Request for proposal process commences for water utility assets

Published on 28 February 2022

A request for proposal (RFP) process has commenced for the potential divestment of the City of Onkaparinga’s water assets.

This follows a Registration of Interest process in 2021 that revealed multiple parties were keen to present a proposal for the potential ownership and/or management of the council’s community wastewater management systems (CWMS), potable water networks and stormwater harvesting and recycled water reuse infrastructure.

No commitment has been made at present to sell or to divest the management of any of the assets.

The council has determined a range of objectives for respondents, including paying a fair price for the assets and providing competitive customer pricing while maintaining customer service levels.

The council is also interested in how parties may invest in or expand the schemes.

The RFP process will be completed by mid-2022.

Onkaparinga’s elected members will then compare and assess proposals against the assets’ continued council ownership and management.

The decision will be based on what is best for the Council and its community, including service levels, cost to ratepayers and environmental impacts.

If a decision is made to proceed towards possible divestment of the assets, a four-week community engagement process will occur in mid-2022, to further inform the elected members’ decision-making.

“Review of assets under council control is part of normal and prudent management for local government. This RFP is simply the next step in this review process.”

“While the City of Onkaparinga already operates these assets to a high standard, the tender process will reveal whether or not the assets can be optimised even further, either through sale or a different management model under continued council ownership.”

“We have robust criteria in place to determine whether the divestment should proceed, or if the process should be terminated due to unacceptable RFP submissions.”

ENDS

For further information contact media@onkaparinga.sa.gov.au or call 0468 561 374.