Colorado Springs To Outsource Its Fleet Services
Colorado Springs, CO is moving forward with plans to outsource fleet services. Outsourcing city functions that could potentially be serviced by the private sector has long been discussed by citizen stakeholder groups. Mayor Steve Bach committed to explore any and all outsourcing options upon taking office two years ago, while utilities has also been researching fleet cost-saving options for some time as a means to increase efficiency and customer value.
In November, 2012 a Request for Proposal was released that requested offers for Fleet maintenance services for all city and city-owned enterprises (with the exception of transit which had been previously outsourced in accordance with federal guidelines). The proposals included five options, some with over 4,500 pieces of equipment/vehicles, and 70 city staff.
A recommendation/selection team that included city/utilities/city auditor, and citizens explored options to outsource jointly, outsource independently, or continue to insource all fleet operations. The panel was largely comprised of city and utilities staff involved in fleet maintenance functions, who worked through multiple concerns associated with outsourcing. Technical and finance evaluation teams agreed that cost savings were available with the optimum outsourcing alternative, and recommended a preferred firm with which to enter negotiations.
Three-year financial savings are estimated at $2 million with 60 percent contributed to the city and 40 percent to utilities.