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Cleanliness recognised - at a price
23rd of June 2026 Article by Christian Bouzols
Christian Bouzols in France reports on a new study of procurement practices in the professional cleaning market.
The Observatory of Cleaning Markets, published in March 2026, is a report based on 50
interviews conducted by Amnyos in 2025 with public and private sector buyers and managers of cleaning companies. It provides an overview of procurement practices in the cleaning sector and reaches a mixed conclusion: while cleanliness is now recognised as a critical factor for organisational image, health and business continuity, purchasing practices often remain ineffective and can undermine service quality.
The report begins by highlighting the sector’s economic significance, with annual turnover exceeding €21 billion. Yet despite its strategic importance, the authors note that “the purchasing function largely remains in the shadows”.
Several factors contribute to this. The diversity of sites involved - including offices, hospitals and warehouses - combined with the number of internal stakeholders and the labour-intensive nature of cleaning services, makes it difficult to define requirements clearly. Evaluating bids presents further challenges. According to the report, “the assessment of technical proposals is a central difficulty”, owing to inconsistent terminology, written responses that are difficult to evaluate and technical criteria that are often very similar.
As a result, “in almost all of the cases cited, price remains the determining criterion”. The report illustrates this: “On paper, the weighting may be 60 per cent technical and 40 per cent price. However, in many cases, if you are not among the three lowest-priced bids, you are automatically eliminated.”
The study identifies the quality of dialogue between buyer and supplier as a major lever for improvement. Successful contracts are typically those that include site visits, question-and-answer sessions, presentations and an initial framework for discussion. As one buyer says: “Without thorough site visits and early dialogue, contracts are built on shaky foundations.”
Service providers share a similar view. One commented: “What makes the difference is when we are able to ask questions, explain our constraints and propose operational solutions. If everything is decided purely on the basis of a spreadsheet and a price, we know it is likely to go wrong.”
The transfer of staff when contracts change hands remains “a key structural issue”. Incomplete employee lists or delays in providing information complicate workforce transfers and the preparation of accurate bids. As one manager explained: “We are sometimes given employee lists with incomplete information. If the data is unreliable, the risks fall on us.”
Another sensitive issue concerns price revision mechanisms. Many respondents believe the absence of effective indexation clauses can turn otherwise sustainable contracts into economic liabilities. Conversely, clear review clauses linked to recognised sector indices help maintain stability.
Environmental considerations, equipment ergonomics, and health and safety issues are receiving greater attention, but they remain insufficiently weighted during the evaluation of bids. Digital tools such as extranets, mobile applications and QR codes can provide a useful framework for contract management, provided they support communication rather than replace it.
As one interviewee remarked: “We need monitoring and control, but if the relationship is reduced to that alone, it becomes a process-driven exercise.”
The report concludes by proposing a typology of buyers - pragmatic, responsive, orchestrating and structured - and calls for more realistic specifications, greater dialogue during procurement and clear price review mechanisms in order to create more sustainable contracts.
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