A turnkey or a turnkey project is a project in which separate entities are responsible for setting up a plant or equipment (e.g. trains/infrastructure) and for putting it into operation. It can include contractual actions at least through the system, subsystem, or equipment installation phase and may include follow-on contractual actions, such as testing, training, logistical, and operational support. It is often given to the best bidder in a procurement process. System (from Latin systēma, in turn from Greek systēma) is a set of entities, real or abstract, comprising a whole where each component interacts with or is related to at least one other component and they all serve a common objective. ... Look up Procurement in Wiktionary, the free dictionary. ...

Turnkey projects can also be extended, known as turnkey plus, where there is perhaps a small equity interest by the supplier and it will later on continue its operation through a management contract or licensing. A management contract is an arrangement under which operational control of an enterprise is vested by contract in a separate enterprise which performs the necessary managerial functions in return for a fee. ... Licensing is a form of strategic alliance which involves the sale of a right to use certain proprietary knowledge (so called intellectual property) in a defined way. ...

Common usage

Turnkey refers to something that is ready for immediate use, generally used in the sale or supply of goods or services. The term is common in the construction industry, for instance, in which it refers to the bundling of materials and labor by sub-contractors. A "turnkey" job by a plumber would include the parts (toilets, tub, faucets, pipes, etc.) as well as the plumber's labor, without any contribution by the general contractors.

This is commonly used in motorsports to describe a car being sold with drivetrain (engine, transmission, etc.). A vehicle for sale without these pieces is sold "rolling". A racer may prefer to keep the drivetrain pieces to use in another vehicle to preserve a combination. Similarly, this term may be used to advertise the sale of an established business, including all the equipment necessary to run it, or by a B2B supplier providing complete packages for business start-up.

Specific usage

The term turnkey is also often used in the technology industry, most commonly to describe pre-built computer "packages" in which everything needed to perform a certain type of task (e.g. audio editing) is put together by the supplier and sold as a bundle. This often includes a computer with pre-installed software, various types of hardware, and accessories.

Note: In the United States, the precise definition of the types of allowable contractual features for government contracts are contained in the Federal Acquisition Regulations. The Federal Acquisition Regulations, usually referred to as the FAR (or sometimes F.A.R.), are a series of regulations issued by the U.S. Federal government that concern the requirements of contractors for selling to the government, the terms under which the government obtains ownership, title and control of...

Historically, the term once referred to jailers, as the holders of a prison's keys, as in Charles Dickens' 1840 novel, Barnaby Rudge. 1840 is a leap year starting on Wednesday (link will take you to calendar). ... Barnaby Rudge: A Tale of the Riots of Eighty is a historical novel by the author Charles Dickens. ...

In the comic strip The Wizard of Id, the Spook's jailer is named Turnkey. The Wizard of Id on the cover of an Italian collection of his stories. ...

The term Turnkey is also to identify the staff of The Turnkey Desk. The Information hub of the area. It is located at "The Original" Student Life Centre at The University of Waterloo. The University of Waterloo (also referred to as UW, UWaterloo, or Waterloo) is a medium-sized research-intensive public university in the city of Waterloo, Ontario, Canada. ...

See also

• Federal Standard 1037C
• MIL-STD-188
• Value-added reseller