The Shoalhaven Reclaimed Water Management Scheme (REMS) is one of the largest and more complex water-recycling schemes to be undertaken by an Australian local government water authority.

It is being developed in two stages and will utilise up to 80 percent of the reclaimed water from six northern Shoalhaven wastewater treatment plants to irrigate local dairy farms, golf courses and sporting fields.

Maddocks advised Shoalhaven City Council on all aspects of its procurement process for the REMS – 1B project.

The main issues associated with the project are:

• multiple items of interfacing infrastructure – some of which are to be procured separately
• need for staged handover of assets in order to maintain operation of existing assets during construction and handover new assets in an orderly fashion
• technical and engineering complexity, in particular regarding the river crossing.
• Co-ordination of a number of different stakeholders, including NSW Office of Water, Department of Health, Office of Environment and Heritage and Environmental Protection Authority, and local land owners.
• issues regarding use of early tenderer involvement process, particularly complying with the tendering requirements of the Local Government Act 1993 (NSW)
• possible need for multiple approaches to risk allocation for various elements of the project, within a single contractual framework.

Our team prepared protocols for early tender involvement workshops and prepared Response for Tender and contractual documentation for engagement of contract administration consultants. The team also advised Council on arrangements with design consultants and provided ongoing advice on project procurement generally.