Choosing the proper contractor is crucial to the Facility Manager. The correct choice can buy a great long-term value; an incorrect choice can sometimes be hard to repair. The best way to find the right contractor is to be sure that all bidders know as much about your operation as possible; an informed contractor can work up an informed bid. A Request for Proposal (RFP) is the document you provide to all of the contractors you invite to bid on your building. It is more than just square footage and population; it is a detailed set of specifications, requirements, and information that will allow all bidders to bid on exactly the same information, which will make the bids easy to compare, and it can allow you to set standards for many of your desired results, such as cleaning supplies and methods used.

Developing an RFP can be time-consuming, but the benefits can be very rewarding. Many companies don't have a formal selection process for janitorial contractors, and a well-designed RFP can serve as a model for selecting other types of contractors as well. Here are our suggestions for a well-designed RFP:

Step 1: Pre-qualification : Put together a one-page questionnaire to fax to all of the contractors you are interested in (see “ RFP Form for Contractors”). Have them fill it out, fax it back to you, and then pick your group.

Step 2: The Bid Package: Prepare a Bid Package to be handed out at the beginning of your walk-through. Here are our suggestions for the type of information your Bid Package should include:        

• A complete set of cleaning requirements, with frequencies.        

• A simple floor plan. Nothing fancy, and it doesn't have to be to scale; just note the locations of restrooms, lunchrooms, conference rooms, etc.

• Square footage, preferably broken down into carpet footage and hard-surface floor footage.

• "Desk" population (number of people with desks).

• "Non-desk" population, such as assembly workers and warehouse personnel.

• Estimated number of visitors each day and how they use the facility. Do they simply visit the front counter, or do they routinely come into the building for extended periods and use the restrooms and lunchrooms as a permanent employee would?

• Special populations, such as children or senior citizens or tour groups.

• Number of restrooms and lunchrooms.

• All hard-surface floors that will require periodic refinishing, and all carpeted areas that might need to be cleaned more often than other areas due to heavy traffic.

• Location and number of janitor closets.

• Specify that non-destructive cleaning methods are to be used. Most of this deals with banning cleaners with harsh abrasives, and specifying that tile floors be maintained as to reduce stripping (which involves flooding the floor with stripper and water) as much as possible. If you have expensive flooring materials, such as granite, marble or hardwood, ask the bidder to specify how he would maintain that type of flooring. In most cases, the methods that use the least amount of water will preserve your floors longer.

Don’t be surprised if a contractor says that he doesn’t do carpets – carpet cleaning has become a real science in the last few years, and often that is best left to a professional in the field. If he doesn’t do carpets, at least ask if he has a company he recommends.

• Your purchasing policy for restroom, kitchen, and lighting supplies. Will you purchase the supplies, or do you want the cost of supplies to be figured into the bids?

Note: Be mindful of the fact that having supplies figured into the bids can shift the emphasis from hiring the best cleaning company (which is what you're really looking for) to which company has the better purchasing power for supplies. All too often the company with the best purchasing power isn't the best janitorial service, and the contractor with the worst purchasing power might be the best cleaning company you've ever had. In addition, figuring supply usage can be very difficult for many contractors, and they might be tempted to raise their bid price to cover supplies "just in case we're 'way off". In our experience, you are far better off to ask your bidders for separate prices on supplies, and to keep supply costs out of the maintenance bidding. Doing this will maintain the integrity of the RFP, the goal of which is to allow you to compare "apples to apples, oranges to oranges". Requiring that supplies be included in the bids can suddenly put the bids all over the board.    

• If the contractor is to furnish supplies, specify your preference as to the quality of paper towels, toilet paper, hand soap, etc. If your company has made a commitment to recycled and biodegradable products, you can specify that preference here. You might also note that where such products are of inferior quality or prohibitively expensive, those products need not be used.      

• Types of light tubes and bulbs your facility uses, if lighting replacement is to be part of the bid. Lighting supplies can be relatively inexpensive or very costly, depending on the type.

As with restroom supplies, we do not recommend that you include lighting supplies as part of the maintenance bidding.   

• Your recycling systems for paper, cardboard, plastics, glass, aluminum, etc.  

• Any periods of heavy usage, such as during certain seasons, when production or population might increase, thus increasing the workload on the contractor.

• All holidays when the contractor will not be cleaning.

• If you have a multi-tenant building, you might consider getting 2 prices; one price for all of the common areas that would be cleaned every night regardless of vacancies, and another "cents-per-square-foot" price to be added or deducted as vacancies are filled or offices are vacated.

• Time frames for cleaning, such as starting after 6pm , to be finished by midnight , Monday through Thursday, with weekends open.

• How your Accounts Payables Department wants to be billed. On larger accounts, some contractors might ask if they can bill 50/50 - that is, 50% on the 15th and 50% at the end of the month to help their cash flow due to the costs of purchasing new equipment for your facility and the new wage costs to run your cleaning crew. Tell your bidders if you will accept this, and for how long.

• If your accounts payable department is quick to pay your bills, tell your bidders that you encourage "prompt-payment" terms to be part of their proposal.

• Insurance and bonding requirements. Ask that proof of coverage be included in their bid package. Be wary of any company that claims to be self-insured, as most states don't allow this.

• When you want the bids to be in. In our experience 2 weeks is plenty of time for all but the most complicated bids. On very large buildings you might want to allow 3-4 weeks.

• When you anticipate the work would begin, should you decide to award the contract to one of the group.

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