Archived publication

This publication is no longer current or has been superseded.

8 Case Studies

8.1 Introduction

The survey responses show that a number of government organisations are focusing more on sustainability factors in procuring and managing their fleets, and trying to put initiatives in place to improve the sustainability of those fleets.

Case studies have been prepared on the following government organisations:

  • Accident Compensation Corporation
  • Ministry of Education
  • The New Zealand Police
  • Bay of Plenty District Health Board
  • Waitakere City Council
  • Auckland City Council.

These case studies are based on a combination of information gathered from LANDATA, survey results, phone interviews and FleetCheck results (where applicable). The case study for Auckland City Council was provided directly by FleetSmart.

FleetSmart has also provided a short case study of the work that it has been doing with selected district health boards and the Crown Financing Agency, looking at financial models for the procurement and management of fleet vehicles for such organisations.

8.2 Accident Compensation Corporation

Summary

The Accident Compensation Corporation (ACC) has a vehicle procurement policy that includes reference to whole-of-life costs, disposal and residual value, replacement schedule, safety rating, fuel economy rating, energy efficiency and vehicle emission standards.

Background

ACC has a fleet of between 188 and 196 vehicles, all passenger vehicles. ACC sources vehicles from Holden, Toyota and Nissan, with most vehicles in the 1601 to 2000 cc engine size range and purchase costs being negotiated directly with the manufacturer. Although ACC's replacement policy is six years or 80,000 km, 50 percent of its vehicles are less than three years old, with the remaining 50 percent being three to five years old.

In early 2005, ACC launched an internal Sustainable Workplace Action Plan (SWAP) programme, which aims to improve the sustainability outcomes of ACC's business practices. This programme had its genesis within Support Services (of which procurement is part of) at ACC and started with a waste minimisation focus.

In late 2004, ACC commissioned a FleetCheck audit of its vehicle fleet before renewing its fleet procurement and management contract. An environmental sustainability clause is now included in its procurement contract with suppliers.

In early 2005, ACC appointed a Sustainability Coordinator to implement and support the development of the SWAP programme. ACC participates in the Govt3 programme, is a member of the New Zealand Business Council for Sustainable Development, and the Sustainable Business Network.

Objectives

The survey identified cost as a key concern for ACC when selecting vehicles, including both upfront capital and whole-of-life costs. This is followed closely by the safety standards attained by vehicles considered for the ACC fleet. Environmental considerations ranked amongst the top six drivers for vehicle selection.

Detail

ACC has identified a number of key drivers for fleet standard setting. Two major drivers are economics and safety, with a stated commitment to "ensure our vehicle fleet is energy efficient" (Working Towards Sustainable Development 2005, ACC). The ACC procurement policy includes items relating to purchase cost criteria, maintenance and operating costs, whole-of-life costing, disposal and residual value, replacement schedule, safety rating, fuel economy rating, energy efficiency and vehicle emission standards. The procurement policy states that "ACC fleet vehicles must be operated efficiently and economically, be serviced regularly, and maintained in a tidy and safe condition". It has also set safety guidelines, based on the Land Transport New Zealand safety ratings, which cannot be compromised. This has not been difficult to achieve, as most new vehicles meet these safety standards.

Vehicle utilisation is tracked through the use of fuel cards, in ACC's case GSB fuel cards through FleetSmart, although shows only the monthly mileage and odometer reading, not actual utilisation on a daily basis. A booking system for pool cars is in place, allowing pool vehicles to be appropriately used and this can also be tracked. Vehicles are all maintained to the manufacturers' recommendations, as per warranty requirements. End-of-life issues are not included in ACC's scope and are left to be managed by the external fleet management company, FleetSmart.

Environmental considerations are built into the procurement guidelines to ensure these considerations are provided for during this process as outlined below:

Environmental sustainability

The supplier will perform the services in a manner that gives appropriate regard to the protection of the natural environment. The supplier will comply with all environmentally related legislation and codes of practices relating to the products and services being offered.

The supplier will ensure any opportunities for improvement in ACC's environmental performance identified by the supplier's employees or subcontractors are reported to the relevant ACC key contact. ACC are also currently working on a reporting process to track fuel efficiencies and assess the ongoing need for vehicles in specific areas.

