Public-Private Partnerships for Depot-Level Maintenance
Abstract
Public-private partnerships for depot maintenance are an increasingly important source of capabilities and workloads for organic depots. Partnerships can take a variety of forms to lease organic equipment or facilities to a commercial firm, share work, team, or produce articles or services for the private sector. Partnerships can directly complement organic core capabilities, and recent legislation specifically contemplates partnerships for work related to core competencies. Successful partnerships employ three essential elements: a suitable trigger to initiate the partnership, an effective broker to establish the partnering agreement, and agreements long enough to justify private-sector investments in leased facilities at organic depots. Partnership arrangements can also use a variety of agreement mechanisms that range from a simple handshake to formal contracts. Fundamentally, partnerships are business relationships, and must have sufficient economic appeal to justify participation by all parties. There is ample evidence that participants are finding that justification, and partnering agreements are "win-win-win" situations for the organic depots, commercial firms, and the warfighters and their agents. Case studies are useful illustrations of some of the particular features now incorporated into partnering agreements. The scope of future partnerships will inevitably expand, even as their characteristics rapidly evolve. Ultimately, partnerships may reach a degree of public-private integration that dramatically improves flexibility and responsiveness for repair operations. This paper has two main parts. The body of the report is an assessment of key features and benefits of partnerships, an overview of potential metrics to measure their progress, and a short discussion of the future potential of partnerships.
Document Details
- Document Type
- Technical Report
- Publication Date
- Mar 01, 2002
- Accession Number
- ADA489442
Entities
People
- Steven R. Erickson
Organizations
- LMI