[GUIDELINES FOR THE EXECUTION OF
MINOR MAINTENANCE WORK
DEVOLVED TO MINISTRIES AND DEPARTMENTS ]
April 1, 2009
G
U I D E L I N E S
F O R THE E X E C U T I O N
OF
MINOR
MAINTENANCE WORK
DEVOLVED
TO M I N I S T R I E S
AND DEPARTMENTS`
DEPARTMENT OF BUILDING AND ENGINEERING SERVICES
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[GUIDELINES FOR THE EXECUTION OF
April 1, 2009
1.0
INTRODUCTION
A:
Purpose:
MINOR MAINTENANCE WORK
DEVOLVED TO MINISTRIES AND DEPARTMENTS ]
In line with the directive from His Honor the Vice president to devolve funds to Ministries and
departments to undertake minor maintenance activities, the Ministry of Works and Transport has
for the past four years been issuing funds to selected Ministries and departments to undertake
such maintenance. It has since emerged that these funds are not been fully utilized for the
purposes they were intended to serve. For example, some Ministries make use of the funds to
undertake major development work such as renovation of buildings. Whilst it is agreed that
renovation may be interpreted by some as a maintenance activity, the department feels that the
scope of the work may be too large to be handled by Ministries and Departments and as such it
warrants escalating this operation to DBES for execution. Some Ministries and Departments
though have not used the funds provided to them altogether on account of unclear guidelines and
this has prompted the Department of Building and Engineering Services to revisit these guidelines
with the view to further clarify them. The purpose of this document therefore is to revise the
guidelines already issued from the previous financial years on the use of funding for minor
maintenance, with a view to remove any ambiquity which may have existed in our earlier
guidelines.
B:
Objective:
This document provides guidelines on implementing minor maintenance programme which should be
carried out by Ministries who has benefited from the devolution of funds for minor maintenance
activities as well as those who may want to carry out maintenance activities using the Public Works
Labour-based vote or any other funds from other sources. It is designed such that it provides
1. Maximum flexibility to Ministries in complying with minor maintenance works and Minor Works
Project execution.
2. Provides a standard format for execution of minor maintenance works and Minor Works Project
execution to ensure for consistency of the practice.
The objectives of minor maintenance programme are to ascertain that:




Work of very simple nature is executed without having to refer to DBES.
Reduce the amount of response time and thereby minimize customer complaints.
Keep the facility in a relatively neat state so as to avoid continued dilapidation of facilities through
neglect.
Encourage Ministries and Departments to own up to maintenance activities in preparation of the
devolution of maintenance to them.

DEPARTMENT OF BUILDING AND ENGINEERING SERVICES
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[GUIDELINES FOR THE EXECUTION OF
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2.0
MINOR MAINTENANCE WORK
DEVOLVED TO MINISTRIES AND DEPARTMENTS ]
RESPONSIBILITY FOR REPAIRS AND MAINTENANCE
The previous guidelines had not adequately defined minor maintenance to the extent that some
Ministries and Departments were finding it difficult to distinguish between major and minor
maintenance. Minor maintenance involves performing work of moderate difficulty which does not
require any high level of expertise thereby does not have to refer these to DBES for assistance.
DBES has agreed that the activities listed below will assist Ministries in determining between minor
and major maintenance.
Table 1 below outlines what constitutes to be minor and major maintenance and the values thereof.
Ministries are advised that work that requires high degree of technical expertise should be referred
to DBES for execution. In the event that the Ministry or Department is not sure if a particular activity
which they may want to undertake is classified as minor or major, they must first seek advice from
DBES before undertaking such activity.
DEPARTMENT OF BUILDING AND ENGINEERING SERVICES
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[GUIDELINES FOR THE EXECUTION OF
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DEVOLVED TO MINISTRIES AND DEPARTMENTS ]
April 1, 2009
Table 1:
NO
1
ELEMENT
Roofs
(Flat
Structure)
MAJOR WORK-(DBES)
MINOR WORK-(MINISTRIES)
Repairs /replace of all or
substantial part of an
existing structure to
prevent premature failure.
Repair and replacement of
small components of the
structure-e.g. rotten or defective
timber etc
VALUE OF WORKS


2
Roofs(
Pitched)
Repairs /replace of all or
substantial part of an
existing structure to
prevent premature failure.
3
Floors
Repairs /replace of all or
substantial part of an
existing structure to
prevent premature failure.
Suspension, fixed and
access Panels
4
5
6
7
Ceilings
External
Walls
Windows and
Doors
Internal Walls
Underpinning/Propping
External finish on existing
building to prevent
premature failure or
correct major failure.
