Chancellor John Sharp announced Friday the Texas A&M University System has released the final three requests for proposals (RFP) for the potential outsourcing of facility support services at system locations in Brazos County.
The latest RFP’s are seeking proposals from private entities interested in the management and operation of building maintenance, landscaping services and custodial services.
Further details from a system office news release:
These RFPs are focused on areas where there are no substantial revenue components, but significant cost bases that may benefit from the economies offered by outside companies with significant scale and buying power. However, in most cases, these companies would not have the existing workforce to perform the actual services for a new client, such as Texas A&M. Therefore, their preference is to employ the current staff.
“The core functions of this university are to educate students and facilitate research,” said Sharp. “Everything we do here is to support those two functions. That said, our employees-their jobs, salaries and benefits-will be a key consideration in the evaluation of any proposal from the private sector.
“We owe it to the taxpayers of Texas to look into all options on how to run this university as efficiently as possible.” The chancellor said that once responses to the RFPs are received, a multi-disciplinary team will be appointed to conduct a careful and deliberate review of the proposals over the next several months.
An RFP for dining services was issued last week, with facility tours and pre-proposal conferences to begin on the Texas A&M campus next week.