5.5. Facilities and Office Management

5.5. FACILITIES AND OFFICE MANAGEMENT

The Facilities and Office Management unit’s core function is to operate buildings as successfully and competently as possible, while at the same time maintaining their presence. We aim to provide a clean, safe, and healthy work environment, while planning the efficient use of space.

The Facilities department provides the following services to the MQA:

• preventative maintenance programmes; • routine and emergency repairs; • Occupational Health and Safety Act regulations and compliance; • general plumbing work; • electrical maintenance; • ventilation and air-conditioning (HVAC) maintenance; • monitor and manage the security system; • camera and hardware maintenance; • running of the electronic security systems, including card access and key records.

In addition, the Facilities and Office Management unit also manages and maintains the fleet of pool vehicles.

The unit continues to uphold high operational standards in order to protect and enhance the value of the MQA’s immovable assets, while safeguarding business continuity and environmental sustainability.

The Facilities and Office Management unit’s value chain is therefore mainly driven by relevant statutory requirements and the needs of the MQA’s employees, both of which form the basis of an ideal Facilities Management Framework (i.e. policies, facilities strategy and operational plans).

The year of 2021 was a time of sustained improvement and advancing closer to the achievement of our shared vision of becoming an organisation of excellence.

The Facilities and Office Management unit recognises that it can contribute to the mission of the MQA in meaningful and quantifiable ways. The unit makes use of key performance metrics, general feedback and collaboration with departments and thus ensure it is achieving the objectives that are important to both the MQA and its stakeholders. By achieving these broad strategic objectives, the Facilities and Office Management unit will successfully achieve its mission and vision for the organisation to become recognised for providing excellence in the management of its facilities.

The Unit constantly strives to meet the minimum workplace requirements despite the challenges with the covid-19 pandemic, and remains confident in its ability to effectively support the mission and strategic goals of the MQA.

The overall performance of the unit is deemed to be decent. The unit’s focus in some areas has been purely operational and the requisite strategic activities were omitted but will be the main focus in the upcoming year. The upcoming year will focus on critical aspects such as workspace standards, planned preventative maintenance, and space planning.

The Facilities and Office Management unit established a preventative maintenance plan for the prevention of major failures by correcting and detecting minor problems within unit systems. The purpose of the plan is to provide scheduled activities that will be executed during the financial year. This ensures that, as a unit, it remains dedicated to the uninterrupted delivery of quality services in facilities administration, maintenance and operations. Included in the maintenance plan are critical units such fire suppression, uninterrupted power supply (UPS), the HVAC system, and generator, to name a few.

The Facilities and Office Management unit looked at strengthening occupational safety and health administration programmes that prioritised designing and re-designing workplaces and workspaces that are safe, healthy and productive, and thus implemented a healthy workplace solution, and are continuously looking for improvements.

The management of contracts and SLAs within the Facilities and Office Management unit refers to the management of the various suppliers that provide services to the MQA with the focus on the general improvement of the organisation’s service facilities. The Facilities and Office Management unit monitors and coordinates contractual activities such as courier services, HVAC system, cleaning and hygiene services, document management, and the routine and annual maintenance of the generator.