ITF FM

AMC vs O&M contract

Choose between maintaining named assets and putting the agreed building operation under one accountable provider.

An annual maintenance contract covers listed assets, planned maintenance and reactive work within agreed limits. ITF's operation and maintenance contract adds responsibility for the agreed building services, including soft services and specialist coordination. Both need a surveyed scope. The difference is who owns the work between individual maintenance tasks.

Start with the responsibility you need covered

An AMC buyer needs equipment maintained against a written asset list. An O&M buyer also needs someone to coordinate the agreed building operation. A facilities manager who already owns the daily routines may need an AMC; a landlord seeking one route for site issues should examine the O&M scope.

These are the contract shapes described on ITF's FM pages. The title does not settle another provider's scope. Read its asset list and service schedule before comparing it with ours, particularly where a proposal uses O&M to describe equipment maintenance alone.

The contract, line by line

Both arrangements can include planned maintenance and reactive work. O&M brings the agreed operational services under the same supervision and reporting. Use the table to identify the work you want transferred, then write it into the scope. A contract heading cannot assign a task that nobody has listed.

Keep the asset boundary and the service boundary visible. An asset register tells you which pump is covered; a responsibility matrix tells you who checks its operation and who follows up a fault involving another contractor.

Responsibility	AMC / ITF O&M scope
Contract basis	AMC: named assets and a maintenance calendar. O&M: the surveyed assets plus agreed building services and operational responsibilities.
Planned maintenance	Both: tasks per asset, recorded against the agreed schedule.
Reactive work	AMC: listed assets within the contract limits. O&M: faults coordinated through the agreed site escalation route.
Soft services	AMC: do not assume they are included. O&M: cleaning and other agreed soft services under the same supervision.
Specialists	AMC: supervision where written into the scope. O&M: agreed specialist vendors coordinated through a vendor register; specialist work remains with the appropriate specialist.
Records	AMC: asset register, maintenance calendar and work records. O&M: these plus the agreed service records, vendor register and operating review actions.
Parts	AMC: labour-only or parts-inclusive within stated limits. O&M: read the parts and replacement provisions; the wider scope does not settle them.

Keep one maintenance record

The shared work is the asset register, planned tasks and records of faults and repairs. If an AMC sits inside a wider O&M arrangement, identify who schedules the work and who accepts its closure. Keep the service sheet linked to the same asset rather than maintaining competing histories.

A cooling fault may need an electrical contractor and a mechanical contractor. Name the person responsible for following that fault to closure. The maintenance task can belong to a specialist while the coordination stays with the party named in the responsibility matrix.

Compare the work orders with the report. A task marked complete should have a record you can open, and an unresolved fault should remain visible. This check is useful whichever contract shape you choose.

Moving from an AMC to O&M

Keep the verified asset list and maintenance history, then add the operational scope. List the soft services, supervision and vendor coordination you want included. An AMC renewal with a different title leaves those responsibilities unresolved unless the service schedules and responsibility matrix change with it.

Walk the daily routines with the people who currently perform them. Record the task, the area it covers, the responsible party and the evidence of completion. Keep existing specialist contracts visible, including who books access, checks the specialist's record and follows up defects.

An updated asset and service scope
A responsibility matrix for daily routines and faults
A vendor register with each retained specialist's scope
A reporting schedule linking tasks to their records

Moving back to an AMC

A narrower maintenance contract needs a handover of the responsibilities it leaves behind. If you move from O&M to an AMC, assign the operational routines, soft-service supervision and vendor coordination to your own people or another provider. A maintained asset does not by itself settle who runs the building.

Before changing the scope, review the open defects and retrieve the service history. Mark which faults remain inside the AMC and who owns the others. Update the escalation matrix so staff have a named route when an issue crosses the new boundary.

An office with separate service contracts

Consider an office with an AC maintenance contract and separate cleaning and lift providers. The manager wants one coordinated record of site work. We would first map the current responsibilities and open defects. This is an illustrative scope review, not a completed client engagement.

If the manager wants to keep coordinating the building, we would scope an AMC around the agreed equipment. If that coordination is part of the request, we would define an O&M scope and identify how the retained lift specialist fits into it. The decision follows the responsibility being transferred.

The proposed outputs are a surveyed asset list, a service responsibility matrix and a register of retained vendors. Those documents let the buyer compare both options against the same building and see which tasks still need an owner.

Questions before changing the contract

Q01

Does an AMC include cleaning?

ITF's AMC is written around named assets and maintenance. If you also need cleaning, put that service into the scope explicitly and compare the wider O&M arrangement.

Q02

Can we retain our lift contractor?

ITF's O&M scope can coordinate specialists you retain. Write down who schedules attendance, checks the record and follows up defects.

Q03

Does O&M mean every replacement part is included?

Read the parts provisions and exclusions. Whole-building coordination does not mean every replacement is included, and the contract should identify how additional work is approved.

Q04

Can our AMC become part of an O&M contract?

The existing asset list and maintenance records are a starting point. Review the scope and add the operational responsibilities, vendor arrangements and reporting the wider contract needs.