Outsourcing Decision Announcement

Various officials leading Fayetteville campus administration, faculty and staff were sent this email.

From: Rifi Raindriati on behalf of Ann Bordelon
Sent: Thursday, March 28, 2024 10:00 AM
Subject: University Not Pursuing Full External Management of Custodial and Grounds Services

Good morning,

The university will not pursue full external management of custodial and grounds services and will maintain its current workforce. 

As we said in January, a primary objective of this evaluation was to assess the efficiency and effectiveness of current processes and service levels. We learned a lot about our internal structure and processes through this evaluation and have identified opportunities to improve how we deliver these services across campus.

In line with our “One University” philosophy, facilities management, student affairs and athletics will continue to work together to design and implement a more centralized internal management structure of custodial and grounds operations while maintaining our current internal staffing. Further, we will investigate consolidating our current supplemental custodial and grounds services contracts. While our conversations with SSC were productive and had the potential for some level of cost savings, the university felt at this time, we are better served to look internally at our own structure and operational processes to cultivate efficiencies for ourselves. 

The university will look to enhance and improve training and development of employees and their supervisors, better define expected service levels, and identify metrics for measuring those levels. As our campus continues to grow in both population and square footage, the complexity of managing these services has grown. We need to ensure we position our employees to deliver consistent quality service across campus as expected by our students, faculty, staff and visitors.

The U of A frequently performs assessments of various services throughout campus to ensure it continues to provide the best service possible to the growing university population and adequately stewards its financial and physical resources. The university will continue to adapt as necessary to enhance the overall campus experience as the market evolves and the campus community grows.

Thank you,

Ann Bordelon
Executive Vice Chancellor for Finance & Administration