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Facility management and operations contracts can become a continuous financial burden and a recurring source of contractual disputes when their provisions lack clear, measurable, and quantifiable standards. In such cases, asset owners may find themselves committed to paying fixed monthly invoices to contractors who provide little more than the nominal attendance of underqualified technicians. Meanwhile, central cooling plants continue to fail, water pumps break down, and building elevators remain out of service for hours without any meaningful contractual consequences.<\/p>\n
In most cases, the underlying problem is not necessarily the contractor\u2019s intent. Rather, it lies in the absence of digital governance and the failure of contract provisions to establish binding frameworks that distinguish between physical attendance and measurable results.<\/p>\n
Adopting well-structured operations and maintenance performance indicators, supported by robust Service Level Agreements (SLAs), provides the legal and technical framework required to control service quality, link payments to actual asset availability, and maintain a stable operating environment that protects the facility\u2019s long-term investment value.<\/p>\n
Developed for government and private-sector entities, facility managers, and contract administrators in Saudi Arabia, this guide provides an integrated, practical framework for establishing, monitoring, and governing operations and maintenance performance indicators professionally and effectively.<\/p>\n
Traditional contract models are often based on labour pricing and daily site attendance without clearly linking them to operations and maintenance performance indicators. Contractors are paid according to the number of technicians assigned to the facility and their attendance records rather than the tangible operational results they achieve.<\/p>\n
This model creates a direct conflict of interest. Contractors may have little incentive to prevent failures proactively as long as their teams remain on-site and continue to be paid. Frequent emergency failures may also lead to additional spare-parts requests and higher repair costs for the asset owner.<\/p>\n
Adopting operations and maintenance performance indicators ensures that contractor efficiency is measured against actual results, including asset availability, response times, repair quality, and compliance with preventive maintenance plans.<\/p>\n
Modern governance therefore requires a shift towards Performance-Based Contracts, in which operations and maintenance performance indicators form the primary basis for evaluating the service provider and approving payments. Under this model, the owner does not pay merely for the presence of technicians. Payments are linked to measurable outcomes, such as maintaining 99% building-system availability, responding to fault reports within specified timeframes, and sustaining energy efficiency in accordance with operation manuals and the Saudi Building Code.<\/p>\n
A professionally drafted contract should classify maintenance requests into different priority levels according to their severity and operational impact. Binding response and resolution times must then be assigned to each category.<\/p>\n