Outcomes

Following the FleetCheck audit, ACC implemented a number of communications initiatives to encourage more efficient use of the vehicle fleet and to support measurement systems. These included:

  • following speed limits campaign
  • educating staff to regularly check type pressures
  • handing out driving tip leaflets to help improve driving standards
  • petrol stickers for all vehicles showing type of fuel to use and where to purchase fuel.

The vehicle policy was updated to officially include a number of these items. ACC is also improving the way it measures vehicle use, aiming to benchmark against best practice. This will allow it to compare individual vehicle's performance with manufacturers' specifications. A trial version has been run and two vehicles were found to fall well outside these benchmarks, at either end of the scale. A future aim may be to hold inter-office competitions for best practice.

During 2005, ACC purchased two hybrid vehicles (Toyota Prius) for managers travelling long distances to show the organisation's commitment to a more energy-efficient fleet and to signal a longer term commitment to hybrid and other fuel efficient vehicle options. In this way, ACC managers have already approved the use of hybrid vehicles in principle, with the aim of purchasing hybrid fleets when this technology becomes more economically viable. Utilisation data is also being captured on these vehicles for comparison with the current standard fleet vehicles.

Challenges

ACC has found a number of challenges in its fleet management, most of which relate to a lack of available information for benchmarking and the ability to compare information across different makes and models. ACC has also found the whole-of-life costing models particularly difficult to incorporate environmental criteria into, beyond fuel economy.

8.3 Ministry of Education

Summary

The Ministry of Education (MoE) places a high priority on vehicle safety during the procurement process, and requires fleet vehicles to have a safety rating of four stars (or better).

Background

The MoE has a fleet of 548 vehicles, 89 percent being owned and 11 percent leased. About 99 percent of this fleet comprises passenger vehicles, with the rest split between all-wheel drive vehicles and passenger vans. These vehicles are sourced from Toyota, Nissan and Hyundai, with a wide range of engine sizes - 2 percent less than 1000 cc, 47 percent in the 1001 to 1600 cc range, 36 percent in the 1601 to 2000 cc range and the remainder from 2501 to 4000 cc.

The age of the fleet also varies, with 41 percent under three years old, 33 percent three to five years old, and 25 percent six to 10 years old. However, the MoE has determined that a replacement policy at 100,000 kilometres or four years is most cost-effective and fits best into the financial policies for capital and depreciation. The Ministry also has preferred supplier relationships for 1.3 litre, 1.8 litre, 2.0 litre and 2.4 litre vehicles direct with the manufacturers, including all purchase price negotiations.

Objectives

The key priorities for the MoE are safety standards and economics.

Detail

The MoE aims to surpass minimum safety standards described under the Land Transport New Zealand safety ratings, with airbags and transmission type being considered. All vehicles must obtain rating higher than four stars and come standard with airbags. Most vehicles will also be automatic transmission.

Outcomes

The MoE is developing a new procurement policy, which will incorporate fuel economy, vehicle emissions, recyclability and producer responsibility, and an improved fleet analysis and reporting procedure. The outcomes of this analysis are designed to feed back into the procurement process.

Challenges

Availability of information has been a major challenge for the Ministry, hindering its ability to compare relevant information. It has identified the need for a single information site where New Zealand-centric vehicle safety information can be found, which allows easy comparison between vehicle types.

8.4 New Zealand Police

Summary

The New Zealand Police has nearly 2900 fleet vehicles in use and a vehicle replacement programme that is fiscally based. However, a number of sustainability measures have been incorporated into the procurement process, including specific contractual clauses relating to vehicle environmental and safety performance.

Background

The New Zealand Police is a major user of fleet vehicles, with 2872 vehicles currently in use, around 90 percent of which are owned and 10 percent leased. Most of this fleet (80 percent) is made up of passenger vehicles. The rest of the fleet comprises seven percent four wheel drives, 2 percent nine-seaters or more, nine percent light goods vehicles, one percent heavy goods vehicles and one percent motorcycles. This fleet is made up of Holden, Ford and Mitsubishi vehicles, 95 percent of which are 3001 to 4000 cc engine sizes, due to the need for high power ('fit for purpose' criteria).

The age of the fleet varies depending on the type and role of vehicle, from 58 percent being less than three years old, 24 percent being three to five years old, and 18 percent being six to 10 years old. The standard vehicles are replaced at 3.5 years or 85,000 kilometres, while the others are replaced anywhere from six to 10 years, depending on function. The replacement programme is fiscally based, which enables a small top up of vehicles, plus depreciation allowances to cover the purchase of new vehicles. This amounts to around 600 to 700 new vehicles per year.

