Winning More Contracts: How Technology Sets Your Cleaning Business Apart

Most contractors believe they lose tenders on price. The published tender documents tell a different story. To win cleaning contracts in the UK public sector a bidder has to score on quality and compliance and social value as well as price. Those marks are won with evidence and evidence is what technology produces.

This blog is a small research paper. One question. The published data that answers it. The finding. And what it means for a cleaning contractor preparing the next bid. Every figure comes from a named source or is calculated in a numbered table.

Price is only part of the score. Operify AI helps contractors win cleaning contracts with a bid costed from statutory rates and delivery evidence held on one record.

Key Findings#

• Price is a median 40 per cent. Across 11 cleaning tenders published on Find a Tender between February 2025 and May 2026 price carried a median 40 per cent of the score. Seven of the 11 weighted price below half [1].
• A 5 mark quality lead is worth 14.3 per cent on price. At the median weighting and under a common relative price formula a bidder 5 marks ahead on quality can price 14.3 per cent above the lowest bid and still tie.
• The statutory floor is £16.00 an hour. Wage and employer National Insurance and pension for a 25 hour operative at April 2026 rates cost £16.00 per productive hour before any overhead or margin [2][3][4][5]. A price below it invites an abnormally low tender challenge [6].
• Delivery is now published. On contracts over £5 million buyers must set at least three KPIs and publish performance at least once every 12 months. Published poor performance is a discretionary exclusion ground [6].
• The formula can change the winner. A study of 382 real tenders found that different scoring formulas picked the same winning bid in as few as 62 per cent of comparisons [7].

1. The Question#

How much of a UK cleaning tender is decided by price and how much is won on evidence that a contractor can only produce with the right systems?

The market is crowded. The British Cleaning Council counts 26315 businesses in the cleaning activities sub industry and more than 83 per cent of them are micro businesses [8]. Matching a rate card is easy. Showing a buyer a costed service plan and a record of delivery is harder.

The rules reward that difference. Under the Procurement Act 2023 a buyer awards to the most advantageous tender against its published criteria and price is not the only one [6]. Central government bodies must also give social value at least 10 per cent of the total score [9].

2. The Data and the Method#

We read the award criteria in 11 cleaning tender notices on the Find a Tender service. They cover councils and housing associations and schools from February 2025 to May 2026 with values from £45000 to £22.4 million [1].

Table 1. Award criteria in 11 published cleaning tenders

Values exclude VAT unless marked. Weights are per cent of the total score as published in each notice.

To price a quality mark we assume the common relative formula where the lowest price gets full marks and every other bid scores the lowest price divided by its own price times the weighting. Buyers use many formulas and the choice matters [7]. The cost floor is built from the April 2026 National Living Wage [2] and employer National Insurance [3] and the minimum pension contribution [4] with 5.6 weeks of statutory holiday [5].

3. What the Data Shows#

3.1 Price Decides Less Than Half the Score#

Price weightings ran from 20 to 70 per cent with a median of 40. Seven of the 11 buyers gave price less than half the marks and only four gave it 60 per cent or more. Four named social value or community benefits as a scored criterion. Bracknell gave compliance and health and safety a fifth of the marks on its own [1].

So in most of these tenders the cheapest bid does not win by default. The rest of the score comes from answers to the ITT questions on mobilisation and delivery and compliance and experience.

3.2 What a Quality Mark Is Worth in Price#

Table 2. Price premium a quality lead can carry and still tie

Modelled. Premium above the lowest price at which a bidder with the stated quality lead ties on total score under the relative price formula described in section 2.

At the median weighting every quality mark is worth about 2.6 per cent on price. A 5 mark lead lets a bidder sit 14.3 per cent above the lowest price and still tie. Cutting price by 3 per cent to win one mark back is a poor trade when the same mark can be earned with a better answer.

The formula matters as much as the weighting. Stilger and colleagues applied 27 of 38 price scoring formulas to 382 real tenders and found that pairs of formulas chose the same winner in between 62 and 100 per cent of cases [7]. Read the evaluation method in the tender before you set a price.

