FUENTES DE INFORMACIÓN: DESCRIPCIÓN DE VARIABLES

It is common to classify and license private sector organisations to indicate the size of contract and type of work for which they may compete. The following classifications are used:

Individual lengthworker

This is a term for a man or woman who undertakes the routine maintenance of an allocated length of road, normally between 1 and 2 kilometres. A lengthworker normally lives alongside their allocated length of road and is often provided with tools and regularly supplied with gravel for pothole and erosion repair. Periodic maintenance is normally carried out by other parties. Letting, administering and

supervising individual lengthworker contracts is inefficient in time, money and quality; alternatives are for several lengthworkers to form into a small contracting organisation or to take a routine maintenance sub-contract with a larger contractor.

If individual lengthworkers are employed on a network, the Road Manager should ensure that they are provided with sufficient information on the standards which their work must meet and should ensure that they are adequately supervised in order to achieve these standards. It is very common for unsupervised lengthworkers to do little more than cut grass.

Since lengthworkers normally work alone, they can be vulnerable to traffic accidents. A lengthworker should put warning signs along the road in both directions before starting work.

An advantage of lengthworkers is their presence on site. If emergencies occur, they can inform the Road Manager or the main contractor. They are also able, with adequate training and supervision, to rectify minor defects without specific instruction before they become severe.

Community contractor

Community contracting combines the efficiency and contractual responsibility of the private sector with the benefits of local participation and development. There are a variety of arrangements and

A community contractor is an organisation which grows from within the community in response to a need for local improvements. It is often formed from the local community development organisation, which may act as initiator, fund raiser, supervisor and joint client with the Road Administration. Outside support organisations may also be involved. If profit is made, it is returned to the community, usually to fund future maintenance. Contracts are often allocated on agreed rates rather than tendered. A community contractor may cease to exist after the improvements are complete and reform when more work is required.

The technical skills of community contractors are limited and they often need assistance from a Road Administration. Complex work may be let to a commercial sub-contractor. The scale of works is less than that of a small contractor. Most activities use labour based or labour intensive methods and give employment to the local population. A community contractor can take on a range of duties from the provision of labour to executing an entire project. The latter carries more risk, but offers more opportunities for community development. Table 4.1 lists the advantages and disadvantages of using community contractors. Reference should also be made to Table 3.3 for the additional issues associated with labour based or labour intensive methods.

Table 4.1 Advantages and disadvantages of community contracting

Advantages Disadvantages

Close relationship between client, contractor and Community development organisation may not fully

beneficiaries. represent the people.

All parties have incentive for success. Slack supervision can result in poor quality. Community empowerment, ownership and development. Slow decision making, participation and on site

progress.

Paid employment and training for community members. Training and mobilisation may take time pre-contract. Can be cost effective. Excessive support required from outside parties. Rapid contract start up due to absence of tendering. Reliant upon sympathetic local administration. Can generate future commercial contractors.

In some countries, it is illegal to let government contracts to organisations that have not been legally registered as contractors. If this restriction applies, the Road Manager should seek special dispensation, let the contract through an intermediary organisation, or assist community contractors to register as either small contractors or, if it exists, in a distinct community contractor class.

For further information on community contractors, the Road Manager is referred to the document listed in Section 5.2.

Petty contractor or Micro enterprise

A petty contractor is a private organisation (unlike a community contractor), but is likely to use labour intensive methods, carry out routine maintenance activities in a very local area, or even act as a labour- only sub-contractor. A petty contractor may need only a limited level of technical qualification and competence among the staff. A petty contractor may be a co-operative of around 10 to 20 members. Micro enterprises are co-operatives or community associations, organised as private enterprises which operate in a similar way to a petty contractor. These have been very successful in South America.

Small contractor

A small contractor might be operating only in a local area, but have ambition to grow in size, technical capacity and geographical range. Small contractors may be trained in labour intensive or labour based methods, but most wish to expand to include equipment intensive methods as well. Equally, a small contractor is likely to be capable of carrying out work on unsealed roads only, but often has the ambition to expand to take on bituminous sealing and repair work. The desire to expand is normal and should be welcomed and encouraged. A small contractor should have some technically qualified staff.

Medium and large contractors

A medium contractor may be expanding from provincial scale contracts to national operations. A

medium contractor is likely to have bought equipment and be interested in using that investment as much as possible, and may have learnt new skills such as the construction of improved and bituminous

surfaces. A medium contractor should have a number of well qualified staff.

A large contractor will operate nationally and, possibly, internationally and may be interested in large, area- wide, multi-year performance contracts, possibly sub-contracting smaller packages to small contractors.