Dive Brief:
- The University of Tennessee system's campuses decided against a proposal to outsource all facilities jobs to private firms and companies, according to the Chronicle of Higher Education. Gov. Bill Haslam had proposed the idea two years ago as a cost-saving measure, but faculty and staff contended that it could lead to unseen expenses and would weaken campus programs.
- The decision from the Chattanooga, Knoxville, and Martin campuses and the system's Health Science Center came shortly before school leaders were to offer presentations to the system's governing boards. Haslam wanted the same outside firm to handle most facilities work for public campuses as well as other state facilities work, but faculty decried the potential loss of programs "arising from collaboration with facilities employees."
- The Health Service Center will move some of its already-outsourced work onto the state's contract, but some of the center's facilities work will remain on campus. Some colleges and universities have turned towards outsourcing services and programs in order to cut costs — the Chronicle reports that Texas A&M outsourced its building management work in 2012, resulting in savings in the following years.
Dive Insight:
Critics of outsourcing campus functions have been concerned about the impact on the local economy surrounding a school — for example, IT workers protested the University of California late last year for an increased trend of outsourcing IT departments overseas. The loss of jobs in an area could potentially have a long-term detrimental jobs to private firms off-campus could lead to unexpected expenses, including the time and resources it may take to acclimate a private firm to the unique culture and approach that can be found on a given college campus.
University of Tennessee students actually joined facilities services employees during a protest in April against Gov. Haslam's proposal to outsource jobs to a private company, and schools may want to avoid this kind of conflict and controversy on their own campuses. However, consolidating processes among campuses in a system, or even more broadly, campuses in a consortium, can save money for all involved. And it's not just for multiple campuses — administrators should look across the singular campus for ways to condense procurement activity and ensure departments are working together to secure services which could benefit everyone.