Cleaning Services Tenders

What counts as a Cleaning Services tender

Commercial and office cleaning, school and healthcare cleaning, specialist deep cleaning and infection control, window cleaning, washroom services and consumables, waste collection within facilities, grounds and external area cleaning, and integrated soft facilities management where cleaning is bundled with catering, portering and security.

CPV codes: CPV 90910 for cleaning services, 90911 for accommodation and building cleaning, 90919 for office and school cleaning, and 79993 for building and facilities management.

Who buys cleaning services in the UK

Schools and multi-academy trusts, councils for civic and operational buildings, NHS trusts where cleaning is governed by the national standards of healthcare cleanliness, universities for teaching and residential estates, and housing associations for communal areas.

Right now the most active buyers publishing in this category on Daily Tenders are The City of Edinburgh Council, Falkirk Council, Perth & Kinross Council, CalMac Ferries Limited, North Ayrshire Council and Swindon Borough Council.

What you need to bid

BICSc or equivalent operative training, ISO 9001 and 14001, SSIP accreditation, COSHH competence, and enhanced DBS for staff working in schools and healthcare. NHS work is assessed against the National Standards of Healthcare Cleanliness. Real Living Wage accreditation is now a scored criterion for many councils and a pass/fail one for a few.

How cleaning services contracts reach market

Typically three-year contracts with one or two-year extensions, priced per square metre or by specification frequency. Increasingly bundled into total facilities management contracts, which raises the entry bar for cleaning-only specialists and makes subcontracting to an FM prime a realistic route in.

Common questions

How are cleaning contracts usually priced?

Most commonly by a specification setting out areas, frequencies and standards, which you price as an annual sum. Buyers expect a productivity rate and staffing schedule to support that price, and will challenge it if the hours implied fall below what the specification needs.

Does the Real Living Wage affect competitiveness?

Increasingly yes. Where buyers require it, the wage floor is common to all bidders, so it stops being a disadvantage — differentiation moves to productivity, retention and management overhead instead.