The Department of Communities (Communities) is responsible for managing various housing assets across the State. This includes public housing, housing in remote Aboriginal communities, government regional officers’ housing, community housing, leased non-government organisation housing and key worker housing.
Communities engages contractors to deliver maintenance works across its various housing programs, at a rate of approximately 20,000 works orders per month.
Head maintenance contract
There are currently five head maintenance contractors engaged by Communities until June 2025 to deliver housing maintenance works across the following regions:
- Lake Maintenance – East Kimberley, West Kimberley, Goldfields and Wheatbelt
- Programmed Facility Management (PFM) North – Midwest/Gascoyne and Pilbara
- PFM South – South Metro, Southwest and Great Southern
- Spotless Facilities Services – East Metro and North Metro
- Ngaanyatjarra Services Aboriginal Corporation – Ngaanyatjarra Lands (replaced Lake Maintenance in October 2021)
These head maintenance contractors outsource various components of required works to sub-contractors who are engaged directly with them.
In order to become a maintenance contractor for Communities, you are encouraged to register with and view the Tenders WA website. Alternatively, you may approach the current head contractors to obtain sub-contractor work.
Review of housing maintenance contracts
Communities is currently reviewing the way we deliver repairs and maintenance to all of the housing we manage across the State, including housing in remote Aboriginal communities. This involves a holistic review of existing contracts to prepare for the procurement and commencement of a new model for delivering housing maintenance works after the existing head maintenance contracts expire in June 2025.
This will ensure the new housing maintenance service delivery model has a clear scope, delivers value for money, and meets the needs of Communities’ clients, including those living in remote communities.
The review also includes exploring opportunities to increase the participation of Aboriginal community-controlled organisations, Aboriginal businesses, and local community members in the delivery of housing maintenance services. The intent is to create opportunities for remote communities to opt-in to deliver some or all maintenance services based on community appetite and capability.
Stakeholder engagement
Communities is undertaking the contract review and service delivery model design in consultation with several stakeholders state-wide, including the existing head maintenance contractors and sub-contractors, Communities’ employees, other government agencies and community housing organisations.
Communities is committed to supporting better health and wellbeing outcomes for Aboriginal people and empowering Aboriginal organisations and businesses in line with the targets and priority reform areas set out in the National Agreement on Closing the Gap.
Communities wants to hear from Aboriginal people, organisations and businesses to understand how we can work together to support healthy homes and empowered communities.
Indicative timeline
The contract review and development and commencement of a new model will occur in the following stages (subject to change):
- 2023 – Market sounding briefing and consultations
- 2024 – Request for tenders is released
- 2025 – Planning undertaken to ensure there is a smooth transition to a new contract model with minimal impact to the delivery of maintenance services
- July 2025 – New contract model is effective
Updates on the contract review, service delivery model design and procurement timeline will be included on this web page when available. You can also join our mailing list to receive occasional updates via email.
For further information, please contact MaintenanceContractReview@communities.wa.gov.au.