3.3 The Floor Under Every Price#

Table 3. Statutory cost of a productive hour for a 25 hour operative at April 2026 rates

Calculated. Excludes absence cover and supervision and consumables and overhead and margin. A real bid sits well above this line.

The Act lets a buyer disregard a tender whose price it considers abnormally low. First it must tell the supplier and give it a reasonable chance to show it can deliver at that price [6]. A cost per hour worked built from statutory rates is that demonstration. A percentage uplift on the wage is not.

The floor also protects the contractor from itself. A bid that wins below £16.00 an hour loses money on every hour before the first invoice.

3.4 Delivery Evidence Follows You Into the Next Tender#

Section 52 requires at least three KPIs on most public contracts above £5 million. Section 71 requires the buyer to publish performance against them at least once every 12 months and to publish a serious breach or poor performance within 30 days. Schedule 7 then makes that published poor performance a discretionary ground to exclude the supplier from later tenders [6].

Only one contract in our sample was above £5 million. But it was worth £22.4 million and smaller buyers already score experience and delivery directly. Barcud gave previous experience 15 per cent of the marks [1]. The contractor that can show a year of delivered hours and audit results answers that question with records rather than adjectives.

Every quality mark needs evidence behind it. Operify AI prices the bid in the costing and bids module and carries the same numbers into delivery so you can win cleaning contracts on proof as well as price.

4. What It Means for a Contractor#

Map each scored criterion to the record that answers it.

Table 4. Where technology earns marks

The final column describes Operify AI as set out on its website. It makes no claim about any other product.

Five moves before the next bid.

• Build the price from rates. Wage and National Insurance and pension and holiday line by line rather than a percentage on the wage.
• Work out what a mark is worth. Use the published weighting and formula before deciding how sharp to price.
• Answer quality questions with records. A sample week of clock ins and checkpoint scans beats a paragraph of promises.
• Show mobilisation as a plan. Sites and staff transfers and shift patterns ready before day one.
• Keep the KPI history. Every contract you deliver now is evidence for the next tender.

Mobilisation is the first test of a won bid. A mobilisation plan that already holds the TUPE transfer list and the shift patterns answers the delivery question before the buyer asks it. In Operify AI a won bid becomes the contract and sites and service plan and shifts in one action. The scheduling and roster module then refuses to publish a week with an uncovered SLA job. The health and safety module stops a task until the current RAMS and COSHH assessment are signed.

5. What This Does Not Show#

• The sample is small. 11 notices is not a census of UK cleaning tenders and private sector tenders are not covered.
• The price formula is assumed. Buyers use many formulas and some score price on an absolute scale [7].
• The floor is not a price. It leaves out absence cover and supervision and consumables and overhead and margin.
• Legal summaries are not legal advice. Check the tender documents and the Act for any live bid.
• Quality marks are not guaranteed. Records help an answer score well. They do not replace a good answer.

6. Conclusion#

In this sample price decided a median 40 per cent of the score. The other 60 per cent went to answers about delivery and compliance and experience and social value. At that weighting a 5 mark quality lead carries a 14.3 per cent price premium.

Technology sets a cleaning business apart in three places. It keeps the price above the £16.00 statutory floor with a cost model a buyer can check. It turns quality answers into records. And it builds the delivery history that the next buyer will read. That is how contractors win more contracts without racing to the bottom on price.

Bring us your next ITT. In thirty minutes we will price it from statutory rates and show the evidence that helps you win cleaning contracts on quality. Book a demo.

FAQ#

How do public buyers choose a cleaning contractor?#

Under the Procurement Act 2023 they award to the most advantageous tender against published criteria. Price is one criterion and usually not the largest.

How much of a cleaning tender score is price?#

In our sample of 11 notices the median was 40 per cent with a range from 20 to 70. Seven gave price less than half the marks.

What is one quality mark worth in price?#

At a 40 per cent price weighting under a relative formula one mark is worth about 2.6 per cent of price and five marks about 14.3 per cent.

