Idea #16 – Outsource Services

Report Status: Fully Reviewed

Researched by: Aaron Pikcilingis

Original Idea as Submitted

Outsource non-value added services

Other ideas included in this report

  • 17 - Outsource specific town services

  • 27 - Outsource specific town services

  • 70 - Outsource mechanics work in DPW

  • 71 - Hire licensed tradestaff rather than contract services

  • 229 - Outsource IT departments

  • 235 - Outsource facilities work

  • 238 - Outsource contractors rather than use town employees

  • 239 - Evaluate need for facilities system employees

  • 242 - Outsource cafeteria programs

  • 253 - Train town staff instead of using expensive consultant services

  • 345 - Consider hiring in-house counsel

Idea intent

This report abstracts a large collection of specific suggestions to either insource or outsource specific positions or functions in town. Rather than rely on the specific list of suggested ideas, we chose to examine many functions and positions in the town to both evaluate what we currently do, but also develop a process for evaluating any given function or position in the future to help determine if it should be outsourced, insourced, etc.

Weighted Final Score: 43 (Financial Impact: 3, Operational Impact: 2, Time Scale: 2, Ease of Implementation: 3)

Background Information

The town currently uses a mix of contracted (outsourced) services and town employees (insourced) to deliver services. While some of the ideas suggested a seemingly simple means of determining what should fall into what category, each situation has many factors to consider when determining whether it would be preferable to insource/outsource.

The following examples illustrate this need for nuance:

The town currently outsources all plumbing services for town-owned facilities. We have a contract with a plumbing provider who takes care of our facilities. The problem with this arrangement is that we have to call them in for all plumbing issues, even simple fixes like a leaking toilet or regular maintenance. In this situation, the town would likely see an improvement in service and an increase in routine maintenance by hiring a plumber directly, insourcing at least some of the repairs and much of the routine maintenance.

Conversely, the town currently performs in-house maintenance on out fleet of vehicles, a task that might be better achieved through a mix of in-house repair and contracted services. (Additional thoughts about fleet management are written in Idea #54.)

Recommendations

The town should develop and adopt a process to guide the evaluation of insourcing/outsourcing as options when:

  • We are beginning a new or renewing an old service contract

  • We are planning to hire a town employee

The development of this process should include an analysis of performance and costs, expected short- and long-term costs, and an estimate of the value added by having a town employee, if any (for example, DPW employees know our roads, property, equipment). We also suggest that this be developed in an iterative manner, improving the process as we learn by using it, and that it be designed for ongoing use, not just a one-time audit of all positions and functions, to maximize the benefit over time.

For example, many businesses require requests for new hires to provide a business justification, and in a similar process here we could include an evaluation of the prospects of insourcing versus outsourcing the position or function.

Next Steps

  • The Town Administration and School Committee/Superintendent should devise decision support processes and an implementation plan to be used in an ongoing manner by Departments to efficiently and effectively assess whether a given position or function is better-suited to hiring an employee or outsourcing through a contracted vendor.

  • The Select Board could delegate the development of the decision support tool to the Vision 21 Implementation Committee or another committee they see fit.

Further Reading