Wylie Performance Partners
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PERFORMANCE PARTNERS
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Cost RecoveryIndirect spend across ~50 categories, tested against the market Revenue ConversionWhere the pipeline leaks before it closes Technology & OperationsWhat you own, what you use, what you pay for anyway
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INDUSTRIES · EDUCATION
The building costs run whether or not anyone is in it.
Facilities, food service, cleaning and print carry on through terms, breaks and enrolment changes. They are budgeted annually and rarely renegotiated, which makes them the categories most likely to have drifted.
Where we usually start
These are the categories our education work most often turns on. Which of them apply depends on your size, your estate and how much is already bought through a state or regional agreement.
Food and nutrition services
Meal programmes, contracted or self-operated, usually the single largest addressable category in this sector.
Cleaning and custodial
Contracted or in-house, priced per square foot per year on agreements that frequently auto-renew.
Print, copiers and managed print
Fleet size, click rates and lease terms — among the most commonly over-specified categories anywhere.
Office and classroom supply
Bought across departments and campuses, often on several accounts with different pricing.
IT hardware and services
Devices, refresh cycles, licences and support, frequently acquired through grant or bond funding and never rationalized after.
Insurance and telecom
Property, liability and student coverage; circuits and connectivity across sites. Both long-held and seldom compared.
What makes education different
Budgets are set annually and publicly
There is limited ability to price your way out of a cost problem, and any change has to survive a board or committee.
Purchasing may run through a co-op
State contracts, regional co-ops and consortium agreements cover part of the spend. Which part is rarely documented in one place.
The estate is the cost centre
Buildings run through summer. Plant, cleaning, waste and energy continue whether or not the calendar does.
Nothing may touch instruction
We work the categories around teaching, not teaching. Anything that would reduce classroom resource is not worth running.
WHERE THE WORK GOES
Where our education work concentrates
Relative weight of the categories our education engagements most often address, across districts, independent schools and higher education.
Food and nutrition
most
Office and classroom supply
Insurance
Cleaning and custodial
Print, copiers and MPS
IT hardware and services
Note. Relative weight only, shown without underlying counts. It reflects where engagements have concentrated, not what any organization should prioritise. Which categories matter at yours depends on your operating model and your current terms.
WHAT THE WIDER RESEARCH REPORTS
Benchmarking specific to education is thin.
Published benchmarking specific to education is limited. What exists describes indirect spend and grant treatment more broadly.
Indirect categories are commonly estimated at 20% to 40% of an organization’s total spend.
McKinsey & Company
The de minimis indirect cost rate allowed on federal grants was raised from 10% to 15% in the 2024 uniform guidance revision.
US Office of Management and Budget
Published procurement studies benchmark facilities, office supplies, IT and telecom, utilities, waste and HR services as core indirect categories.
Computer Economics / Avasant, 2025

These describe ranges across an industry, drawn from samples that may or may not resemble your organization. We publish the source and the sample size for each because a range is useful for orientation even when it cannot be a conclusion. None of them describe you.

WHERE WE WOULD NOT START
Anything that touches instruction, and anything already bought through a state contract or regional co-op. Those arrangements usually exist because they are competitive, and a review that reduces classroom resource is not worth running.
How the work runs
The same four stages as every engagement. The first costs nothing and you can stop there.
STAGE 01
Diagnostic
We examine current spend and terms in the categories worth examining. No fee, no commitment.
STAGE 02
Baseline
Agreed in writing before any work begins, at today’s volumes and terms.
STAGE 03
Execute
Incumbents first. Every supplier decision stays yours.
STAGE 04
Verify & Earn
Confirmed against your invoices. A share of verified recovery, and nothing else.
CONTINUE
See how cost recovery works
The four stages, the categories, and the fee model.
Read →
Other sectors
How the pattern differs elsewhere, and why.
Read →
The research behind this
What we publish, and what we are building next.
Read →
A 45-minute working session. No fee.
We will talk through which categories are worth examining and which are not — including anything already covered by a state or co-op agreement, which we would expect to leave alone.
Start a conversationSee how cost recovery works
© 2026 Wylie Performance PartnersOutcomes, not activity.