What is an abnormally low tender?#

A bid the buyer thinks is too cheap to deliver. The buyer may disregard it but must first tell the supplier and give it a reasonable chance to show it can perform at that price.

What is the lowest defensible hourly cost?#

At April 2026 rates the statutory cost of a 25 hour operative is £16.00 per productive hour. Absence cover and supervision and consumables and overhead and margin all sit on top.

Do cleaning bids need KPIs?#

On public contracts above £5 million the buyer must set at least three KPIs and publish performance at least once every 12 months. Many smaller tenders score delivery evidence anyway.

Can poor performance stop me winning later tenders?#

Yes. Poor performance published under section 71 is a discretionary exclusion ground under Schedule 7 of the Act.

How does social value affect cleaning tenders?#

Central government bodies must weight it at 10 per cent or more. None of the buyers in our sample was central government yet four of the 11 still scored it.

What evidence wins quality marks?#

Records rather than promises. Signed safety documents and time and attendance and audit scores read against hours delivered. Clients also ask for proof after award so it helps to prove service delivery from day one. Answers at the PQQ stage benefit from the same records.

How much does Operify AI cost?#

Pricing is built around operatives and sites and the modules taken rather than a per head licence so cost stays steady through turnover. The figure is given on the demo call. See pricing or email hello@operifyai.co.uk.

References#

[1] Find a Tender service. Eleven cleaning tender notices published between February 2025 and May 2026. Award criteria and estimated values as stated in each notice. Available at Queens Park Community Council and Bracknell Town Council and Westmorland and Furness Council and London Borough of Wandsworth and Barcud Shared Services and Havebury Homes and Sovereign Network Group and City and County of Swansea and London Academy of Excellence and Cleeve School and Paragon Asra Housing (accessed October 2026).

[2] UK Government. National Minimum Wage and National Living Wage rates. £12.71 an hour for workers aged 21 and over from April 2026. Available at National Living Wage rates (accessed October 2026).

[3] HMRC. Rates and thresholds for employers 2026 to 2027. Employer rate of 15 per cent above a secondary threshold of £5000 a year. Available at rates and thresholds for employers (accessed October 2026).

[4] The Pensions Regulator. Making contributions to your pension scheme. Minimum employer contribution of 3 per cent of qualifying earnings between £6240 and £50270. Available at pension contributions guidance (accessed October 2026).

[5] UK Government. Holiday entitlement. 5.6 weeks of paid holiday a year. Available at holiday entitlement (accessed October 2026).

[6] Procurement Act 2023 as in force from 24 February 2025. Section 19 on the most advantageous tender and abnormally low prices. Section 52 on key performance indicators. Section 71 on publishing contract performance. Schedule 7 paragraph 12 on breach and poor performance. Available at section 19 and section 52 and section 71 and Schedule 7 (accessed October 2026).

[7] Stilger P S and Siderius J and Van Raaij E M. A Comparative Study of Formulas for Choosing the Economically Most Advantageous Tender. Journal of Public Procurement 17(1). 2017. 38 formulas identified and 27 applied to 382 real tenders. Peer reviewed. Available at Journal of Public Procurement article (accessed October 2026).

[8] British Cleaning Council. Research Report 2026. The Cleaning Hygiene and Waste Industry. 26315 businesses in the cleaning activities sub industry of which more than 83 per cent are micro. Available at British Cleaning Council Research Report 2026 (accessed October 2026).

[9] Cabinet Office. PPN 002 Taking account of social value in the award of central government contracts. Minimum 10 per cent weighting for social value. Applies to central government departments and executive agencies and non departmental public bodies and not to local authorities. Available at PPN 002 on GOV.UK (accessed October 2026).

About Operify AI#

We sell tender costing and operations software. That is a commercial interest in this finding and readers should weigh it. Two things constrain it. Every tender in the sample is published and linked so any reader can check the weightings. Section 5 states what the data does not show.

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