A way to outsource road maintenance

What is it about?

An important feature in managing civil infrastructures is the growing use of outsourcing in the delivery of maintenance. There is a strong increase in the application of performance- based contracts. The expectations of the principals are high: a smaller organization, better service, lower costs, more innovation and more flexibility. But there are also risks connected to performance-based outsourcing of maintenance: the use of the wrong performance requirements, strategic behaviour of the contractor and a lack of knowledge and experience of the principal. The main question for the authorities that want to outsource their maintenance is: how do we achieve the results we want in way that we can easily manage? This book answers that question by investigating case studies within two road agencies for outsourcing the maintenance of their existing road infrastructures and what the effects of their strategies are. Lessons are drawn from the case studies and they are of most interest to other road authorities that consider, or already have chosen, outsourcing the delivery of maintenance as the way forward.

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Why is it important?

Advocates of performance measurement talk about large cost savings and use the tempting simplicity of performance management to appeal for fixed price performance-based contracts. Reality is far more complex and many performance-based contracts deliver disappointing results. Where only a few empirical studies have actually investigated in detail the actual achievements of performance-based contracting in road maintenance, this empirical research aims to fill that gap in knowledge. It gives suggestions on how to improve performance-based contracting for maintenance.

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