Page 44 - School Planning & Management, May 2017

BUSINESS SHOULD I OR SHOULDN’T I? FACING THE OUTSOURCING DECISION
The third factor is the timeline to transform a service. “Do you have the core technology to come up to speed and enhance the service and keep on par with the industry as it changes?” Stinson asks. Think of it from a merger/acquisition strategy point of view: Can you grow to scale and maintain the service as is or better via outsourcing or doing it yourself?
The school business official plays a vital role in considering these factors and determining if it’s a better use of resources to outsource a service than it is to keep it in house. Having been through it, Bein and Richard Weeks, a retired school business official who serves as mentor to New England school business of- ficials and has 20 years outsourcing experience, offer seven insider strategies to make the process a bit easier.
1. “For decision-makers such as school boards and superin- tendents, I prepare a simple, one-page chart with financial data accompanied by written notes,” says Weeks. “The chart typically includes five columns of data: the current fiscal year, the previous fiscal year and a forecast of the upcoming three fiscal years.”
2. “Remember the old adage: Don’t estimate when you can calculate,” Weeks says. “If you have enough time to figure something out, don’t estimate. When delivering your cost- estimate, clarify which data has been calculated and which data has been estimated.”
3. “Always look for unintended consequences of outsourcing,”
says Weeks. “A proposal to outsource special education testing and tutoring services could jeopardize the district’s receipt
of federal grants, which pay the wages of the district’s special educators. This would be a ‘lose-lose’ proposition.”
Bein agrees, citing food service as an example. “Many school districts participate in the national lunch program and have to comply with those regulations,” he says. “Different states oversee that process differently. Illinois is heavy handed in providing oversight and compliance. So it makes it chal- lenging to write in exactly what we want for our food service program, and it goes through review at the state level before we release the bid.”
4. “Allow at least one fiscal year of time and preparation to outsource an operation,” says Weeks. “Retain good labor counsel to review all aspects of the plan to ensure it works. And expect potential displaced workers to offer concessions to save their jobs.”
5. Write a strong contract. “Be super clear in what you want,”
says Bein, “otherwise you’ll get something that meets the stipulations of the contract but doesn’t meet your needs. Writing
in criteria that’s measurable and fair allows bidders to know what’s important and how to bid it, and allows you to make a fair selection of a bidder.” He notes that this can be challenging with some services, such as food service, where you may want to say, “I want food that tastes good,” but can’t because it’s difficult to judge compliance.
6. Consider a pre-bid meeting, which allows you to verbally explain what you’re doing and why. In the last district in which Bein worked, he wanted to upgrade the food service program, including better quality and more freshly made food. He also wanted to introduce meals that complied with Halal requirements for an Arabic population. There were some things that were easy to write in the bid criteria. “But writing in, ‘I want to step up the quality of the food’ is difficult because it’s difficult to measure,” he notes. “I wrote the criteria as best I could and got approval from the state. Then at the pre-bid meeting I was able to verbally explain my expectations, indicating that, if we start the program and I don’t believe the food is a step up, we’ll have issues.”
For some services, such as custodial and food, a pre-bid meeting is not an option. Vendors need to tour the facilities — actually see the space — to know what it will take in terms of labor and equipment to support the operations.
7. “Educational institutions and business enterprises share this in common: Employees are being replaced by out- sourced workers at an alarming rate,” says Weeks. “There
is a high probability that technology and robotics will soon replace many of those outsourced workers. Give your soon-to-be terminated employees solid career counseling. Encourage them to improve their skills and look for jobs in other careers.”
When it comes to the outsourcing decision, there’s a lot to work through. The benefit of investing in the process and researching every angle, however, is reaching a solidly made decision upon which you can stand and move forward with confidence. SPM
44 SCHOOL PLANNING & MANAGEMENT / MAY 2017
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