Refurbishments and
alterations
8
Sanitary
Services
Large scale
refurbishments
9
Mechanical
Services
Planned/emergency
replacements of failed
systems. Large scale
Refurbishments
Planned/emergency
replacements of failed
systems. Large scale
Refurbishments.
Cyclic painting of the
building to revamp the
paint finish which may
have deteriorated over
time
10
11
Electrical
Systems
Finishes
P20, 000.00 -maintenance
involving procurement of
materials and execution of
work by an in-house
Up to P200, 000-00
outsourced work.
Repair and replacement of
small components of the
structure-e.g. rotten or defective
joists, rafters, purlins but not
complete trusses etc
Repair and replacement of
small components of the
structure.
As above
Repair/replacement including
from water damage
As above
Re-cladding of wall on
noticeable failure
Repairs/replacements of items
such as locks, window panes,
internal and external cleaning
down and preparation.
Repairs and redecoration.
Minor alterations.
Small scale refurbishments.
Repairs and replacements of
sanitary ware, fittings, waste
plumbing.
General maintenance of all
systems including replacement
of defective parts. Regular
cleaning. Monitoring systems.
Repairs/replacement of all small
electricals e.g.
Luminaires(lights), power points
etc
Any painting of walls to remove
dirty or upgrade or change the
finish which may be required
before the next cyclic painting
by DBES
As above
As above
As above
As above
As above
As above
As above
As above
DEPARTMENT OF BUILDING AND ENGINEERING SERVICES
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MINOR MAINTENANCE WORK
DEVOLVED TO MINISTRIES AND DEPARTMENTS ]
In addition to the above, DBES has been undertaking the following activities when in actual fact these
operations are not maintenance but house-keeping or activities which the clients have to provide for
through the employment of curators, gardeners, cleaners, machine operators,.
1.
2.
3.
4.
5.
6.
7.
8.
9.
10
11.
12.
13.
14.
15.
16.
17.
18.
Cutting down of trees within the premises of institutional houses and Government offices.
Maintenance of garden sprinklers and associated pipe fittings.
Cleaning up of ceiling or removal of cob webs from ceiling in Government offices.
Unblocking and removal of debris from storm water drainage systems.
Cleaning of swimming pools.
Landscaping.
Maintenance of roads in Government institutions e.g hospitals, schools, I.H.S etc.
Operation of boilers and incinerators in hospitals.
Cleaning of windows and polishing/cleaning of slate panels e.g Block 6 & 8.
Cleaning or removal of burnt food staff from electric and gas stoves.
Unblocking of kitchen sinks, wash basins and bath tubs.
Cleaning or removal of stains from bath tubs.
Replacement of fused bulbs in Institutional houses.
Replacement of burnt socket outlets in Institutional houses.
Replacement of light switches.
Rewiring of vandalized electrical installations.
Replacement of damaged electrical fixtures, door locks, kitchen units etc.
Use of DBES maintenance vote to replace fixtures which may have reached their useful life and
cannot be maintained anymore, or use of DBES maintenance vote to replace an item which the
incoming tenant prefers instead of what is already available and in good working condition.
It has also been observed that some ministries and government departments often abandoned properties
which then get vandalized and DBES is often called to refurbish these properties utilizing their maintenance
budget. All abandoned facilities will be attended to by DBES at the expense of the client
ministry/department as the costs of such rehabilitations are often high due to vandalism and protracted
periods of neglect.
3.0
MAINTENANCE EXECUTION.
Despite the guidelines previously provided to Ministries on the areas of coverage for the execution
of the minor maintenance, it has been argued that the guidelines were too restrictive on the usage
of the funds. As a result of this, some Ministries and Departments were altogether unable to utilize
funds given to them for minor maintenance.
The procedures below will assist Ministries and Departments in the execution of maintenance:
A. Ministries Technical Units
DEPARTMENT OF BUILDING AND ENGINEERING SERVICES
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[GUIDELINES FOR THE EXECUTION OF
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MINOR MAINTENANCE WORK
DEVOLVED TO MINISTRIES AND DEPARTMENTS ]
The Ministerial Technical Units were formed primarily as an extension to DBES to a large extent for
overseeing development projects in Ministries and to a lesser extent provide a backup in execution of
maintenance services. These MTU’s are staffed with professional staff who are best placed to
undertake maintenance in Ministries and departments. MTU’s have been established in the following
Ministries and benefit from the above arrangement.
 State President
 Works and Transport
 Agriculture
 Sports and Recreation
 Home Affairs
 Health
 Administration of Justice.
