Danish Register of Underground Cable Owners (LER)

LER was launched in september 2005 by The National Agency for Enterprise and Construction and has had a significant effect in the aim to prevent damages to underground utility cables, pipelines and serverage, to lower administration coast in the contracting sector and to increase supply security. LER basically works like a phonebook ensuring contact between owners of cables and contrators. When a contractor enquires in relation to a specific construction site, the contractor will recieve contact details on all owners of underground cables on the site.

Policy Context

The development of LER is based on Law on the Register of Underground Cable Owners (no. 119 - 2004), which was passed unanimously by the Danish Parliament in February 2004. The law (including the relevant departmental order) provides the legal framework for the development of LER. At a more strategic level the development of LER derived from the overall objectives of the National Agency for Enterprice and Construction. Among the objectives is to develop more efficient markets in the construction sector to the benfit of individual businesses and the Danish economy. LER is completely in line with this objective, since it lowers the cost of construction works because contractors now have to pay less compensation for damaged cables. At the European level, LER can be said to - in the long run - improve the free movement of services in the Union, since the register makes it easier for foreign construction companies to operate in Denmark. Because LER codifies information on caple owners, which hitherto have been held locally it is easier for foreign contractors to compete with Danish contractors.

Description of target users and groups

LER was developed in direct response to the more than 80.000 annual incidents in Denmark where underground utility cables were damaged by accidents in relation to construction activities. Damages of cables are costly for both the contractors and the owners of the cables, since the former are liable to pay compensation for the damages, while the owners use time repairing the damages. As a result of the danger of compensation for cable damages the insurance expenses for contractors have tended to be above average. Furthermore, the damages to cables often mean that the delivery of utilities is disrupted with negative consequences for the end-users (companies, private households and public authorities). The type of damage varies from minor incidents to major incidents where thousands of end-users are left without e.g. electricity or water for hours. Target group: All companies who own underground cables, pipes and sewers in Denmark. All companies digging in streets and roads.

Description of the way to implement the initiative

Public-Private Cooperation. The National Agency for Enterprice and Construction designed the following three calls for tender according to the EU rules of procurement and based on the dialogue with the cable owners and construction companies: 1. The development of the IT-solution; 2. The operation of the IT-solution; 3. The establishment and operation of a secretariat responsible for the day-to-day management of the register. The three contracts were all won by a consortium of COWI an Ementor Denmark. In relation to the last contract COWI operates the LER Secretariat, which is responsible for servicing user needs as well as the financial management of the register. This operational set-up means that the secretariat officially acts on behalf of the agency, while the agency itself only perform supervising and development tasks in relation to LER. The signing of the contracts has been followed by close cooperation between the corsortium and the National Agency for Enterprice and Construction in order to specify the exact requirements to the work flow, quality and design of the IT-solution as well as the services of LER secretariat. This allow the specialist knowledge of COWI and Ementor Denmark to be utilised according to the initial goals. Multi-channel issues: The register is web-based (www.ler.dk) and access is given through the use of the stateauthorised electronic signature. Smaller companies, who cannot or do not wish to use the Internet, can receive assistance on a commercial basis from private consultants. This set-up ensures that all users are able to use the register, while the costs are kept low. This set-up means that the register is based on access solely through a digital channel - for the first time in Denmark. A LER Secretariat has been established a LER Secretariat, which is responsible for the day-to-day management of the register and acts on behalf of the National Agency for Enterprice and Construction. The secretariat and associated help-desk provides help free of charge by phone and e-mail to users who encounter problems with log in, registration, enquiry or billing. In competition with a number of private consultants, the secretariat also offers assistance with registration on a commercial basis to users who cannot or do not wish to use the Internet.

Main results, benefits and impacts

The benefits of the development of LER has been the following: - the register have minimised the damages to cables caused by lack of information about the location of cables by 75 %. - contractors has gained much easier access to information about owners of cables and the owners recieve a much lower number og superfluous enquiries regarding buliding sites, where they do not own any cables. Owners and contractors therefore use 90% less time on contactning each other due to the "phone book" nature of the register. - much harder to quantify, are the consequences of the general framework improvements primarily for the construction sector and secondarily for the utility sector. The effect is lower costs when it comes to building activities. And since a large number af economic activities are dependent on housing and infrastructure, the end effect is a tiny, but certain increase in the productivity og those sectors. At a more generel level, owners of caples and contractors have from the very start been very supportive of the development of LER. This is due to the clear benefits in terms of saved money and time, which the register brings to both parties. As a result, it has been possible to develop a solution that corresponds closely to the needs of the users thereby ensuring an effective solution. Innovation: The problem of damages to underground cables, which LER solves, is common to all European countries. The development of the register offers important insights into a number of other issues. First of all, the register is as an example of a new type of public services, where public authorities provide the IT infrastructure, which makes it possible for private companies to operate in a more efficient way. To this end, a classic administrative tool (i.e. a register) has been used – but this time in order to meet the needs of the users rather than to control private companies. Secondly, the register is an example of a simple solution to a rather complex problem. Intuitively, a more logical solution to the problem of damaged cables would have been a register of underground cables rather than a Register of Underground Cable Owners. But the development of such a register would have been much more difficult in terms of the information needed from cable owners and the functioning of the IT solution. Although the registration of owners offers less precise information to contractors it has been much simpler to develop and represents a fully workable solution to the original problem. Finally, the Register of Underground Cable Owners is, for the first time in Denmark, based on access solely through a digital channel. Access to the website is based on the state-authorised electronic signature, but smaller companies can choose to buy assistance with their legal duties from private consultants. Those consultants base their assistance on the use of the web site, where they (through the LER Secretariat) receive the right to act on behalf of the original user. This set-up ensures that all users are able to use the on-line register, while the costs are kept low.

Return on investment

Return on investment: Not applicable / Not available

Track record of sharing

The chosen solutions draws upon a number of existing Danish e-government systems: when users login their identity is authorised by the state-authorised electronic signature. Not only does this allow a sufficinetly high level of security but it does also mean that the user does not have to type in the main contact details. This is due to the unique identification through the electronic signature, which allows the system to instantly draw upon the up-dated information held by the Central Office of Civil registration and the Central Business Register. In addition, the digital maps used for the drawing of areas of interest and construction sites are transferred on-line from the Danish National Survey and Cadastre. This secures the use of sufficiently detailed and constantly up-dated maps.

Lessons learnt

The absolute key to the successful development has been the close dialogue with the future users of the register from the very start. Representatives of cable owners and contractors partipated in the detailed analysis drawing up the solution and have since continued to be involved in the development process. This has ensured that the solution improved the general framework of the utilities and construction sectors. At the same time it has resulted in the necessary support to the chosen self-financing system of fees, which ensures the sustainability of the register in the long run. Furthermore the close dialogue has enabled the users to view the implementation on a solution based on access solely through a digital channel as a meaningful toll rather than an extra burden. Scope: National