How to Win Cleaning Contracts in Ireland: A Complete Guide

Types of Cleaning Contracts in Ireland

Before diving into how to win contracts, it helps to understand the two main markets for cleaning services in Ireland: public sector and private sector. Each has different procurement processes, different evaluation criteria, and different strategies for winning.

Public Sector Contracts

Public sector contracts cover government departments, the HSE, local authorities, schools, universities, Garda stations, defence forces, and state agencies. These contracts are procured through formal tender processes governed by EU procurement directives and Irish regulations. They must be advertised publicly, evaluated transparently, and awarded on objective criteria.

Public sector contracts are attractive because they are typically multi-year (3–5 years), provide stable revenue, pay reliably (usually within 30 days), and enhance your company’s credibility for winning further work. The downside is that the tendering process is time-consuming, competitive, and bureaucratic.

Private Sector Contracts

Private sector contracts cover offices, factories, retail units, hotels, restaurants, medical practices, and any privately owned premises. Private sector procurement is less formal: a business owner may request three quotes, conduct a brief evaluation, and appoint a cleaner within a week. There are no mandatory procurement rules (though larger corporates often follow structured processes).

Private sector contracts are easier to win but can be less stable: shorter contract terms, more price sensitivity, and higher risk of switching. The best private sector clients are those who value quality and reliability over rock-bottom pricing.

The eTenders Portal: How to Register and Find Opportunities

eTenders (www.etenders.gov.ie) is Ireland’s national procurement portal. Every public sector cleaning contract above €25,000 must be advertised here. Registering is free and essential for any cleaning company targeting public sector work.

How to Register

1. Go to www.etenders.gov.ie and click “Supplier Registration”
2. Complete the registration form with your company details, CRO number, tax clearance, and contact information
3. Select your CPV codes (Common Procurement Vocabulary). Key codes for cleaning:
   • 90910000 — Cleaning services
   • 90911200 — Building-cleaning services
   • 90911300 — Window-cleaning services
   • 90919200 — Office cleaning services
   • 90921000 — Disinfecting and exterminating services
   • 90900000 — Cleaning and sanitation services
4. Set up email alerts for your selected CPV codes so you receive notifications when new tenders are published
5. Upload standard documents: tax clearance certificate, insurance certificates, company registration, and financial statements

Finding Opportunities

Once registered, check eTenders regularly. New cleaning tenders are published throughout the year, though there is a seasonal peak in Q3–Q4 as organisations prepare for new-year contract starts. Use the search filters to find tenders by CPV code, region, and contract value. Save searches and set up alerts to avoid missing opportunities.

Also monitor: the Official Journal of the EU (for above-threshold contracts), individual local authority procurement pages, and the HSE procurement portal for healthcare-specific opportunities.

The OGP Cleaning Framework Explained

The Office of Government Procurement (OGP) manages national frameworks that pre-qualify suppliers for government contracts. The cleaning services framework is one of the largest, worth approximately €50 million per year.

How the Framework Works

The OGP periodically (every 4–5 years) runs a competition to establish a panel of approved cleaning companies. The competition evaluates:

• Financial standing: Turnover, profitability, cash reserves (proportional to the lot value)
• Technical capability: Experience, case studies, references from similar contracts
• Quality management: ISO 9001 or equivalent, quality audit processes
• Health and safety: Safe-T-Cert or equivalent, incident rates, training programmes
• Insurance: Minimum €6.5M public liability, €13M employer’s liability
• Environmental management: ISO 14001 or equivalent, green cleaning practices

The 9 Lots

The framework is divided into 9 geographical lots covering all 26 counties. This structure ensures that regional companies can compete — you do not need to be a national operator to participate. You can bid for one or more lots depending on your geographical coverage.

Mini-Competitions

Once on the framework, individual government bodies run “mini-competitions” among the panel members for specific contracts. These are faster and simpler than full tender processes because the pre-qualification has already been done. Mini-competitions typically focus on price and site-specific method statements.

How Tenders Are Evaluated: Quality vs Price

Understanding how tenders are scored is the key to winning them. Most cleaning tenders use a “Most Economically Advantageous Tender” (MEAT) evaluation, which combines quality and price scores.

Typical Scoring Splits

The critical insight: In most cleaning tenders, quality is weighted higher than price. This means you do not need to be the cheapest to win. A strong quality submission can overcome a price that is 10–15% above the lowest bidder. Conversely, being the cheapest will not help you if your quality submission is weak.

