The guide has been developed by the European Federation of Cleaning Industries (EFCI) and UNI Europa with the financial support of the European Commission and aims to assist buyers in their tendering process by highlighting the benefits of choosing quality services.
It has been co-drafted by the European social partners in the cleaning services industry, and it offers a unique approach to selecting best value reflecting the experience of the cleaning sector. It suggests that the cleaning services industry should be seen as a partner in the process of procuring services.
EFCI and their social partners have published the guide to help stakeholders learn how to include and measure quality and social aspects in their procurement process. Whereas quality of cleaning services is determined by technical merit and professional ability, social aspects include the respect for collective agreements and good employment conditions. Both the quality and social aspects represent two sides of the same coin. If these are not taken into account, unfair competition between companies and social dumping of employees is likely to be the rule.
Cleaning is a highly labour-intensive service where labour accounts for around 85% of costs. As a consequence, the social partners strongly underline that awarding contracts purely on price or cost will lead automatically to quality shortcomings and unlawful practices.
The guide can be downloaded and read from the link below. It is easy to use, with sections independent of one another and the executive summaries at their beginning provide an overview of each one.