Introduction
The Department of Communities (Communities) is responsible for managing various housing assets across the State. This includes public housing, housing in remote Aboriginal communities, government regional officers’ housing, community housing, leased non-government organisation housing and key worker housing.
Communities engages Head Contractors to deliver maintenance works across its various housing programs, at a rate of approximately 20,000 works orders per month.
Head maintenance contract
There are currently five head maintenance contractors engaged by Communities to deliver housing maintenance works across the following regions:
- Lake Maintenance – East Kimberley, West Kimberley, Goldfields and Wheatbelt
- Programmed Facility Management (PFM) North – Midwest/Gascoyne and Pilbara
- PFM South – South Metro, Southwest and Great Southern
- Spotless Facilities Services – East Metro and North Metro
- Ngaanyatjarra Services Aboriginal Corporation – Ngaanyatjarra Lands (replaced Lake Maintenance in October 2021)
These head maintenance contractors outsource various components of required works to sub-contractors who are engaged directly with them.
- To allow for sufficient time to plan, procurement and implement future maintenance arrangements, current head maintenance contracts are being extended by 12 months to 30 June 2026.
Review of housing maintenance contracts
Communities is currently reviewing the way we deliver repairs and maintenance to all of the housing we manage across the State, including housing in remote Aboriginal communities. This involves a holistic review of existing contracts to prepare for the procurement and commencement of a new model for delivering housing maintenance works after the existing head maintenance contracts expire in June 2026.
This will ensure the new housing maintenance service delivery model has a clear scope, delivers value for money, and meets the needs of Communities’ clients, including those living in remote communities.
The review also includes exploring opportunities to increase the participation of Aboriginal community-controlled organisations, Aboriginal businesses, and local community members in the delivery of housing maintenance services. The intent is to create opportunities for remote communities to opt-in to deliver some or all maintenance services based on community appetite and capability.
Stakeholder engagement
Communities is undertaking the contract review and service delivery model design in consultation with several stakeholders state-wide, including the existing head maintenance contractors and sub-contractors, Communities’ employees, other government agencies and community housing organisations.
Communities is committed to supporting better health and wellbeing outcomes for Aboriginal people and empowering Aboriginal organisations and businesses in line with the targets and priority reform areas set out in the National Agreement on Closing the Gap.
Communities wants to hear from Aboriginal people, organisations and businesses to understand how we can work together to support healthy homes and empowered communities.
Head Contractor procurement
The Request for Expression of Interest (EOI) in future Head Maintenance Contracts is now closed. Shortlisted respondents will be published on Tenders WA.
The procurement timeline for the future Head Maintenance Contracts:
June 2024: Early Tender Advice released on Tenders WA
July 2024: Request for Expression of Interest released on Tenders WA
August: November 2024 - Request for Registration of Interest by subcontractors open
Request for Tender issued to Shortlisted Respondents to be released in 2025
1 July 2026: New Head Maintenance Contracts commence (go live)
Contact / More information
If you are interested in becoming a subcontractor under the existing contract, you should contact the current head contractors. If you missed the opportunity to register your interest as a subcontractor for the new contract, shortlisted respondents will be published on Tenders WA and you are encouraged to contact them directly.
Alternatively, you can approach the current head contractors to obtain work.
Updates on the contract review, service delivery model design and procurement timeline will be included on this web page when available. You can also join our mailing list to receive occasional updates via email.
For further information, please email MaintenanceContractReview@communities.wa.gov.au