How Price Is Scored

Price scoring typically uses a relative formula. The lowest price gets maximum marks (e.g., 40 out of 40). Other prices are scored proportionally: if the lowest price is €100,000 and your price is €110,000, you score (100,000/110,000) × 40 = 36.4 marks. The price difference of €10,000 costs you only 3.6 quality-equivalent marks — easily recovered with a better method statement.

Quality Criteria Breakdown

Quality is typically scored across these areas:

• Method statement (25–35% of quality marks): How you will deliver the service. Task schedules, staffing plans, equipment, chemicals, quality monitoring, innovation.
• Staff management (15–20%): Recruitment, vetting, training, retention, supervision, absence management.
• Quality assurance (15–20%): Audit processes, KPI measurement, corrective actions, continuous improvement.
• Health and safety (10–15%): H&S policy, risk assessments, COSHH, incident management, Safe Pass, PPE.
• Transition / mobilisation (5–10%): How you will take over from the incumbent. TUPE, staff consultation, equipment deployment, first-day readiness.
• Environmental sustainability (5–10%): Green cleaning products, waste reduction, energy efficiency, carbon footprint, social value.
• Case studies / references (5–10%): Evidence of delivering similar contracts successfully.

Writing Winning Tender Responses

The quality of your written response determines whether you win or lose. Here is how to write a tender response that scores highly:

Answer the Question

Every tender question has a scoring criteria. Read the criteria carefully and structure your answer to address every point. If the criteria says “describe your approach to staff training including induction, ongoing training, and specialist training”, make sure your answer has three clear sections covering induction, ongoing training, and specialist training. Evaluators score against the criteria, not against their general impression of your response.

Be Specific, Not Generic

Generic statements like “we provide high-quality cleaning services” score zero. Specific statements score points: “Each operative completes a 16-hour induction programme covering COSHH, colour-coded cleaning, manual handling, and site-specific protocols. Ongoing competency is assessed quarterly through observed cleaning audits using a 50-point checklist.”

Tailor to the Client

Do not submit the same generic response for every tender. Reference the client’s premises, their sector, their specific requirements. If you visited the site or attended a site inspection day, reference specific observations. Show that you understand their building, their challenges, and their priorities.

Use Evidence

Back up claims with evidence. If you say your staff retention rate is 92%, include the data. If you say you reduced complaints by 40% on a similar contract, name the contract (with permission) and show the figures. Evaluators give higher marks for evidenced claims than unsubstantiated assertions.

Include Visually Clear Documentation

Use tables, charts, and diagrams where they add clarity. A staffing rota shown as a table is easier to evaluate than a paragraph of text. A cleaning schedule shown as a matrix (tasks vs frequency) is clearer than a list. Make the evaluator’s job easy and they will reward you with higher scores.

Pricing Strategy for Tenders

Pricing a cleaning tender is a balance between competitiveness and profitability. Here is how to approach it:

Build Your Price from Costs Up

Start with the real costs of delivering the specification:

1. Labour: Calculate the hours needed to complete every task at the specified frequency. Apply your fully loaded hourly rate (wage + employer PRSI + holiday pay + sick pay + pension + training + uniform).
2. Materials and consumables: Cleaning chemicals, bin liners, washroom consumables (if included), PPE, and equipment consumables (vacuum bags, mop heads).
3. Equipment: Depreciation or hire cost of equipment deployed to the contract. Vacuum cleaners, scrubbers, buffers, pressure washers, window cleaning equipment.
4. Management overhead: Contract manager time, quality audits, administration, transport, supervision visits.
5. Insurances: Proportional allocation of your insurance premiums to this contract.
6. Margin: Your target profit margin (typically 8–15% for cleaning contracts).

Sense-Check Against Market Rates

Once you have built your price, check it against market benchmarks. For a standard office cleaning contract, the total price should work out to €14–€20 per cleaner hour delivered (including all overheads and margin). If your price is significantly outside this range, review your assumptions.

Do Not Price Below Cost

The single most common mistake in cleaning tenders is underpricing to win. This leads to cutting corners, losing staff, complaints, and ultimately losing the contract. A contract won at a loss is worse than no contract at all. If you cannot deliver the specification profitably at a competitive price, do not bid.

