Contents of Part 2
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| 3.2 Evaluating existing assets |
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The evaluation of existing assets determines whether their performance is adequate to support the selected service delivery strategy.
Program evaluations are to include the evaluation of asset performance. Asset performance is to be reviewed regularly against best practice benchmarks to identify assets that are under-performing, or costly to own or operate. It is also possible to over-invest in assets. The evaluation should reveal assets that provide more than their required capacity, or are surplus to requirements.
| Assets that have been inadequately maintained may pose potential safety or health risks, disrupt essential services, or incur unforeseen expenditures for the correction of defects. 4 |
Evaluating asset performance
All assets currently being used to deliver the service under consideration need to be identified and registered. How effectively these assets support service requirements also has to be determined. As part of this process, the following aspects need to be assessed:
Physical condition: Is the asset adequately maintained? Is there a maintenance backlog that requires attention? Are major replacements or refurbishments likely to be required during the planning period?
Utilisation: How intensively is the asset used? Could it be used more productively by extending its working hours, or by accommodating additional functions?
Functionality: How well suited is the asset to the activities and functions it supports?
Financial performance: Are the asset's operating costs similar to those for other comparable assets? (Use benchmarking to establish this wherever possible.) Are the energy, cleaning and maintenance costs reasonable? Are user charges being made, and how do they relate to the total operating costs of the asset (including the cost of capital)?
These measures for assessing asset performance are discussed in more detail in Section 5.1.
| Assessing the Condition of Constructed Assets Department of Planning and Development, Office of Building,1995
Department of Planning and Development, |
The assessment of existing assets must include those assets in the process of being acquired or that are committed (such as facilities under construction, or those incorporated in an authorised capital works program).
The result of evaluating existing and anticipated new assets is a statement of the assets available, or expected to be available, to support the selected delivery strategy.
4 Budget Sector Asset Management Principles
Budget and Expenditure Review Committee, 1993
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