel Consumption Data

8 Case Studies

Appendix A: List of Organisations and Key Groupings

Appendix B: Survey Questionnaire

Appendix C: Organisations Surveyed

Appendix D: Detailed Data Analysis

Appendix E: Detailed Survey Results

2 Background to Report

2.1 Introduction

The Govt³ programme, coordinated by the Ministry for the Environment, helps government agencies improve the environmental, social and economic sustainability of their activities.

Through Govt³, the Ministry for the Environment is working with the Ministry of Transport, and the Energy Efficiency and Conservation Authority to reduce the environmental footprint of government vehicle use. In June 2005, URS New Zealand Limited (URS) was asked to prepare this report (Current Government Fleet and Procurement Practice). It aims to identify the characteristics of the current government fleet and vehicle procurement practices, and to suggest practical options for improving the sustainability of the fleet (in terms of energy efficiency, vehicle emissions, recyclability, eco-efficiency, full-life costings and vehicle safety factors).

There is a perception that purchasing decisions for vehicles tend to be driven by accounting and administrative factors to the exclusion of environmental, safety and public health concerns. Buying a sustainable fleet might enable operational savings, but decision-makers may offer resistance because of actual or perceived increases in capital costs.

2.2 Study objectives

The key objectives of this project are to:

• establish a baseline of the government fleet (comprising government-owned and government-leased vehicles [The original project objectives also included baseline information on hired vehicles, but this information was not available from the Ministry of Transport government fleet database.] )
• identify relevant procurement practices and how environmental and safety considerations are taken into account
• find out what factors promote and inhibit the purchase of sustainable vehicles
• propose practical ways of making improvements
• propose a set of indicators that will enable tracking and reporting on the sustainability of the government fleet.

The key audience for this project is government. Information obtained from this project will be used to develop practical tools to improve government procurement of more sustainable vehicles.

2.3 Study methodology

The study methodology comprised:

• analysis of government vehicle information held in the Ministry of Transport LANDATA database [LANDATA (Land Transport Database) is maintained by the Ministry of Transport for all vehicles registered in New Zealand. It includes the Motor Vehicle Register, Road User Charges Database, and Land Transport Information System (including WoF Online).] , supplemented by data from a number of fleet audits carried out by government agencies
• a survey of fleet procurement and management practices across a range of government agencies
• an examination of comparative vehicle full-life costing and fuel consumption data by a local fleet manager
• the development of seven case studies focusing on good practice in various aspects of sustainable practices in fleet procurement.