Insurance and Accreditation Requirements

These are the baseline requirements for winning cleaning contracts in Ireland. Without them, your tender will be rejected at the qualification stage.

Essential Insurance

• Public liability: Minimum €6.5 million. Some contracts require €10M or €13M.
• Employer’s liability: Minimum €13 million (statutory requirement if you employ staff).
• Professional indemnity: Required for FM management and consultancy contracts. Typically €1M–€5M.

Essential Compliance

• Tax clearance: Current tax clearance certificate from Revenue. Without this, you cannot win any public sector contract.
• CRO registration: Company must be registered with the Companies Registration Office.
• Garda vetting: All staff working on client premises should be Garda vetted through the National Vetting Bureau.
• Safe Pass: Required for staff working on construction sites or in environments where Safe Pass is mandated.

Valuable Accreditations

• ISO 9001: Quality management system. Increasingly required for larger contracts.
• ISO 14001: Environmental management system. Scored positively in tenders with sustainability criteria.
• ISO 45001: Occupational health and safety management system.
• Safe-T-Cert: Irish H&S certification specifically designed for cleaning and FM companies.
• ICCA membership: Irish Contract Cleaning Association. Demonstrates commitment to industry standards.
• BICSc membership: British Institute of Cleaning Science. Provides access to training and accreditation.

Common Mistakes That Lose Tenders

After years of tendering, these are the mistakes we see repeatedly from competitors (and that we have learned to avoid):

1. Missing the deadline. Late submissions are rejected outright. No exceptions. Submit at least 24 hours before the deadline. Electronic submission systems can crash on deadline day.
2. Not answering the question. Evaluators score against specific criteria. If the question asks about training and you write about equipment, you score zero on training. Read every question twice. Answer exactly what is asked.
3. Generic responses. Copy-pasting the same method statement for every tender is obvious and scores poorly. Tailor every response to the specific client, premises, and requirements.
4. Pricing too low. An abnormally low price triggers scrutiny. Evaluators know what cleaning costs. If your price is 30% below the market, they assume you will cut corners, underpay staff, or fail to deliver. Price realistically.
5. Missing documentation. If the tender requires insurance certificates, tax clearance, accounts, and references — provide ALL of them. Missing a single document can disqualify your submission.
6. Exceeding word or page limits. If the tender says “maximum 2 pages for method statement”, do not submit 4 pages. Evaluators will stop reading at page 2. Or reject your submission entirely.
7. No evidence. Claims without evidence are worthless. “We have excellent quality standards” means nothing. “Our average cleaning audit score across 14 contracts is 93.7%” is powerful.
8. Ignoring social value. Modern tenders increasingly score social value: local employment, training and apprenticeships, community engagement, environmental sustainability. If there are marks available for social value and you leave them blank, you are giving points to your competitors.

Private Sector Contract Acquisition

While public sector contracts provide stability, most cleaning companies earn the majority of their revenue from private sector clients. Here is how to acquire private sector contracts:

Cold Calling and Direct Approach

Identify target businesses in your area: office parks, business centres, retail parks, medical centres, hotels, restaurants. Research the decision-maker (office manager, facilities manager, practice manager, general manager). Make contact by phone or in person. Offer a free site survey and no-obligation quotation. Follow up persistently but professionally.

Property Management Companies

Property management companies manage cleaning for multiple buildings. Winning one property management relationship can give you access to dozens of sites. Target the major property management firms in your region: CBRE, Savills, Knight Frank, JLL, Cushman & Wakefield, and local independent firms.

Networking and Referrals

Join your local Chamber of Commerce, business networking groups (BNI, Network Ireland), and industry associations (ICCA, IFMA Ireland). Ask existing satisfied clients for referrals. A warm introduction from a trusted source converts far better than a cold call.

Online Presence

Many businesses search online when their current cleaner disappoints them. Ensure your website ranks for local cleaning searches (e.g., “office cleaning Dublin”, “commercial cleaning Cork”). List your business on Google Business Profile with photos, services, and reviews. Ask satisfied clients to leave Google reviews — they are the most powerful local SEO signal.

Building a Reputation

The cleaning industry is smaller than you think. Facility managers talk to each other. A reputation for reliability, quality, and professionalism spreads quickly. So does a reputation for poor service. Your best business development tool is delivering excellent service to your existing clients.