2.2 By April 1995, when the Agency's management board initiated a study to define the partnership, approximately half the complement of the in-house IT services unit comprised contractors, remunerated on a daily fee basis. The Agency's management board attached priority to the implementation of the partnership such that the partner's employees would rapidly replace the contractors. They also considered that implementing the partnership on this basis would provide a role in the delivery of IT services for an in-house IT services unit. The management board wanted to retain an in-house capability to avoid the partner becoming a monopoly supplier of IT services upon which the Agency might become increasingly reliant. The management board did not want the Agency to guarantee to the partner a minimum workload. They reasoned that the absence of such a guarantee and the retention of an in-house capability to supply IT services would maintain pressure on the partner to keep charges for the services competitive.