Operator model

The term operator model is used both in relation to public infrastructure projects and in private, mostly international project management .

Emergence

Operator models have their origin in infrastructure policy. The term Public Private Partnership is often used in this context . The operator model is applied to projects in which a private company is almost completely entrusted with the fulfillment of a public task through the award of a concession . The project management, planning, construction, financing and, in particular, operation are taken over by a private concessionaire. The private person is thus actively involved in the execution of the public task. By appearing as the operator, he is directly or indirectly facing the user or the citizen. Well-known examples are the construction of bridges with refinancing through toll revenue or tasks such as the basic supply of electricity, drinking water and sewage. For the contracting authority, this represents a form of financing in which the construction costs do not have to be shown as “debts”. Later on, the (alleged) higher efficiency of private-sector work organization is argued. The model then makes it possible to charge fees for a service that is otherwise financed from taxes.

Interests in operator models

In international management, operator models refer to projects in which the actual producer ( OEM ) transfers parts or all of the production and maintenance to an operator for a limited time and then acts as a customer to the operator. The concept found its way into industrial sectors, especially the automotive industry, in the mid-1990s. One of the first consistent attempts was probably made by VW manager Ignacio López when he introduced at the Puebla plant in Mexico that the suppliers assemble their parts on the assembly line themselves and payment is only due when the entire vehicle has been approved for quality.

In the classic form of an operator model, the investment for the system is made by the operating company and accordingly appears in their balance sheet and not in that of the customer. This procedure is still relatively possible with accounting according to the German Commercial Code (HGB) , but according to the rules of the IAS or US-GAAP it is bound to stricter rules.

This is also referred to as project financing . As a rule, the operator receives the investment made by his customer on a pro rata basis for each unit produced (see an extreme variant: PoP: Pay-on-Production ). In most cases, operator models are related to the construction of a new plant, whereby the operator is usually the plant constructor himself or an operating company (SPC: Special Purpose Company ) founded as an offshoot to reduce the risk . However, some operator models have already been applied to existing systems, for example in the Seat paint shop in Spain.

Whether public or industrial operator model, the motives are similar: on the one hand there are financial aspects, on the other hand the inclusion of the knowledge of a specialist, i.e. a form of outsourcing , and the associated shift of the entrepreneurial risk from the customer to the supplier , especially with piece-based payment without a guaranteed annual number of pieces.

to form

The generic term for operator models is BOT (Build Operate Transfer) and characterizes the three phases that make up an operator model: the construction phase, the concession phase in which the operating company operates the system, and the transfer, with which the system is transferred to the customer becomes. In practice, however, a new concession phase is usually negotiated instead, as the customer usually has little interest in operating the system himself.

Special forms are

Rehabilitate Operate Transfer (ROT)

no new plant, just a renovation,

Build Lease Operate Transfer (BLOT)

here the operator leases the system either from the customer or a leasing company,

Build Operate Transfer (BOT)

in this case, the property is transferred to the customer before the concession period expires,

Build Own Operate Transfer (BOOT)

actually like BOT, only there is no early buy-out option with which the customer could transfer the system to himself prematurely and

Build Own Operate (BOO)

in which a transfer of ownership to the customer is not even intended.

literature

• Daniel Beckmann: Controlling operator model-based infrastructure projects: A concept from the project management perspective . Shaker, Aachen 2003, ISBN 3-8322-1203-5 .
• Arndt Werding: Evaluation of operator models in production companies: Development of a methodology for selecting the optimal type of supply . Shaker, Aachen 2005, ISBN 3-8322-4104-3 .

Individual evidence

1. ↑ Gabler Wirtschaftslexikons: Operator models. Retrieved August 22, 2010
2. ↑ Bernd Kochendörfer, Jens Liebchen, Markus Viering: Construction project management. Teubner, 2006, pp. 72-74.