Property-Based Businesses – Procurement for Cleaning Services

Walk into any shopping centre before opening hours, and you’ll likely see cleaners moving through the space at pace – vacuuming walkways, polishing tiles, and preparing food court seating areas. The same scene plays out across office towers, stadiums, universities, and hospitals. For property-based businesses, cleaning isn’t just a hygiene factor. It’s central to customer experience, regulatory compliance, and brand reputation.

Yet cleaning services often represent one of the largest categories of indirect spend. Despite this, many organisations approach procurement for cleaning services with outdated scopes, loosely defined service requirements, and insufficient performance structures. The result? Overpaying for under-delivered outcomes, strained supplier relationships, and little ability to adapt as business needs evolve.

This is where strategic procurement can transform cleaning services from a cost burden into a managed investment. By optimising scopes, leveraging technology such as demand sensors and robotic cleaners, and carefully structuring contracts with well-defined KPIs and pricing schedules, property-based businesses can achieve both cost efficiency and improved service quality.

Why Cleaning Procurement Matters for Property-Based Businesses

Cleaning isn’t a one-size-fits-all service. A high-rise office tower has different requirements compared with a shopping centre, airport terminal, or hospital. The challenge lies in balancing three competing factors:

• Cost – ensuring cleaning spend is efficient and market competitive.
• Service outcomes – meeting the hygiene and presentation standards expected by customers, tenants, regulators, and the public.
• Flexibility – allowing service levels to flex with business needs, seasonal demand, and unexpected events.

For property-based businesses, the procurement of cleaning services directly impacts:

• Customer and tenant experience – a spotless foyer, sparkling food court, or well-maintained bathroom shapes first impressions.
• Regulatory compliance – especially in healthcare and food environments where hygiene requirements are non-negotiable.
• Operational risk management – effective cleaning reduces hazards such as slips, trips, and contamination.
• Cost base – often accounting for millions annually across large property portfolios.

Done well, procurement creates value far beyond cost savings. Done poorly, it exposes the business to complaints, risks, and waste.

Common Challenges in Cleaning Services Procurement

Many property-based organisations face similar issues in procuring cleaning services:

1. Outdated scopes of work
   • Scopes often remain unchanged for years, despite changes in foot traffic, tenant mix, or regulatory requirements.
2. Ambiguity in work packages
   • Vague instructions (e.g., “clean daily” without defining method or expected standard) leave room for inconsistent delivery and disputes.
3. Inflexible pricing structures
   • Lump-sum pricing doesn’t account for fluctuating demand, leading to either overpayment or inadequate coverage.
4. Limited technology adoption
   • Many contracts don’t integrate opportunities for automation, robotics, or sensor-driven cleaning.
5. Poorly defined KPIs
   • “Satisfaction-based” measures make accountability difficult.
6. Fragmented supplier management
   • Multiple small providers can create inconsistency and increase management overhead.

Opportunities for Smarter Cleaning Procurement

1. Optimising Scopes of Work

A modern cleaning scope should reflect actual business needs, not historical assumptions. That means:

• Conducting demand analysis – mapping foot traffic patterns, peak times, and seasonal variations.
• Segmenting areas by criticality – e.g., bathrooms, entrances, and food service areas require higher frequency and standards than back-of-house corridors.
• Defining methods and outcomes clearly – specifying whether an area requires vacuuming, mopping, or disinfection, and how “clean” is measured.
• Aligning with brand and regulatory standards – ensuring presentation reflects expectations of premium environments such as luxury retail or healthcare.

An optimised scope avoids both under-servicing (which creates risk) and over-servicing (which drives unnecessary cost).

2. Leveraging Technology – From Sensors to Robots

The cleaning industry is undergoing rapid technological change. Procurement strategies that embrace innovation can unlock both efficiency and quality improvements.

• Demand sensors – installed in bathrooms, bins, and high-traffic zones, these trigger cleaning tasks based on actual usage rather than fixed schedules. For example, a bathroom may only require servicing after 50 uses, not every 30 minutes regardless of need.
• Robotic cleaners – automated floor scrubbers and vacuums can handle repetitive, low-value tasks in large open areas, freeing human cleaners to focus on detail and high-touch tasks.
• Digital workflow tools – apps allow supervisors to allocate tasks in real-time, record completion, and capture photos for accountability.
• Data analytics dashboards – centralised reporting provides visibility on task completion, resourcing, and service levels across multiple sites.

When written into procurement requirements, these technologies can shift cleaning services from being purely labour-based to becoming a blend of human and digital capability.

