A contract forms the basis of outsourcing
A contractual relationship
Water treatment plant, Houtrust, Netherlands
The partnership established between local authorities and Veolia Water can take many forms:
- Management contract, management contract with commission, lease contract
- Operations & Maintenance (O&M)
- Design Build Operate (DBO)
- Build Operate Transfer (BOT)
- Concession
- etc.
The responsabilities of the contracting parties
The outsourcing of services is based on a contract that outlines all of Veolia Water's commitments as the operating company.
Outsourcing of water services respects the prerogatives of the public authorities. In fact, the latter select who operates the services following calls to tender whereby various specialist operating companies compete with each other.
This open competition follows precise regulatory or legal guidelines when the contracting authority decides either to contract out the service for a certain period of time or to renew the contract with the same company.
Partnerships with the local authorities are always negotiated in a frank and honest manner. The public authorities retain permanent ownership of the assets (except for England and Chile), and have the casting vote when it comes to making choices and decisions regarding water management.