The cleaning industry is a huge and growing service across the UK, employing 1.47 million people and acting as a significant contributor to the British economy.
For the first in our series of industry specific blogs, we thought it would be interesting to focus in on specific industries that we regularly work with in providing tender writing services. Cleaning, falling within FM services, is a regular requirement of the public sector, so we decided to begin here, discussing the elements to consider when writing or preparing a cleaning service tender.
What should I expect to include in my next cleaning service tender?
After many years of developing and writing tenders, we have a firm knowledge of what is required within a tender response. To help you feel as prepared as possible for the tender process, we have identified the common themes that are included within tender questions, specifically relating to cleaning tenders:
- Staff training: here, you should detail any training that staff will receive in your business, including how they will be trained, for example: is it online, or in person, or both? The buyer will want to be assured that you and your team have the necessary and relevant skills to ensure high quality service.
- Added value / value for money: here, you should be ready to inform the buyer of anything you consider to be extra beneficial to them if they choose your business to be a part of the contract. The buyer will ask this question to gauge whether your business can provide added value to the contract or save money.
- Mobilisation: in this area of your tender response you should detail your overarching mobilisation plan for implementing the contract and also once the contract begins, including who will be in charge of this process. Here, the buyer will want to ensure your business will make sure that the process before day 1 of the contract starting will be successful and seamless.
- Quality: the buyer will ask quality management questions to make sure that your service is monitored to maintain a consistently high quality standard. You should prepare to explain include any procedures that your business uses to do so and how standards are maintained.
- Environmental considerations: this is a common question within cleaning related tenders – historically the cleaning sector has used a chemicals that can be damaging to the environment. Within cleaning service tenders, it is important to demonstrate that your business is environmentally aware, perhaps by explaining how your business sources eco-friendly cleaning supplies and minimises carbon emissions.
- Waste management / reduction: this is another opportunity to demonstrate the significance of your environmental awareness within this sector! Buyers often ask questions relating to waste reduction, allowing you to further demonstrate your impressive and adaptive environmental policies. This can really help boost your tender as it will ensure that you score well in the quality section of your tender response. Within this response you should detail your waste management and disposal procedures (segregation and recycling), demonstrating to the buyer your responsible approach to waste.
Using these areas, think about what makes your business stand out from the rest. Is it your exclusively eco-friendly approach to cleaning? Or maybe the staff benefits you have implemented within your company? Whatever your USP, it is essential to showcase your skills and expertise in ways that make your business stand out to the buyer, as cleaning services tenders are often highly competitive – standing out against the crowd is essential! Our blog post: ‘Knowing Your USPs’ is available if you would like to learn more.
We believe that providing visual representation for your business, such as photos and diagrams, is a great way of showing the buyer that your business is unique and memorable. In relation to cleaning services, examples may include photos of uniform and cleaning products used (especially useful when writing about any eco-friendly products). This allows the buyer to visualise information you are providing while giving your tender a more unique and memorable feel. Our blog post: ‘The Benefits of Including Graphics and Pictures in your Tender Responses’ provides some tops on this if you would like to learn more.
If you find that you are still struggling to start writing your tender, visit our blog posts: ‘Our Tender Writing Top Tips’ and ‘Where to start: Writing’.
Please contact us regarding any queries or tender-related issues!