3. Thoroughly Defined Work Packages and Pricing Schedules

Cleaning services work best when clear and measurable work packages are in place.

• Work package definition – breaking services into discrete tasks (e.g., “clean and disinfect 10 bathrooms, twice daily”) ensures transparency.
• Pricing schedules – separating fixed costs (e.g., management, base staffing) from variable costs (e.g., event cleaning, seasonal peaks) allows flexibility.
• Benchmarking unit rates – comparing costs across properties and providers ensures competitiveness.
• Scenario modelling – testing how changes in foot traffic or operating hours impact cleaning needs, to ensure contracts are scalable.

This level of granularity makes it easier to adjust services without renegotiating entire contracts, while also providing transparency for cost reviews.

4. Structuring Contracts, KPIs, and Governance

Contracts for cleaning services should create alignment between business outcomes and supplier performance.

• Performance-based KPIs – e.g., cleanliness audit scores, task completion rates, customer complaint response times.
• Outcome-linked incentives – bonus or penalty regimes linked to compliance, presentation standards, or sustainability targets.
• Clear escalation protocols – ensuring issues are resolved quickly and transparently.
• Sustainability considerations – specifying environmentally friendly products, recycling, and waste diversion targets.
• Regular review cycles – quarterly performance reviews ensure services remain aligned to evolving needs.

With structured governance in place, organisations can shift from reactive supplier management to proactive partnership.

The Role of Procurement in Driving Value

Procurement leaders have an important role in balancing operational needs, supplier innovation, and commercial outcomes. Key considerations include:

• Market engagement – running robust tenders that test incumbents and challenge the market.
• Supplier evaluation – weighting technical capability, innovation, and cultural fit alongside price.
• Commercial negotiation – securing flexibility in scope, pricing, and technology adoption.
• Ongoing contract management – embedding governance to ensure long-term success.

The result is not just cost savings, but a more reliable, flexible, and future-ready cleaning service model.

How Trace Consultants Can Help

At Trace Consultants, we understand that cleaning services are more than just an operating cost – they are a driver of brand, customer experience, and efficiency for property-based businesses.

We help organisations in Australia and New Zealand by:

• Reviewing and optimising scopes to align with actual business needs, regulatory requirements, and presentation standards.
• Leveraging technology – from demand sensors to robotic cleaning – and ensuring procurement strategies capture the benefits of innovation.
• Defining work packages and pricing structures that provide transparency, flexibility, and scalability.
• Structuring contracts and KPIs to align supplier performance with business outcomes.
• Providing independent benchmarking to test competitiveness and highlight opportunities.

Our team brings deep operational expertise, independence, and a pragmatic approach that ensures procurement delivers measurable results – not just theoretical savings.

Looking Ahead – The Future of Cleaning Procurement

As labour markets tighten and sustainability expectations grow, the cleaning industry will continue to evolve. Property-based businesses should expect:

• Greater automation – with robotic cleaning becoming mainstream in large, open environments.
• Sensor-driven services – enabling true demand-based resourcing.
• Sustainability at the forefront – low-toxicity chemicals, recycling, and reduced water usage will be mandated.
• Outcome-based contracting – moving away from inputs (hours worked) towards measurable results.

Those who invest in modern procurement approaches today will be best placed to adapt tomorrow.

Cleaning services are essential to the operation and reputation of property-based businesses. Yet they are often procured in ways that lock in inefficiency, limit innovation, and obscure value. By optimising scopes, embracing technology, defining transparent work packages, and structuring robust contracts with clear KPIs, property owners and managers can transform cleaning from a sunk cost into a strategic enabler.

With expertise in procurement strategy, contract design, and supplier management, Trace Consultants is here to help Australian and New Zealand organisations achieve smarter outcomes from their cleaning services.

The question is no longer whether cleaning procurement can deliver value – but whether your business is ready to unlock it.

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Procurement – Value Levers

Procurement is a strategic cornerstone for organisations aiming to control costs, improve efficiencies, and boost profitability. Far from simply negotiating prices, effective procurement focuses on multiple dimensions—leveraging value levers across vendors, product design, and internal processes. Understanding and employing these levers can unlock significant financial and operational benefits for businesses across Australia and New Zealand.

In this article, we'll explore key procurement value levers, offering practical insights into their applications and highlighting how Trace Consultants can support organisations to fully realise procurement’s potential.

Understanding Procurement Value Levers

Value levers in procurement are strategic actions and practices organisations use to influence the cost, quality, and sustainability of goods and services they buy. These levers fall into three broad categories:

• Vendor
• Design
• Process

Let’s dive deeper into each of these categories and explore their specific value levers.

