It should be noted that the main contribution to the savings achieved was reported due to the combination of outsourcing and the long duration of the contract. Another contribution to the savings portion is the inclusion of out-come-based criteria or some form of performance requirements that allows flexibility and innovations on the methods chosen to meet the quality requirements. This allows the potential for cost savings measures and practices, although it is difficult or virtually impossible to measure.
Typically the savings from the initial years of outsourcing have ranged from 10 to 40%, but it is difficult to determine the actual reasons why some countries have achieved better results than others. It would be speculation to describe the reasons, but some of the following aspects might be contributing factors.
• Union and wage issue
• Competitive market in maintenance
• Asset distribution (any favoritism)
• Competence and know-how of the private sector
• Immediate transformation from in-house to outsourcing
• Lack of benchmarking and lessons learned
• Strong leadership in transformation process
• Marketing and working with the industry
• Contracting method used