Objectives

The New Zealand Police has an indepth procurement procedure, and aims to include economic, environmental and social (safety) considerations within the next vehicle supply contract.

Detail

The new vehicle procurement procedure incorporates a high level of safety considerations as well as some environmental considerations, which will be tested during the current procurement tender. Weightings, to reflect the importance of each consideration, have been allocated to each topic outside of the mandatory requirements (including front and side air bags, minimum braking requirements, as well as traction control), with two categories of weightings. The first determines the total points available for the section. This is then broken down by sub-category headings to specifically allocate the available points to each of them.

For example, under the weighting system, Environmental Assessment is set at 5 percent of the total points available and within that category two sub-objectives are rated as outlined below.

Major category

Percentage of total score

Sub-objective

Weighting within category

Environment

5%

 Emissions 80%

Waste oil and old tyre management

20%

Vehicles that do not meet the minimum Police health and safety standards are not considered during the procurement process. Police also capture use by kilometres travelled per year.

An Automatic Vehicle Location system is currently being trialled, which is a tracking system, mainly designed to allow Police operations to see where each Police vehicle is at any given time and therefore allocate response vehicles to incidents based on which vehicles are closest. Although this system is predominantly operations-based, there will be added benefits such as time stamps of fleet utilisation when introduced. Standard maintenance for Police vehicles is set at 10,000 kilometres or six months, with brake pads being replaced at three millimetres life left.

The New Zealand Police has been an active participant in the Govt3 programme since its inception.

Outcomes

As the most recent tendering process was under way at the time of preparing this report, no outcomes of its revised procurement process were available.

Challenges

The New Zealand Police has found there is no single guideline available to enable it to weigh up the varying factors of a vehicle, such as safety versus environmental performance. This makes it difficult to compare different vehicle makes accurately, as no one vehicle is strong in all these factors. It has found the information provided by manufacturers is not standardised which has been a real challenge when trying to compare different vehicle makes.

8.5 Bay of Plenty District Health Board

Summary

The Bay of Plenty District Health Board (BOP DHB) has amended its vehicle procurement and fleet management processes recently, choosing to take back management of its own fleet rather than using an external dedicated company.

Background

The Bay of Plenty District Health Board (BOP DHB) has a fleet of 300 vehicles, 90 percent of which are owned and 10 percent leased. The vehicles are mainly passenger vehicles used to visit people needing medical attention. Trips to see patients vary considerably in the distance and area travelled, and the types of vehicles within the fleet vary (in size and shape, engine size and transmission) to fit these requirements. The BOP DHB has negotiated contracts with Toyota, Nissan and Hyundai, and is able to get a rate slightly lower than those negotiated for collective district health boards. Half its fleet vehicles are in the 1.6 to 2 litre range (1600-2000 cc), with a further 25 percent between one and 1.6 litres, and 15 percent between 2 and 2.5 litres (2000-2500 cc).

Objectives

A key focus of the BOP DHB has been to track and optimise the use of its fleet. Other important objectives are to maintain operational efficiency and to minimise the need to lift potentially heavy equipment in and out of vehicles. These are addressed by allocating selected vehicles, rather than keeping them as pool vehicles, and by selecting vehicle types that are easier to lift equipment in and out of.

The BOP DHB seeks to minimise overall costs associated with its vehicle fleet, so funds may be better allocated elsewhere.

Detail

A key focus of the BOP DHB has been to track and optimise the use of its fleet. This has resulted in vehicles being rotated between departments if under-used and, in some cases, vehicles have been removed from business groups altogether when using taxis has proved more efficient. Although economics is a significant driver, optimised use is also desirable in terms of sustainability of the fleet, as it reduces the total fleet size and hence fuel use, emissions and materials use. The Energy Efficiency and Conservation Authority's EconoDrive guide recommends that if vehicles are used for less than 75 percent of the time, the fleet should be reviewed with a view to reducing vehicle numbers.

Due to the nature of the work, it is a key requirement for BOP DHB staff that their vehicles are well suited for carrying a variety of medical equipment. Vehicles are selected to provide adequate boot space and to make it easier to lift equipment in and out of the vehicle, so hatchbacks and station wagons make up a significant portion of the fleet. New models are provided to staff on a trial basis before purchase to test the ease with which equipment can be lifted in and out.

