Cleaning and building services tenders in the UK

Cleaning is one of the most universal needs in UK public procurement: every council, school, hospital, housing association and museum buys building cleaning. It is also a sector where notices are easily missed, because each buyer names the same service differently. This guide covers the vocabulary, the contract structures and the pricing points specific to cleaning and building services.

The wording buyers use

The same need appears under very different labels in the title of a notice:

• cleaning services, building cleaning, janitorial services, housekeeping, domestic services, caretaking and cleaning;
• specialist healthcare cleaning, decontamination and infection control, the vocabulary of NHS trusts and care settings;
• window cleaning and high-level access cleaning, deep clean, builders' clean and post-construction cleaning;
• washroom services, hygiene services, consumables supply and sanitary bin collection;
• pest control, covering rodents, insects and bird proofing;
• total facilities management, hard and soft FM, building services, integrated facilities services;
• adjacent services frequently tendered as separate lots: waste collection, grounds maintenance, street cleansing, laundry and linen, security and portering.

There is no UK equivalent of a closed descriptor list on the national portal, so CPV codes do the heavy lifting: division 90 covers environment, waste and cleaning, with 90910000 as the pivot code for cleaning services, division 79 covers business services and division 50 maintenance. Build your profile on those divisions, refine at class level, and add synonyms rather than relying on a single keyword: that is the only way to catch a buyer who writes "janitorial" when you searched for "cleaning". See Choosing your CPV codes.

Applicable thresholds

Cleaning is a services contract, and UK thresholds are inclusive of VAT.

These figures apply from 1 January 2026 (verified 2026-09-05). Value is calculated over the full term, extensions included, so a cleaning contract worth £60,000 a year over four years is well above the main threshold: these deals reach the full regime quickly. In Scotland, contracts from £50,000 excluding VAT are regulated procurements advertised on Public Contracts Scotland; in Ireland, services from €50,000 excluding VAT go on eTenders.

Contract structures

Cleaning is almost always bought over a period of years.

• A framework agreement with unit prices, drawn down through call-off orders, is common: recurring work at a monthly lump sum, plus reactive work ordered as needed.
• A single term contract of three or four years, or one year with extension options, is equally common. The contract conditions set the extension mechanism, and extensions are usually at the buyer's discretion, so your first-year performance decides the following ones.
• Lots are split by site, by building type (schools, leisure centres, offices) or by service type (routine cleaning, windows, deep cleaning). Check how many lots one bidder may win before targeting them all.

Pricing: areas, frequencies, work rates

The pricing schedule of a cleaning contract lists sites, floor areas and frequencies; the schedule of rates sets unit prices for reactive work, usually per hour or per square metre. Watch for:

• checking the stated areas during the site visit, which is nearly always offered and sometimes compulsory on pain of rejection;
• converting frequencies into real hours using your own work rates per room type, not the other way round;
• including supervision, absence cover, products and consumables, equipment, and school or facility closure periods;
• separating the fixed periodic charge from reactive work, whose volumes are indicative and never guaranteed;
• reading the indexation clause, decisive over four years in a labour-intensive sector, especially against National Living Wage rises each April;
• pricing the Real Living Wage where the buyer requires it, which many councils and NHS trusts now do.

A price set too low invites scrutiny: under the Procurement Act 2023 the buyer may ask you to justify an abnormally low tender, demanding a breakdown of hours and rates, and may reject a bid it does not find satisfactory.

Transfer of staff

This is the sector's defining feature. Where a cleaning contract changes hands, the Transfer of Undertakings (Protection of Employment) Regulations 2006, known as TUPE, normally transfer the employees assigned to the site to the incoming contractor, with their continuity of service and existing terms. It applies by law, not by collective agreement, and it applies whether or not the tender documents mention it.

In practice:

• the tender pack should include anonymised employee liability information: numbers, hours, pay, seniority, pension arrangements and any live disputes; if it is missing, request it through a written clarification before the deadline;
• your pricing must start from that real payroll, including pension obligations, not from a theoretical cost;
• productivity gains claimed in your written response must remain compatible with the transferring headcount and with your consultation duties;
• state clearly in your bid how the transfer will be handled: employee consultation, changeover schedule, dedicated supervision from day one.

Award criteria

Price weighs heavily but rarely alone, and under the Act contracts go to the most advantageous tender. Common criteria are quality judged on organisation, staffing and work rates, the absence cover plan, supervision and quality auditing, products and equipment, then social value and environmental criteria: local employment and training, fair work and the Real Living Wage, reduced chemical use, waste and carbon reduction. Your written response must be site by site rather than generic: that is what separates bids.

Summary table

Cleaning checklist

• Monitoring built on CPV divisions and a synonym list, not a single keyword.
• Site visit done and floor areas verified.
• Employee liability information obtained and built into the pricing.
• Hours and work rates per site calculated before the price.
• Absence cover plan written down.
• Products, equipment and accreditations such as BICSc documented.
• Indexation clause read and National Living Wage rises anticipated.
• Expiry dates of incumbent contracts noted, so you are ready at renewal.

Scoutee monitors these cleaning tenders, scattered across Find a Tender, Contracts Finder, the devolved portals and buyers' own e-sourcing platforms.