Vendor Levers

Vendor-based procurement levers involve managing suppliers more effectively to drive better outcomes. Key vendor levers include:

Supplier Consolidation

Supplier consolidation involves reducing the number of suppliers to streamline procurement operations, leverage buying power, and simplify supplier management. Consolidation reduces administrative overhead, improves pricing through volume leverage, and can significantly enhance service quality due to closer supplier relationships.

At Trace Consultants, we work closely with our clients to identify strategic opportunities for supplier consolidation without compromising on risk management. Our deep market knowledge helps identify the right balance of supplier diversity and consolidation.

Reduced Packaging

Sustainable packaging practices not only deliver environmental benefits but can also significantly reduce costs. Organisations can work collaboratively with suppliers to reduce excess packaging, transition to reusable packaging options, and lower disposal costs.

Trace Consultants helps businesses undertake comprehensive packaging assessments and implements tailored solutions that align environmental goals with cost-saving objectives.

OEM or Low-Cost Country (LCC) Sourcing

Exploring Original Equipment Manufacturers (OEM) or sourcing from low-cost countries can substantially reduce procurement costs. Organisations must balance cost benefits against quality, lead times, and supply chain risks.

With our extensive global sourcing expertise, Trace Consultants provides practical guidance to identify, vet, and onboard reliable OEM or LCC suppliers, ensuring optimal value and minimal disruption.

Design Levers

Design levers revolve around influencing product specifications and solutions during procurement:

Substitution

Substituting materials or products with lower-cost or more efficient alternatives is a powerful design lever. Organisations can realise substantial savings through careful evaluation and substitution without compromising functionality.

Trace Consultants provides detailed market insights and assists clients in evaluating and validating suitable substitutes, ensuring functionality, compliance, and user acceptance.

Complementary Products

Bundling complementary products or services can yield better pricing and simplified procurement management. Consolidated procurement for complementary goods often leads to substantial savings through economies of scale and streamlined logistics.

At Trace Consultants, we work with procurement teams to identify complementary product bundling opportunities, ensuring alignment with organisational objectives and maximising value.

Standardisation and Customisation

Standardisation of components or customisation based on specific business needs are critical design levers. Standardising products or services reduces complexity, inventory costs, and streamlines procurement processes, while targeted customisation ensures functional alignment with unique organisational requirements.

Our procurement experts at Trace Consultants help organisations determine the ideal balance between standardisation and customisation to achieve operational efficiency and cost-effectiveness.

Process Levers

Process levers focus on optimising procurement processes themselves:

Warranties

Negotiating warranty terms is an often-overlooked procurement lever. Better warranty terms can reduce lifecycle costs and protect organisations from unforeseen maintenance expenses.

Trace Consultants provides guidance on structuring warranty agreements that align with product lifecycles and operational needs, optimising long-term savings and risk management.

Direct or Distribution

Choosing between direct procurement from manufacturers or purchasing via distribution channels can significantly impact costs, inventory levels, and lead times. Direct purchasing typically offers lower costs, while distributors often provide greater flexibility and service.

We at Trace Consultants analyse procurement options, evaluating the total cost of ownership, service levels, and supply chain risk to recommend the most beneficial procurement channels for our clients.

Warehousing Optimisation

Efficient warehousing is crucial for reducing inventory holding costs, improving service levels, and optimising working capital. Organisations can achieve substantial cost reductions through strategic warehouse design, effective inventory management, and efficient logistics operations.

Trace Consultants specialises in warehousing optimisation, helping businesses implement effective warehouse networks, inventory management systems, and logistics practices tailored to specific operational needs.

How Trace Consultants Can Help

Trace Consultants is a boutique supply chain and procurement advisory firm dedicated to supporting Australian and New Zealand organisations achieve significant value through targeted procurement strategies. Our experienced team provides objective, practical, and tailored advice, ensuring each procurement initiative aligns closely with strategic business goals.

We offer:

• Spend Analysis & Optimisation: Identifying opportunities to rationalise, consolidate, and pressure-test costs and scopes of services.
• Strategic Procurement Reviews: Undertaking comprehensive reviews of existing procurement practices and recommending tailored improvements.
• Sustainable Procurement: Implementing strategies that reduce environmental impact, meet compliance standards, and leverage sustainability as a competitive advantage.
• Technology Integration: Leveraging advanced technologies like AI and analytics to provide deeper insights, automate processes, and facilitate better decision-making.

