The procurement and use of ALMs is intended to deliver a streamlined facilities maintenance service, to reduce the burden of property management on principals at small and rural schools and to improve the maintenance of the ministry’s assets.
Lee Stream School principal Kate Martin thought the idea was hilarious.
She had visions of "a robot lawnmower" going mad and chasing her pupils around the field.
"I guess that could be quite good for their fitness — trying to out-run Mo the mower.
"But it might struggle to cut our grass.
"It’s clogged with poo from all the chickens we have here."
She had serious concerns about the ministry’s spending priorities.
"OK, so we’re cutting down on school lunches and learning support, but we’re going to buy these robot lawnmowers?
"I’m a bit worried about the financial priorities here — they’re not quite right."
Poolburn School principal Melissa Gare laughed at the initiative, which she thought was well outside the box.
"I do know that a lot of schools do struggle to get people to come in and do ground work, and what traditionally would have been caretaker roles can actually be quite hard to fill now.
"But in practice, I’m not sure it would work.
"It’s great that the ministry is trying to save us some money, but probably there are other areas that we could steer them to."
Maheno School principal Stella Macrae was initially gobsmacked, but later welcomed the idea.
"It sounds weird but I’ve seen them working quite effectively.
"I can see that they would have a place, especially on our fields, and certainly if it helped reduce our maintenance costs, it would be good."
The ministry’s tender document said eight ALMs would be rolled out in schools initially to ensure they were fit-for-purpose, before potentially extending it up to 30 units.
The machines would have to have a high mow-range per-charge (10,000sqm minimum), built-in theft protection features, built-in safety features, an easy setup process, high reliability, and comprehensive warranty coverage and warranty period.
The ministry oversees and supports property management at more than 2100 schools, and its property portfolio is the second largest social property portfolio in New Zealand with about 8000ha of land.
The closing date for tenders is 5pm on August 19.
