Providers of ‘blue collar’ services deliver essential day-to-day activities that range from cleaning and security through to repairs and maintenance and facilities management.  These activities are often labour-intensive and require a strong focus on operational efficiency.  This favours larger operators who are able to exploit efficiencies of scale and can act as leaders in the process of sector consolidation.

At 3i, we aim to partner with outsourcing providers who can follow a strategy which is able to access the following:

• Supporting the public sector: Public sector take-up of outsourced services remains low in many areas.  We work with focused providers who can help local authorities drive through efficiencies and meet community needs.
• Negotiating smarter contracts: Early outsourcing contracts covered a limited number of activities and tightly define the inputs (typically labour) that the operator needed to supply.  Smarter contracts give the operator more scope to create value by covering a wider spectrum of activities and defining outputs (such as quality standards) rather than inputs.
• Growing in Europe: In many European countries outsourcing of blue collar services remains relatively immature.  We are able to use the expertise we’ve gained in the UK to support European operators who can capitalise on the huge potential for growth.
  

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