Do UK cleaning and FM tenders now ask what software you run

A buyer stopped asking whether you can clean a building some time ago. That part is assumed. FM tender software requirements now sit inside the scored sections of the document and they ask something harder. Prove it. Prove the hours were worked and the task was finished and the operative held a valid certificate on the day the client disputes the invoice.

This blog is a small research paper. One question. The published procurement documents that answer it. The finding. And what it means for the person writing the next bid. Every weighting below is reproduced from a named notice and every rule from a named policy.

Key Findings#

• 60.4 per cent of the quality score is not service delivery. Across the eleven lots of the RM6378 framework the quality marks awarded for something other than service delivery average 60.4 per cent and never fall below 60 per cent [1].
• Service delivery is capped at 40 marks. No facilities management lot gives more than 40 per cent of the quality score to service delivery and no security lot gives more than 39 per cent [1].
• Software is named in the scope of every lot. CPV code 48000000 for software packages and information systems appears on all eleven lots of a framework estimated at £120 billion excluding VAT [1].
• Three KPIs are a statutory minimum. Section 52 of the Procurement Act 2023 requires at least three KPIs on a public contract estimated above £5 million and section 71 requires performance against them to be assessed and published [2][3].
• Cyber Essentials became a condition of award in February 2025. PPN 014 has applied since 24 February 2025 and requires in scope suppliers to hold Cyber Essentials or demonstrate equivalent controls before award with annual renewal [4].

1. The Question#

Do UK cleaning and FM tenders now ask what software you run and if they do where does that question sit in the scoring?

The answer is public. Crown Commercial Service published the tender notice for RM6378 Facilities Management and Security Services on 3 November 2025 [1]. It is an open framework for central government and the wider public sector including local authorities and health and police and fire and education. Total estimated value is £120 billion excluding VAT and £144 billion including VAT. It runs to eleven lots covering Total FM and Hard FM and Soft FM and four security lots. Tenders closed on 5 January 2026 with an estimated award decision of 11 June 2026.

That notice publishes the award criteria in full. It does not name a product. It does something more useful for a contractor. It states exactly what the marks are for.

2. The Data and the Method#

Table 1. Sources used and what each one answers

Table 2 reproduces the quality weightings from the award criteria section of notice 2025/S 000-070492 [1]. The evaluation model named in that notice is price per quality point. The figures below are therefore shares of the quality score and not shares of the total award. No price split is assumed anywhere in this paper. Service delivery means the criteria titled Service Delivery. Everything else is grouped under contract management and continuous improvement and innovation and social value.

3. What the Data Shows#

3.1 Service Delivery Never Exceeds 40 Per Cent of the Quality Score#

Table 2. RM6378 quality weightings by lot

Reproduced from the award criteria of notice 2025/S 000-070492. Improvement and innovation sums the general and the service specific criteria. Shares are of the quality score only.

Seven facilities management lots give 60 per cent of the quality score to something other than service delivery. Four security lots give 61 per cent. Across all eleven the mean is 60.4 per cent. The ratio against service delivery is 1.5 to 1 on the FM lots and 1.56 to 1 on the security lots.

Read that from a bidders chair. The cleaning method statement and the guarding model carry 40 marks in 100. The other 60 are won on how the contract is managed and how delivery is evidenced and how the service improves and what the work does for local jobs. None of that is answered by a method statement. All of it is answered from records.

3.2 Software Sits Inside the Scope of a Soft FM Lot#

CPV code 48000000 covers software packages and information systems. It appears in the classification list of every one of the eleven lots [1]. That includes Lot 3a and Lot 3b for Soft Facilities Management which is where cleaning sits. It includes Lot 4b for Security Officer Services. Lot 4a also carries 72212730 for security software development services.

The buyer has not asked for a product name. The buyer has put the systems that run the service inside the thing being bought. A contractor who treats the system as back office overhead is describing something the notice already counts as part of the deliverable.

3.3 The Gate That Sits Before the Score#

Some questions are not scored at all. They are passed or failed before the quality marks are counted.

PPN 014 has applied since 24 February 2025 to central government departments and their executive agencies and non departmental public bodies and NHS bodies [4]. Where a contract carries higher cyber risk the supplier must hold Cyber Essentials or Cyber Essentials Plus or demonstrate equivalent controls before award. Certification must be renewed annually for the life of the contract.

Cleaning and security contractors hold rosters and absence records and vetting files and site access logs. That is personal data about operatives and about a client building. A contractor whose roster lives in a group chat and whose audit scores live in a shared workbook has nothing to put in that section.

Table 3. What the tender asks for and the record that answers it

3.4 After Award the Record Becomes Public#

Section 52 of the Procurement Act 2023 requires a contracting authority to set at least three KPIs before entering a public contract estimated above £5 million [2]. Section 71 requires the authority to assess performance against those KPIs and publish that assessment in a contract performance notice [3]. The rating given is one of five.

• Good. Delivery is meeting the indicator.
• Approaching target. Delivery is close but short.
• Requires improvement. Delivery is falling behind.
• Inadequate. Delivery has failed the indicator.
• Other. No rating applies in the period.

That rating is published and the next buyer can read it. A contractor who cannot show measured delivery against the priced plan is no longer arguing with one client in one meeting. The argument is on the record.

Social value moves the same way. PPN 026 was published on 5 August 2026 and applies to central government procurements commenced on or after 1 January 2027 [5]. Above £1 million the minimum weighting is 10 per cent. At £5 million or more it is 20 per cent and at least one social value KPI must be set and reported.