The BOP DHB seeks to minimise the overall costs associated with its vehicle fleet, so funds may be better allocated elsewhere within the health delivery system. BOP DHB has achieved this by taking back the task of purchasing and managing its own fleet, rather than using a third party fleet management company. Although this approach has required additional input from staff the desired benefits have been achieved, with local vehicle dealerships (Nissan and Toyota) offering competitive rates for joint vehicle purchase agreements with other local organisations. While, in some cases, maintenance costs have increased from those charged by the fleet management company, overall savings have been significant.

Outcomes

As a result of monitoring fleet use, under-used vehicles have been rotated between departments and, in some cases, removed from business groups altogether and replaced by using taxis. By engaging staff in vehicle selection and by allocating vehicles to individuals who need to do significant travelling by car, the BOP DHB is being proactive in reducing lifting injuries and associated lost time. These types of measures benefit the BOP DHB in both staff wellbeing and reduced costs.

Since taking over the purchasing and management of its fleet, the BOP DHB has saved around $200,000 per year. Although not quantified, the BOP DHB has achieved additional cost savings by reduced downtime during vehicle maintenance, as the vehicle purchase agreements include the requirement that the suppliers will arrange the collection and delivery of the vehicle undergoing maintenance, as well as providing a courtesy car for that time.

An additional benefit of managing its own fleet is the observation that staff are more conscientious about filling out the in-house mileage records than they were when using fleet management fuel cards, improving the accuracy of records on trip usage, mileage and fuel consumption.

Challenges

A key challenge for the BOP DHB is to obtain accurate information on its current fleet, including associated environmental impacts, and on alternative vehicle options. The BOP DHB has identified end-of-life disposal issues as a key environmental consideration but has not yet incorporated it within their procurement process. Information in this area is difficult to obtain for New Zealand conditions and vehicle distributors place little focus on this concern.

8.6 Waitakere City Council

Summary

Waitakere City Council (WCC) undertook a FleetCheck audit in 2004, which included an assessment of fleet characteristics, management processes, costs and environmental impacts (including emissions and fuel usage). Since that audit WCC have undertaken a number of measures to improve its fleet procurement and ongoing management.

Objectives

In 2004 Waitakere City Council engaged URS to do a fleet check audit, based on the Energy Efficiency and Conservation Authority protocol. In line with its Eco City philosophy, WCC wanted to understand how well its fleet vehicles were performing in terms of fuel consumption and vehicle use.

Detail

The number of fleet vehicles, fuel consumption and associated costs had been steadily increasing, but the Council had no idea if the size of its fleet was optimal or if its vehicles were performing well in terms of fuel consumption and pollution emissions. "Council has been working on energy efficiency for around three years but has not had the methodology to examine energy efficiency of our fleet," says Michelle Dawson, Project Manager Cleaner Production.

The fleet audit covered a total of 236 vehicles used by a large number of different departments at several office locations. "Council sought to pull together as much information about the make up of our fleet, fuel usage, vehicle logs and bookings, air emissions test results, and information from car manufacturers on fuel efficiency to ensure that good quality and quantity of data was provided for the fleet check audit," says Michelle. The data were collected for several months before the audit was undertaken. This enabled the auditors to:

  • calculate fuel consumption (l/100 km) per vehicle so differences within and between vehicle makes and models could be calculated
  • compare actual fuel consumption with published benchmark data
  • identify vehicles exceeding pollution emissions guideline values
  • calculate vehicle use (hours used as a percentage of the normal working week), vehicle occupancy and journey distances.

Vehicle performance and emissions

  • For all petrol vehicles, petrol consumption ranged from 4.5 and 20.8 l/100 km (average 11.1 l/100 km), and for diesel vehicles ranged from 6.5 to 62.5 l/100 km (average 13.3 l/100 km).
  • For one particular vehicle model comprising a significant proportion of the total fleet, fuel consumption guide values were 5.2 l/100 km for highway driving, and 9.0 l/100 km for city driving. The council fleet vehicles had an average consumption of 11.7 l/100 km, with some vehicles returning consumption rates up to more than 18 l/100 km.
  • For another main fleet model, fuel consumption guide values were 5.4 l/100 km for highway driving, and 7.6 l/ km for city driving. The council fleet vehicles had an average consumption of 9.6 l/100 km, with some vehicles returning consumption rates of up to 14 l/100 km.
  • Of 127 vehicles with emissions test results, 28 exceeded one or more of the emissions guidelines (European Standards) for hydrocarbons, carbon monoxide, carbon dioxide and oxygen.

