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Outsourcing animal care services to specialized contractors can lead to labor and cost savings. A clear understanding of your own needs and what a contractor can offer will help you decide the best strategy for your organization.

Continuing budget pressures and increasing technical and regulatory requirements have meant that increasingly, administrators who are responsible for laboratory animal care at both universities and pharmaceutical firms are turning to specialized contractors for the on-site operation of their animal husbandry and veterinary support programs. The federal government has recognized the benefits of this approach as on-site contractors are successfully providing laboratory animal care support at a number of agencies, including the National Institutes of Health, Center for Disease Control, Food and Drug Administration, NASA, the EPA, and the US Army. This article will present some of the economic and technical reasons for using an on-site contractor to provide laboratory animal care and review a number of issues that should be considered when selecting a contractor. A number of companies provide on-site laboratory animal care; they allow you to bring a combination of experience and expertise to your situation that is often greater than what is currently available. Ten generally accepted reasons an organization would consider outsourcing include:

1. Reduction and control of operating costs
2. Improvements in the organization’s focus
3. Access to world-class capabilities
4. Free internal resources for other purposes
5. Resources are not available internally
6. Acceleration of reengineering benefits
7. Internal functions are difficult to manage or are out of control
8. Capital funds are made available
9. Risks are shared 10. Infusion of cash

Although developed for business in general, these ten reasons hold for just about any organization that currently operates a vivarium. An eleventh reason may be particularly appropriate to the laboratory animal care industry. According to the Institute of Laboratory Animal Care (ILAR), recruitment and retention of animal care professionals have become major issues for most institutions. Recruitment of trained, experienced staff members was seen as highly or moderately important by 66% of the institutes surveyed. Retention of animal care technicians is important because well-trained, experienced animal care professionals are key to an organization’s ability to deliver efficient and quality services. High turnover rates are expensive because of high training costs and lack of productivity of newly hired technicians.

Outsourcing, the use of on-site contractors, is a strategy that an organization can use to attain labor-cost savings and unburden internal administrative and supervisory systems since it is the contractor who assumes responsibility for recruitment, retention, and training new employees. A smart organization will tie contract performance to quantifiable benchmarks in each of these areas.

Outsourcing impacts an organization’s relationships, processes, and the technology environment, but it will also affect the work culture. Outsourcing is a control measure that can be used to measure success in providing internal services. An outsourcing company can provide complete animal care solutions to clients and allow an organization to focus its resources on core mission performance.

An organization will prosper when it concentrates on its core mission and allows its animal care, technical, and even some clerical support functions to be provided by companies that specialize in providing these services. Contractors provide qualified staff, extensive training programs, effective quality assurance and quality control measures, and professional management to ensure success. In addition to staffing and management services, lab animal contractors can provide value added services such as:

• Assistance in the preparation and review of Standard Operating Procedures (SOPs), animal study protocols, and other critical documentation
• Quality assurance audit services conducted by industry professionals
• On-site skilled training to meet regulatory requirements and facility-specific needs, such as SOPs, a new procedure, and career development
• Consultation services to include AAALAC preparation, facilities assessment, construction design, safety, and process analysis services
• Investigation and recommendations for selecting products and services that will best suit the operational needs

Often bringing in a lab animal contractor can, with established QA/AC programs, dramatically reduce technical errors and provide a firm foundation for AAALAC accreditation. A consistent QA/QC effort, focused on the standards of the industry, is also the most cost effective approach to vivarium operations. Similarly, a contractor can bring in a well-tested and established training program and teach best practices that were learned from years of experience and often from dozens of programs. Access to qualified training is particularly important as federal law now requires that institutions provide training for anyone caring for or using laboratory animals. A quality training program facilitates the professional development of the on-site staff as evidenced by increased levels of AALAS certification and ultimately is directly related to an improved quality of care for the animals.

