A lost shift is not recovered. When a crew does not reach the rig on time, the loss is not the trip: it is the operating window. That is why personnel transport is contracted differently from any other haulage, and why operators audit it as severely as they audit a well service.
These are the three points where a contract fails, and what to require at each.
1. Punctuality measured, not promised
"Schedule compliance" means nothing without a record. What does mean something is a report showing, route by route, departure time, arrival time and any deviation from the planned run.
What to ask for in the tender:
- Route reports on a defined cadence, not on request
- Departure and arrival times logged per unit and per route
- Route-deviation alerts with time and location
Without that, any month-end discussion about punctuality becomes one word against another.
2. Traceability of the unit and the operator
The operator needs to know which unit made the trip, who drove it and in what condition. It is the first thing an HSE audit asks for after an incident, and the one thing no supplier improvises on the day it is requested.
Worth verifying before award:
- Current registration certificates for every unit offered
- A documented preventive maintenance program
- Operator certification and hours control
- Geofences defined for operating perimeters and restricted zones
- Speeding and unauthorized-stop detection
3. Replacement capacity
A unit out of service cannot stop the shift. This is what separates a contractor with a fleet from an intermediary: the ability to substitute the unit the same day, without renegotiating.
The useful question at the evaluation table is not how many units the supplier has. It is how many are available and uncommitted for the volume being tendered, and at which base they sit.
What this means when evaluating a bid
Three concrete questions settle most of the evaluation:
- Does the route report arrive on its own, or does someone have to chase it?
- Are the registration certificates of the offered units in the supplier's name?
- Which base does the replacement unit leave from, and how many hours is it from the location?
A supplier that answers all three with documents, rather than adjectives, is a supplier that has already passed an audit before.
- Personnel transport
- HSE
- Contracting