University Business - July 2006 - (Page 85)

T HERE ARE FEW GIVENS IN THE T world of facilities management out- sourcing. Take the percentage of col- leges that have taken the plunge, for Services at California State University, Sacramento. Yet he can't one: Most providers estimate about identify a single outsourcing project on the IHE level. 20 percent of this market has turned The atmosphere is a bit chummier in Waco, Texas, where over control of some aspect of its op- Baylor University's Don Bagby, director of Facilities Manage- e r a t i o n s f o o d service, bookstore, ment has finally, after 12 years, shed his oddity status at Associa- groundskeeping, building maintenance, janitorial, energy tion of Higher Education Facilities Officers conventions. We maintenance, or security to an outside expert. had a tough time attending activities because colleagues wanted Are any institutions farming out the whole ball of wax? Ac- to spend [an extraordinary amount of ] time with us finding out cording to a 2002 survey of attendees conducted during several how we outsourced and our reasons, he says. At that time a National Association of College and University Business Offi- lot of people said it would never work at their university. Now I cers meetings, a mere 2 percent had done so. hear they've outsourced that work. From Kristy Elmore's office as the director for Higher Educa- According to a 2002 study by FMLink, an online publication tion Solutions at Johnson Controls in Milwaukee, those num- for facilities and building managers, 72 percent of the nation's bers are definitely climbing. In just three years with the higher businesses in general outsourced custodial and housekeeping, education market, the conversation has gone from `Don't say the 65 percent farmed out design and architecture, 63 percent hired O word' to `We need help,' she reports. others to do landscape maintenance, 51 percent said good-bye Yet the field report from Rick Justis, an area sales manager to in-house security, 50 percent contracted for preventive main- for Johnson Controls, is that mass scale outsourcing isn't nearing tenance, and 45 percent of utilities maintenance was handled by tidal-wave proportions it's more like the tide itself. It's really outsiders. Of those polled, 36 percent said they were likely to not very common, he says. For a while outsourcing was a good add still more functions to their outsourcing lists. thing, and for a while outsourcing was a bad thing. Now, it's Meanwhile, the folks at Philadelphia-based Aramark worked situational, and the university's attitude depends on local poli- with 350 registered attendees last year when it held a web semi- tics, local labor pool, and so on. nar on the topic, with a 67 percent increase in web traffic imme- The concept, of course, is solid. As a risk manager, if it re- diately after that event. Overall, the site has received 2 million duces your potential liabilities, it's a good strategy, says Mi- hits since it launched last year. Such data means officials there chael Christensen, assistant vice president of Risk Management estimate the number of IHEs now looking into comprehensive outsourcing is growing at perhaps 1 percent a year. In this large market segment, even a single-digit jump represents serious profit dollars for vendors. Still, Elmore isn't spinning when she claims that comprehensive outsourcing as a strategy for cam- puses is not stagnating, but simply resting before the next crest. The facts: Energy costs are escalating, a large percentage of college employees are nearing retirement, and deferred maintenance FacitlitesOutsourcing.indd FacitlitesOutsourcing.indd 85 6/21/06 3:11:07 PM

Table of Contents for the Digital Edition of University Business - July 2006

Contents
College Index
Advisory Board
Company Index
Editor's Note
People Watch
Sense of Place
Stats Watcch
Viewpoint
Marketing
Human Resources
Future Shock
Money Matters
Community Colleges
Diamond in the Mudd
Higher Ed at the Crossroads
Property Values
The President Next Door
Good Medicine
The Outs (and Ins) of Facility Management
Business Technology
What's New
Calendar of Events
Direct Connect
End Note

University Business - July 2006