Are Virgin Island residents getting maximum value from public facilities? Facilities are one of the VI government’s primary physical assets: They are valued at hundreds of millions of dollars, and they facilitate the delivery of public services. For residents and visitors alike, the performance and continued use of these facilities are essential to health, safety, economic growth and development, quality of life, and standard of living. To preserve and protect taxpayers’ investment in facilities, they must be effectively designed, managed and maintained. So what is facility management?

 

The Facility Management Handbook, the leading publication on the discipline, defines facility management as “a profession that encompasses multiple disciplines to ensure functionality of the built environment by integrating people, place, process and technology. Put simply, facility management is an important emerging and evolving business function. Further, as finance, public works, health, utilities, telecommunications or social services, facility management is an essential business function that must have a facility plan and business plan that dovetails with the organisation’s [or government’s] business plan.”

The book’s authors point out that facility managers cannot operate in a vacuum. They must know the business that they support, operate their departments as a business, and communicate the language of business. Efficient and effective delivery of timely, quality and cost-effective facility services is a function of effective planning. And failing to plan for potential failures, the authors write, is to be a prisoner of reaction.

Though facilities management is typically viewed as a cost centre, it provides critical support to revenue centres like customs, the Ports Authority, Inland Revenue, the airport and so on. Revenue centres need facilities and their systems to effectively conduct their day-to-day business. Ironically, appearing invisible should be the goal of a facility department. In an effectively managed facility, toggling a light switch makes a light come on; turning the tap on a faucet makes water flow; and turning on the air-conditioning unit cools the room, for example. Nonetheless, when things go awry — and they will — a facility department must be at the forefront of a timely response.

Maintenance

The above was a cursory look at facility management; now let’s peek at facility maintenance.

Constructing, operating, or owning a facility requires aggressive and consistent maintenance. There is no grace period: Maintenance is required from the first day of assuming ownership, which comes with a stream of costs and responsibility. Why is maintenance so critical? Facilities have definite lifecycles: They are planned, designed, constructed, operated, maintained, repaired, rehabilitated and disposed of.

Performing preventative, routine, reactive and predictive maintenance has many benefits: It extends the life of a facility and its systems; improves customer service delivery; enhances safety; provides a more aesthetically pleasing environment; lowers and defers facility reconstruction cost; enhances system reliability; reduces operational cost; and maximises return on investment. Some studies have suggested that for every $1 invested on maintenance, between $4 and $6 can be avoided in reconstruction and rehabilitation costs.

Further, several studies, including one by the National Research Council’s Building Research Board, recommended that as a minimum two to four percent of a facility’s replacement cost should be invested on it annually. This maintenance budget is only for annual maintenance — not for addressing maintenance and repair backlog plus inflation growth. It does not address capital growth and needs and capacity enhancements. For example, if a facility’s replacement cost is $250,000, the annual maintenance budget should range between $5,000 and $10,000. Consequently, failure to perform maintenance is costly. Disadvantages include customer inconveniences; potential liabilities; lost revenues; higher repair and replacement costs; and others. The adage “pay me now or pay me later” is very applicable.

Consequently, it is more economical and advantageous to perform timely, low-cost preventative maintenance than to perform repairs. Additionally, the timing of maintenance is critical, for all facilities deteriorate. Only in very rare situations should systems be run to failure.

In the VI

Though a shortage of resources is a fact of life in the public sector, every means and funding source must be explored and employed to fund maintenance. Allocating funding to maintain facilities must be a top priority.

How is the VI doing in facility management and maintenance? Some recent facility issues — the Central Administration Building’s roof and air-conditioning system; the West End Police Station; the mouldy schools, and so on — may suggest opportunities and the need for improving both facility management and maintenance.

Are there any low-hanging fruit for addressing both short- and long-term improvements? I would say yes. Suggestions follow:

• Create a centralised, territory-wide facilities department to coordinate facility and real estate needs.

• Conduct a comprehensive facility inventory, using excess square footage to meet deficit square footage needs. Rent, lease or sell facilities that exceed government needs.

• Regularly assess all facilities, using condition assessments as a management tool for monitoring the effectiveness of maintenance and repair.

• Conduct a needs assessment to determine the cost to repair or replace facilities without regard to available funding.

• Prioritise funding to repair or replace facilities.

• Develop and institute a facility master plan.

• Develop an annual facility plan (with a recapitalisation plan) and a business plan.

• Purchase and employ an asset management programme such as Infor or Maximo.

• Develop and implement a comprehensive preventative maintenance inspection and maintenance programme.

• Commit to budgeting for at least the minimum cost of facility ownership to maintain facilities annually.

• Conduct periodic audits of the facility programme.

• Establish a timeline for eliminating the backlog of facilities maintenance and repair.

Leadership needed

Finally, too many organisations, including many governments, cannot effectively maintain and operate their current facility inventory, yet they embark on building more. The VI needs to avoid falling into this cycle by planning, programming, budgeting and constructing for what it can afford and what it can effectively maintain. Effective facility management is a function of strong leadership, effective governance and stewardship.

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