Facilities Management Agreement Guidelines

Reprinted by the courtesy of Information Technology Association of New Zealand. Please note that the article may be slightly country-specific when it comes to legal issues.

This paper is one of a series of guidelines relating to the acquisition of information technology or services prepared by the Information Technology Association of New Zealand (ITANZ). These guidelines are intended to provide advice and assistance to organisations considering technology acquisition and to set out a basis for development of a formal agreement. This paper addresses facilities management services.

Due to the convergence and inter-linking of computing and telecommunications, this guideline series applies equally to both these technologies (collectively referred to as Information Technology or "IT" below). For example, PABXs are increasingly computer-like softwarecontrolled devices integrating voice with data at a user's workstation. A user will take voice calls via a headset linked to the PC. The voice call may initiate the retrieval and display of data relating to the caller from a sales database. Voice and data are no longer separate parts of a system.

For the purposes of this paper, facilities management is considered to be contracting out of the services required to run an organisation's own IT systems and the supply of some or all of the associated services at the purchaser's location. In essence, a service provider manages the organisation's facilities. This is distinct from outsourcing, which relates to contracting out for services where the service provider supplies a total service including the provision of all defined facilities (hardware, software etc.).

These guidelines identify and discuss some of the practical issues and provide guidance for organisations considering facilities management. It is expected that the formal processes that led to the decision to engage a facilities manager have already been undertaken including the selection of a preferred supplier. This process is likely to have included:

• a strategic/business plan (where does the organisation want to be?)
  
• a business analysis and feasibility study (high level requirements, how the process would work)
  
• a request for information (RFI) from suppliers (seeking suitable services and indicative costs)
  
• a cost/benefit analysis (what are the economics?)
  
• a risk analysis (what are the risks?)
  
• a business case with recommendations to management
  
• a specification of requirements (detailed statement of services and service levels required)
  
• a call for proposals from suppliers known as a request for proposal (RFP)
  evaluation of proposals.

(Refer to ITANZ Information Technology Procurement Guidelines)

A sample agreement that may be used as the basis for a facilities management contract is included with this guideline. As with the previous documents it must be noted that each agreement must be tailored to meet the requirements of a particular situation. This paper seeks to provide practical guidance and advice on general principles, but it is expected that organisations undertaking contract negotiation will also seek legal advice as required.