The core business deliverables in the Power Plant Maintenance (PPM) department of the selected state owned enterprise (SOE) in South Africa (SA) involves the maintenance and repairs of equipment. These deliverables are done by internal employees of the department. However, the PPM department also outsource such functions to external service providers. This raises concerns regarding such a strategic approach. Hence, this paper investigates the factors influencing outsourcing core business deliverables to external service providers in the selected SOE in SA. Of the 152 individuals in the PPM department identified for participation, 135 completed the questionnaire. The study was cross-sectional in nature and included participants from the management of PPM department and its technical officials. Descriptive and correlative analyses were used to test the three objectives, that is, to assess the factors influencing the outsourcing of core business deliverables; to establish the effect of outsourcing core business deliverables on business performance; and to examine risks of outsourcing of core business deliverables. Hence, this paper indicates that the outsourcing of core business deliverables does not provide expertise in the department. It also results in the leak of confidential information to external service providers. When core business deliverables are done by the internal employees, the external providers cannot access knowledge-base in the business.