clude LIS
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) providing
xamine the
th regional
liers. The
sizing and
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| had LIS
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lue to these
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^ Mapping
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However,
very viable
| Victoria is
urvey skills
ort builders
fy statutory
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9th city and
ake up the
of Victoria
bourne and
sually have
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ly exist to
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range of
nning and
SV. Many
| increasing
y now that
| extent in
government agencies.
The first group was capable of performing only limited works
for VicRoads, being unsuitable for cadastral or surveillance
work.
The second and third groups were considered capable of
providing a wide range of services to VicRoads provided they
were given sufficient time and work to develop their expertise
in VicRoads' particular requirements.
3.3.2 The photogrammetric firms: Their professional
association, the Association of Aerial Surveyors Inc (AASA),
represents almost all firms in Australia which can provide
photogrammetric services. These firms have been able to
develop in both the national and international arena, thus being
capable of a greater range of work than other parts of the
survey industry, mainly because it is a national body, and
therefore less affected by the fragmentation of its market into
state groups. Members of AASA have also contributed their
technical expertise to new developments and made use of new
technology and equipment, such as analytical and softcopy
photogrammetry workstations.
This then placed them in a very good position to undertake any
of VicRoads' photogrammetric tasks to the standard that
VicRoads requires. However, it was considered necessary by
management for VicRoads to retain the technical capacity and
resources in photogrammetry to monitor any outsourced work
to these firms.
4. THE OUTSOURCING OPTIONS CONSIDERED
In the course of the review of the LIS Department, a number
of options were considered. These included the following:
° no change from the present levels of contracting out
of survey and photogrammetry services;
© a general increase to some median level of
outsourcing without substantially disrupting
operational practices;
. outsourcing to the point where in-house maintenance
of skills and development of expertise were the only
limitations on the amount of outsourcing;
° outsourcing of all survey and photogrammetry
services to the limit of operational convenience;
° staff buy-out of some of the survey and
photogrammetry services;
increased use of other government agencies;
a total sell-off of all survey and photogrammetry
services.
The first option was contrary to policy and therefore was not
considered. The second option satisfied most criteria, except
maybe the need to ensure sufficient work to maintain the
industry's involvement on a major scale. The third option
satisfied all criteria, but may have exceeded the industry's
capacity to absorb all the work immediately, and to develop
any extra expertise needed as well as the LIS Department's
capacity to redirect resources. The other options exceed the
terms of the review, and in the long term would mean the loss
of all in-house expertise, while still requiring the Department
to evaluate and accept the work produced. This ran contrary
95
to the process preferred by industry and would cause maximum
disruption to operations.
5. LEVELS OF OUTSOURCING
Several factors were considered in determining the preferred
levels of outsourcing, which included the following:
© The ability of the industry to carry out the work. A
process of testing and evaluation of tasks was carried
out to achieve consistent results in accordance with
VicRoads standards;
© That sufficient work was provided to the private
sector to ensure tha they could maintain their
expertise and secure a return on their investment. It
was necessary to match jobs carefully with particular
firms to ensure this ongoing benefit for both parties;
e The availability of funds for the use of consultants as
required by the outsourcing policy;
e Whether existing redeployment and voluntary
redundancy programs would ultimately achieve the
required staff levels. It was clearly not good
business sense to have staff ineffectively employed
simply to allow immediate outsourcing to occur.
The rate at which the private sector could absorb
displaced staff and its capacity to do so was also
considered;
e The need for the Department to maintain the
expertise necessary to conduct the surveys in-house,
to develop improvements, and to specify performance
and competence standards. This meant that about 4
to 5 work groups should remain in LIS Department
plus support staff to maintain a sufficient number of
skilled staff and a range of technical challenges. A
minimum of one work group in each of the regions
should also be maintained. This was considered the
level needed to provide attractive and challenging
work options for the skilled personnel that remained
in the Department;
e. VicRoads' ability to outsource sufficient work to
maintain the interest of the firms involved. This
meant that the total number of firms being offered
work should be kept to a reasonable minimum, such
that investment in training and development and
technology could be realised and that instruction by
VicRoads was also maintained at a manageable level.
This would control the number of firms allocated to
a particular region, and required special attention to
jobs in isolated areas where the number of firms was
naturally fewer.
6. RECOMMENDATIONS
After consideration of the above options the following was
recommended:
e. That VicRoads progressively outsource its service
functions to a point where, while maintaining in-
house skills, a significant proportion of its work
should be performed by the private sector. This was
determined to be approximately 50% of all work
programmed for LIS Department;
International Archives of Photogrammetry and Remote Sensing. Vol. XXXI, Part B6. Vienna 1996