Vehicle use

  • Vehicle booking data for a selected number of vehicles showed that vehicles were booked out for an average 46 percent of the available time (range between 21 percent and 78 percent per vehicle). The Energy Efficiency and Conservation Authority guidance is that fleet vehicles should be used for at least 75 percent of the time.
  • Travel log records of the journeys taken for a selected number of vehicles showed only a small number were used for more than 75 percent of the time (some as low as 20 percent), with about half being used for between 20 percent and 50 percent of the available time. Only one in eight pool vehicles with travel log data was used for more than 75 percent of the time.

Vehicle occupancy

  • About 90 percent of all trips involved the driver only, with 8 percent of trips involving one additional passenger.

Journey times and distances

  • Data for more than 1600 trips (18 vehicles) were analysed. Almost half of all trips were up to 0.5 hours' duration, with about 13 percent being between half and one hour.
  • Total trip distances per vehicle varied between 130 km and 5281 km over a 60-day trip recording period (with average trips varying between eight km and 68 km). Some trips were less than one km, with the longest being 671 km. The data suggested that although vehicles were away from their office location, they were not being used (that is, parked at other locations for meetings).

The action plan

Fourteen priority actions were identified, covering fuel use data capture, staff trip records, fleet use and performance, and council policies. Waitakere City Council has now started implementing the priority measures, and key actions and potential benefits include:

  • Fuel cost savings - A potential 10 percent saving for the year reducing the amount of fuel used from about 247,551 litres to less than 222,796 litres, equating to a saving of about $28,000. The reduction in fuel consumption will also contribute to a reduction in greenhouse gas emissions and the Council's environmental footprint.
  • Fleet size reduction savings - Through increasing the efficient use of vehicles and by merging nine office sites within the next two years, 10 pool vehicles could potentially be phased out of the fleet as new fleet management processes are introduced. These vehicles comprised a number of different makes and models and different engine sizes (1.4 to 2.4 litres) but, using published annual vehicle running cost data, having 10 fewer pool cars would result in operating costs savings of more than $380,000 over five years.

    "The audit identified a number of interesting results that are encouraging council to continue to get further information on fleet efficiency and potential impacts on future tendering and fleet management," says Ross McLeod, Director Corporate and Civic Services. "We are starting to put programmes in place to try and achieve some of the potential savings highlighted, while not compromising our ability to offer high quality and timely services to the community."

Outcomes and challenges

Waitakere City Council is currently trialing ways in which it can best track and monitor the performance and management of its fleet. Improvements to the sustainability of the Waitakere City Council fleet will be reviewed as the results of these trial measures become available.

8.7 Auckland City Council

Summary

The Auckland City Council (AklCC) had a FleetCheck audit in 2003 and has undertaken a number of measures to reduce the overall fleet size, establish a written vehicle procurement policy, improve monitoring and record keeping for the actual performance of the fleet, and reduce fuel consumption.

Objectives

AklCC's objectives for improving its fleet performance and any associated social, environmental and economic impacts focused on recommendations made as part of a FleetCheck audit carried out by URS in 2003. The key recommendations made as part of that assessment and taken up by AklCC include:

  • reducing the overall fleet size
  • improving monitoring and records for the actual performance of the fleet, including ongoing reporting to ensure ongoing compliance
  • establishing and documenting a vehicle replacement policy
  • reducing fuel consumption of the fleet
  • increasing service intervals (to both improve vehicle performance, particularly fuel consumption and to minimise waste by taking preventive rather than required and potentially greater maintenance).

Detail

Since the FleetCheck assessment, and with FleetSmart now managing the fleet, AklCC has reduced its fleet size from 425 to 368, a 13 percent cut. Some of this reduction resulted from improvements in the accuracy of vehicle records kept for the fleet.

AklCC also initiated a comprehensive fleet database, which records information on the following factors:

  • vehicle type
  • kilometres travelled
  • costs per vehicle (operating and maintenance costs)
  • fuel purchased.

The recording of vehicle odometer readings is now much better enforced and compliance has increased from 25 percent to 85 percent. By recording both the kilometres travelled and the fuel purchased, AklCC can now also analyse the actual fuel consumption of individual fleet vehicles.

The vehicle replacement policy established by AklCC is either every six years or every 100,000 kilometres travelled by the vehicle. This replacement policy was based on whole-of-life costs and optimisation of those for the organisation's fleet.

