Towards effective FM outsourcing: barriers and strategic interventions from the Sri Lankan service provider’s perspective

Abstract

Facilities management (FM) refers to the management of non-core business activities to support the core activities. FM outsourcing has been established as one of the successful methods for FM procurement because of its benefits. In the FM operation, various challenges have arisen from various perspectives. Referring to that, the aim of this study is to investigate requirements for maintaining an effective FM outsourcing contract by the service provider company. The research scope was limited to challenges to FM service providers and strategies that are used by them to overcome challenges within the Sri Lankan context in a situation where the contract has already been formed. Accordingly, a qualitatively based extensive literature synthesis has been conducted concerning the FM outsourcing concept and challenges in maintaining FM contracts. Following the qualitative approach, data were collected through nine (9) semi-structured interviews with FM service providers. The findings revealed that in the Sri Lankan context, FM service providers are facing various challenges, knowing them and making strategies to overcome them will be the key to the continuity of the contract with the client. Prioritizing clients' needs, defining proper standing operation procedures, having separate service coordinators, frequent meetings with the client and subcontractors, understanding the client’s language and nonverbal communication, and forming communication strategies were mainly used as strategies. The framework has been developed based on the above-mentioned key findings, including key determinants to be considered.