Contract laboratory animal care firms have long recognized the need for their clients to have a reliable, competent, experienced, and technologically proficient animal care and technical work-force that will provide a specialized labor pool in a worry-free atmosphere. Again, the economies of scale afforded by a specialist can turn into increases in performance and cost savings. Lab animal contractors know the labor market and target their recruitment efforts specifically to the lab animal industry. This knowledge and focus often makes for greater efficiency and a higher quality employee. Working for a lab animal company with multiple clients also encourages professional development since it realistically provides increased opportunities for professional advancement within the company. Quite often the needs for personnel fluctuate with the needs of investigative staff and the numbers of programs that are currently running. Outsourcing provides flexible staffing so that short-term projects and specialized technical needs can regularly be accommodated. Projects do not have to be turned away due to staffing requirements. Most on-site support firms provide flexible staff as part of their programs to respond to customer surge requirements or to fill in for employees on vacation, experiencing long-term illness, or to meet short-term specialized technical requirements.

The use of an on-site contractor can also often provide significant cost savings in terms of labor dollars by streamlining operations without sacrificing quality of care. As industry management experts, lab animal contractors are often able to introduce up-to-date methods and company-wide synergies to reduce the staff numbers required to run a facility while maintaining quality of care. Tallying the true costs of performing and managing animal care services in-house and then soliciting requests for proposals from professional contract companies is the only way to perform a realistic cost-benefit analysis. The cost of performing animal care and technical services can be compiled from your own financial data. Too often people considering the use of an on-site contractor will fail to include all of their vivarium operation’s indirect expenses, such as:

• Benefits such as vacation, sick leave, and holidays
• Health insurance
• Disability insurance
• Worker’s compensation and liability insurance
• Uniforms and safety equipment
• Training expenses, including salary and benefit support for trainers
• Human resources time and effort, including recruitment costs
• Management and supervisory requirements

Like any business relationship, using an on-site contractor to provide animal husbandry and veterinary technical support will be most successful if you establish beforehand your expectations for the relationship. Successful outsourcing programs are based on mutual trust and excellent communication. However, there are some other considerations1that make up the top ten factors for successful outsourcing. They include the following:

1. Understanding company goals and objectives
2. A strategic vision and plan
3. Selecting the right vendor
4. Ongoing management of the relationship
5. A properly structured contract
6. Open communication with affected individual/groups
7. Senior executive support and involvement
8. Careful attention to personnel issues
9. Near-term financial justification
10. Use of outside expertise

Besides cost issues, are there other issues facing your facility that a contractor can help you solve?

• Does the performance of in-house work crews meet or exceed the organization’s expectations for quality?
• Is the workforce able to meet peak workloads?
• Does the quality of care suffer during holidays, weekends, and emergency time periods?
• Are you finding work is unfinished; SOPs are not being followed — even after spending money for overtime?
• Are there safety concerns regarding employees or the facility?
• Are employees being trained and obtaining certifications?
• Are there constant human resource issues?
• Do you have an animal care expert on staff to ensure compliance with the rules, regulations, and policies to ensure AAALAC accreditation?

Answering questions such as these can help define your expectations for the contractor and provide you with the necessary performance metrics to gauge the contractor’s success.

In the field of laboratory animal care and technical support services, there are several companies that provide on-site support. Several of these companies have the qualifications to provide outstanding laboratory animal care and technical support to your organization. Look for a company that believes their knowledge and experience in maintaining AAALAC accredited facilities is superior and has a proven management philosophy, an ability to work with the client, outstanding recruiting and retention success, proven experience phase-in personnel, a commitment to training, and successful QA/QC programs combined with the commitment to excellence for your organization.

Selecting the appropriate contractor for your situation is key to the success of the program. Factors such as transition plans, training programs, quality controls, communication, past performance, and certainly costs should contribute to the decision. The process starts with the decision to consider outsourcing. Each outsourc-ing contract is customized to fit your needs whether it would need to include training, consulting, or other services. An on-site evaluation of your facility and an operational review is usually the next step in order to help the potential contractors familiarize you with their services and for the company to understand the needs of your facility, such as the physical plant, operations, workplace standards, and the overall culture of the worksite. After the initial site visit, further discussions are focused on identifying the expectations and performance objectives that you have established for your animal care program, as well as the level of involvement that would be required from an out-sourcing company. Detailed operational and cost proposals are then prepared and submitted for consideration.

References
1. Survey of Current and Potential Outsourcing End-Users, The Outsourcing Institute Membership, 1998.

Molly L. Romick is the director of business development at SoBran, Inc. She can be reached at mromick@sobran-inc.com