During 2005, AklCC bought 21 vehicles, all of which underwent a 'fit for purpose' assessment as part of the procurement process. The vehicle makes and models, purpose and number of vehicles purchased are summarised in Table 8-1. As a result of AklCC's improved vehicle procurement strategy, standard usage vehicles (pool vehicles) are now Toyota Echos, replacing Kia Rios and Daewoos, which were less cost-efficient with higher fuel consumption. The difference in fuel economy ratings for Kia Rios and Toyota Echos is summarised in Table 8-2.

Table 8-1: Summary of vehicles purchased by Auckland City Council in 2005

Vehicle make and model

Purpose

Number of vehicles purchased during 2005

Toyota Echo

For standard usage, ie, as pool cars

9

Nissan Pulsar

Where capability to carry four passengers (including driver) is required

4

Utility vehicle - either Holden Rodeo or Navara

Specific need vehicles, eg, the zoo

2

Saab

Special purpose - sponsored vehicle for the Art Gallery

1

Mazda 6, Subaru Impreza, Honda Accord

Manager cars

2, 1, 1 respectively

Toyota Prius

Special purpose - Mayoral car

1

Table 8-2: Comparison of fuel economy ratings for new and previous pool vehicles

Make and model

Purchase year

Average fuel litres/100 km*

Toyota Echo

2005

5.548

2004

7.463

Kia Rio

2004

11.289

2003

9.071

2002

8.685

2001

9.640

* Data from 2004-2005 financial year.

Outcomes

Before external fleet management, AklCC had little information to enable it to analyse the fleet's cost and environmental impact. Many steps have been involved in the improvement of the fleet, but the biggest noticeable difference is the enforcement of odometer readings, which allows robust analysis of vehicle use.

Challenges

Because of the age of vehicles (typically three to six years), fleet improvement is ongoing and only carried out as vehicles are due for replacement. At this stage, only a small proportion of the vehicles has been purchased under the new policies. Forecast replacement for 2006 and 2007 is due to be less than 40 vehicles per annum, with 2008 and 2009 having higher replacement levels, targeted at 55 vehicles.

8.8 District health boards' fleet procurement and financial management model

The following case study was provided by Christopher Young of FleetSmart, and has been reviewed by Chris Le Prou of the Crown Health Financing Agency.

Fleet management initiatives for district health boards

The Crown Health Financing Agency (CHFA), district health boards (DHBs) and others identified that the DHBs may not be maximising fleet cost and efficiency potential, mainly because of a fragmented approach to fleet procurement, management and disposal of vehicles. As a result, the CHFA asked FleetSmart and a national purchasing consolidator to review the fleet procurement and management practices for a sample group of DHBs. Four DHBs were included in the study.

Objectives

The objectives were to obtain independent data on the current performance on selected DHB fleets, identify the challenges and issues those organisations face in the selection and management of their fleet and make recommendations to improve those practices.

Detail

Selected DHBs were audited to capture data in the following areas:

  • vehicle mix and 'fit for purpose' requirements, which includes details of the vehicle types, age, condition and whether they are owned or leased
  • vehicle use patterns
  • vehicle-related goods and services pricing competitiveness
  • an assessment of the accuracy of the current fleet cost database
  • the level of personnel involvement required in the administration of the DHB fleet(s).

The audits consistently found problems in a number of areas, with the key issues being:

  • an uncoordinated vehicle procurement process, with vehicle purchase costs or lease rates not reflecting the overall DHB fleet size, opportunity for savings and minimising credit risk
  • under-utilisation of fleet vehicles resulting in excessive costs per kilometre (especially with leased vehicles)
  • lack of benchmarking information available for repairs and maintenance costs
  • lack of benchmarking information that could be referred to during the vehicle purchase or lease procurement process.

Outcomes

Findings from FleetSmart's continuing work with one of the DHBs and initial audits of other DHB fleets have highlighted several areas for improvement and recommendations:

  • Consolidate the procurement of vehicles and related fleet services between DHBs - through GSB Supply Corp or similar.
  • Consolidate billing and administration functions between DHBs.
  • Review fleet management practices to remove unnecessary work from DHB personnel (either internally or through external fleet management).
  • Benchmark all fleet-related costs against best market levels.
  • Review and improve methods for database management and fleet performance reporting, (either internally or through external fleet management).
[ | ]