4. What It Means for a Contractor#

Answer the sixty before you polish the forty.

• Answer the 60 per cent first. Service delivery is capped at 40 marks. Contract management and improvement and social value carry more between them.
• Treat the certificate as pass or fail. Cyber Essentials and ISO 27001 sit before the score and not inside it. No certificate means no award on an in scope contract.
• Make the KPI measurable before you sign it. Three KPIs are a legal minimum above £5 million and the rating against them is published.
• Price the social value you will actually deliver. From 1 January 2027 it is at least 20 per cent of the score above £5 million and it carries its own KPI.
• Scope the audit to the hours worked. A score with no hours behind it tells a buyer nothing about why the score fell.
• Keep one record for all of it. Four disconnected systems produce four versions of the same week and none of them survives a challenge.

Most of this is one problem wearing different hats. The number in the bid has to be the number you are measured against which is what the costing and bids module exists for. Cover has to be recorded rather than remembered which is the scheduling and roster module. A task that starts without a signed RAMS is the gap the health and safety module closes on the server. An audit scoped to logged hours is the quality and audits module. And the figure that reaches the client comes from that same record through client proof rather than from a monthly rebuild. Operify AI publishes its own certificate and registration on the Trust Centre and the controls behind them on the security page.

5. What This Does Not Show#

• One framework is not the whole market. RM6378 is the largest UK public route into FM and security but private tenders set their own criteria.
• Quality weightings are not total weightings. The notice names price per quality point so the price share is not published as a percentage.
• Software is not a named criterion. No lot carries a criterion titled software. The finding rests on what the criteria ask a bidder to evidence.
• PPN 014 and PPN 026 are central government policy. Councils are not bound by PPN 014 and local authorities and NHS bodies are not bound by PPN 026.
• PPN 026 is not live yet. It applies to procurements commenced on or after 1 January 2027 and guidance was still to follow at publication.
• Weightings change between editions. RM6378 is an open framework that reopens and criteria can be revised at each round.

6. Conclusion#

The question has changed. A UK cleaning or FM tender does not ask what software you run. It asks for things that only a system can answer and then scores them at 60 per cent of quality.

A contractor can still win on a method statement and a price. The method statement is worth 40 marks. The other 60 come from the record. And after award that record is rated and published for the next buyer to read.

References#

[1] Crown Commercial Service. Facilities Management and Security Services. Framework RM6378. Tender notice 2025/S 000-070492 published 3 November 2025. Eleven lots. £120 billion excluding VAT. Award criteria weightings by lot. Available at RM6378 tender notice on Find a Tender (accessed October 2026).

[2] Procurement Act 2023 section 52. Key performance indicators. At least three KPIs before entering a public contract estimated above £5 million. Available at Procurement Act 2023 section 52 (accessed October 2026).

[3] Welsh Government. Procurement Act 2023 guidance on key performance indicators and contract performance notices. Performance rated good or approaching target or requires improvement or inadequate or other. Available at Procurement Act 2023 guidance on KPIs (accessed October 2026).

[4] Cabinet Office. PPN 014 Cyber Essentials scheme. Published 17 February 2025. Replaces PPN 09/23 for procurements commencing on or after 24 February 2025. Annual renewal for the life of the contract. Available at PPN 014 Cyber Essentials scheme (accessed October 2026).

[5] Cabinet Office. PPN 026 The Social Value Model. Published 5 August 2026. Applies to in scope procurements commenced on or after 1 January 2027 at £1 million including VAT or above. Minimum 10 per cent weighting to £5 million and 20 per cent at or above it. Available at PPN 026 The Social Value Model (accessed October 2026).

[6] NHS England. National standards of healthcare cleanliness 2025. Six functional risk categories. Technical audit and efficacy audit. Star rating displayed for each functional area. Available at National standards of healthcare cleanliness 2025 (accessed October 2026).

[7] Operify AI. Trust Centre. ISO/IEC 27001:2022 certificate 1N719TSI20261008GBRIS18Y issued 8 October 2026 and valid until 7 October 2029. ICO registration ZB905842. Self citation. Certificate verifiable at IAF CertSearch (accessed October 2026).

[8] Information Commissioners Office. Register of data protection fee payers. Entry ZB905842 for Codedevza AI Ltd. Available at ICO register entry (accessed October 2026).

[9] Smart Supplier Selection in Facility Management through Multi Criteria Analytics. 2026. Models facilities management supplier assignment across services and certifications and standards and geography. Indexed at Google Scholar (accessed October 2026).

[10] Social value as a lever for achieving value for money in public procurement. Journal of Public Procurement. 2025. Reviews the minimum weighting mandate and its effect on award outcomes. Indexed at Google Scholar record (accessed October 2026).

[11] Digital transformation of the purchasing and supply management process. International Journal of Physical Distribution and Logistics Management. 2023. Maps digital capability onto supplier selection and supplier relationship management. Indexed at Google Scholar listing (accessed October 2026).

[12] Operify AI. How Much Should You Allow for Absence Cover in a Bid. Insights series. Self citation. Method for pricing a cover line from policy and route. Available at the absence cover allowance paper (accessed October 2026).

About Operify AI#

We sell tender costing and rostering software. That is a commercial interest in this finding and a reader should weigh it. Two things constrain it. Every weighting is published in a notice any reader can open and rerun. Section 5 states what this paper does not show.

Operify AI is operated by Codedevza AI Ltd company number 16485057. Correspondence to hello@operifyai.co.uk.