The above Ministries are therefore advised to engage the established MTU’s to undertake both Major work
and Minor Work.
B. Other Ministries and Departments
There are however Ministries without established MTU’’s and this has contributed significantly to under
utilization of funds devolved to them. The objective of devolving funds as already alluded to above is to
enable Ministries and Departments to execute maintenance work of a very simple nature without
having to refer to DBES. It is appreciated that the concerned Ministries might not have adequate inhouse capacity to execute minor maintenance in the absence of competent personnel within their
employ. There are however maintenance works of a very simple nature that does not require technical
expertise such as replacement of luminaires (Lights), repairs of leaking taps, broken doors, minor
repaint work etc that can be directly undertaken without involving DBES. When work of such nature
occurs, Ministries and Departments through their respective supplies sections/divisions are mandated
to facilitate procurement of minor spares and materials, thereafter engage contractors to fit. The
Ministries will then pay for labor costs only incurred as a result of engagement a contractor.
Similarly, there are Ministries and Departments who have adequate capacity to execute work of Minor
Works Projects using their internal resources. Such Ministries and Departments are encouraged to
work closely with DBES when executing Minor Works projects. Ministries are therefore urged to employ
multi-skilled handy-man (men) who will attend to some of the day to day minor maintenance
requirements at short notice as he will always be available to offer the service as and when required.
He can also assist to prepare work schedule to be attended to by an external contractor.
DEPARTMENT OF BUILDING AND ENGINEERING SERVICES
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MINOR MAINTENANCE WORK
DEVOLVED TO MINISTRIES AND DEPARTMENTS ]
C. Rapid Response Teams.
The department of Building and Engineering Services has recently propounded the idea of establishing
teams of multi-skilled artisans who will be based at the Government Enclave whose role would be to
act as a ‘First Line of Defense’ to attend to maintenance work within the government enclave and to
support Ministries in undertaking their maintenance activities. Once it is established that these teams
have a positive impact in reducing the response times to maintenance, the approach would be
introduced in other areas. Ministries at (B) above are advised to liaise with these teams for execution of
minor and major maintenance that fall beyond the capacity of the Ministries and departments. Plans
are underway to ensure that these teams are adequately resourced to attend to maintenance reports
within the shortest time possible.
Some maintenance activities such as static plants, centralized air-conditioning systems, fire detection
and alarm system, vertical transportation (lifts) etc are of a highly specialized nature and hence will
continue to be directly undertaken by the Department of Building and Engineering Services through the
rapid response teams and other DBES maintenance programmes.
4.0 MINOR WORKS APPROVAL
Each fiscal year, the Department motivates for a Minor Works Projects Approval for Buildings (small
contracts), Electrical and Mechanical works to the value of P200, 000.00, P100, 000.00 and P100,
000.00 respectively. The approval facilitates tendering without prior approval of the Ministerial Tender
Committee. Ministries and Departments capable of undertaking Minor Works Projects using this fund
are to first check with DBES the availability of these funds, and request for a copy of the CTB form 3
(Three) Approval before engaging contractors.
It should be noted that any other work of a technical nature that requires expertise to assess, control
and enforce the required standards, should not only be carried out by following PPADB established
procedures but also through PPAADB registered contractors.
5.0 SUBMISSION OF MINOR WORKS AWARDS.
The Department of Building and Engineering Services is expected to submit a summary of Minor
Works awards on a quarterly basis to the Ministerial Tender Committee. It is a requirement that
Ministries and Department likewise should provide such summaries to the department on a two
monthly basis to enable the department to compile the information for forward transmission to MTC.
6.0
MONTHLY RETURNS OF EXPENDITURE
Paragraph 303 of the financial Instructions and Procedures does not absolve an Accounting Officer
of the ultimate responsibility for funds sub warranted to him that he/she has since issued sub
warrants. Ministries therefore are expected to submit monthly returns of expenditure to the Director
DEPARTMENT OF BUILDING AND ENGINEERING SERVICES
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MINOR MAINTENANCE WORK
DEVOLVED TO MINISTRIES AND DEPARTMENTS ]
of Building and Engineering Services and these should be marked to the attention of the Building
Maintenance Coordinator. This officer has since been designated as the focal point of contact
should you require any guidance or assistance from the Department in undertaking minor
maintenance.
The officer can be contacted at telephone number 3164467 or email: kmatshediso@gov.bw.
Should there be a justifiable need for additional funding; more funds will be provided subject to
availability of funds.
DEPARTMENT OF BUILDING AND ENGINEERING SERVICES
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