Using Share Services Organizations to Outsource Core Technology in Critical Infrastructure Projects

The adoption of technology in large infrastructure projects is accelerating due to new cybersecurity threats and increased demands for operational resilience and user‐based financing. Additionally, the rapid growth of public cloud, virtualization services, and Artificial Intelligence has promoted the concept of IT as a service. This shift means that the challenge is no longer just leveraging technology, but also competing to recruit and retain the highly specialized talent and skills needed to manage these services and tools. Whether infrastructure projects are delivered by the public sector or in partnership with a private entity, establishing the right policies to build internal talent for developing, deploying, and operating technology—or even to monitor a third party if they decide to outsource a critical component—is a significant challenge. Establishing a shared services organization (SSO) helps retain internal expertise and promotes collaboration among transportation infrastructure stakeholders to deliver standardized services. This study discusses how the factors identified in the research literature as critical to the success or demise of an SSO have influenced the fate of three case studies where large infrastructure projects have implemented an SSO to mitigate the risk associated with outsourcing their core technology.