Our objective and solution-agnostic approach ensures organisations receive unbiased advice, positioning procurement as a strategic enabler rather than merely a cost-saving department.

Effective procurement involves far more than price negotiations—it leverages strategic decisions around vendors, design choices, and internal processes to unlock significant organisational value. By thoughtfully applying procurement value levers, businesses can improve their competitive edge, enhance efficiency, and significantly impact the bottom line.

At Trace Consultants, our procurement specialists collaborate closely with organisations, helping to identify, analyse, and implement targeted procurement strategies tailored specifically to their operational needs and strategic objectives.

Ready to explore how procurement value levers can enhance your organisation's performance? Contact Trace Consultants today and let's start the conversation.

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Procurement of Preventative Maintenance Services – A Strategic Imperative for Heavy Asset and Infrastructure Industries

In Australia and New Zealand, organisations operating in infrastructure, mining, utilities, energy, ports, rail, defence, and transport rely heavily on high-value, long-life assets. For these industries, asset performance isn’t just a function of uptime—it directly influences operational capacity, workforce safety, regulatory compliance, and the bottom line.

With economic headwinds, regulatory pressure, and shifting expectations around ESG and cost efficiency, preventative maintenance is no longer a ‘nice to have’—it’s a critical lever in asset lifecycle management. Yet, despite its importance, procurement of preventative maintenance services remains under-optimised in many organisations. Contracts are often reactive, cost-driven, fragmented across assets, or fail to align with long-term operational strategies.

This article explores how to strategically approach the procurement of preventative maintenance services, the challenges asset-intensive industries face, and how Trace Consultants can help organisations unlock value from these essential services.

Why Preventative Maintenance Matters

Preventative maintenance (PM) refers to scheduled servicing and upkeep of assets to prevent failure and extend useful life. Unlike reactive or corrective maintenance, PM aims to address wear-and-tear before breakdowns occur.

In asset-intensive industries, PM is crucial for:

• Reducing Unplanned Downtime: Preventative schedules ensure critical assets don’t fail during production or peak periods.
• Extending Asset Life: Regular servicing delays the need for capital replacement.
• Minimising Safety and Compliance Risks: Failures in infrastructure, mining, or energy can have catastrophic consequences for workers and the environment.
• Managing Costs Over Time: A well-designed PM strategy reduces reactive spend, emergency callouts, and insurance claims.

While the operational benefits are clear, achieving these outcomes requires disciplined procurement and vendor management practices—not just skilled technicians.

Common Challenges in Procuring PM Services

Despite PM’s critical role, many organisations fail to fully optimise their procurement approach. Common issues include:

1. Fragmented Contracts and Siloed Assets

Organisations with multiple sites or business units often let each area procure its own PM services. This leads to:

• Duplication of effort and variation in scope
• Inconsistent standards and KPIs
• Missed opportunities to leverage scale for cost and service benefits

2. Overly Reactive or Time-Based Models

Many PM contracts are still based on rigid time intervals rather than asset condition or usage data. This can result in:

• Over-servicing of some assets
• Under-servicing of others
• Poor cost-to-benefit ratios

3. Insufficient Scope Definition

Scope of services is often poorly defined, leading to:

• Misalignment on what’s included/excluded
• Lack of accountability between owner and provider
• Ambiguity during contract performance reviews

4. Lack of Strategic Supplier Relationships

PM providers are often viewed as transactional service vendors, rather than long-term partners. This undermines innovation, continuous improvement, and responsiveness.

5. Difficulty Demonstrating Value

PM spend can appear as overhead. Without robust performance metrics or benchmarking, procurement teams struggle to demonstrate the value of preventative investment.

Key Considerations for Procurement Teams

To address these challenges, organisations need to apply strategic sourcing principles to PM procurement. Below are the core considerations.

1. Understand the Criticality of Assets

Not all assets are created equal. Procurement should align servicing models to asset criticality:

• High-criticality assets (e.g. high-voltage transformers, escalators in transport hubs, medical chillers in hospitals) may require condition-based or real-time monitoring.
• Medium or low-criticality assets can be serviced through a mix of scheduled inspections and standard intervals.

A risk-based segmentation approach enables prioritisation of spend and performance management.

2. Define the Scope Clearly and Consistently

Good procurement starts with a clear, consistent definition of:

• Asset categories and components
• Inspection, servicing, calibration, testing, and reporting requirements
• Access needs, site-specific constraints, and compliance needs (e.g. ISO standards, regulatory guidelines)

Trace Consultants often help organisations document their current state and develop functional scopes of work that align to ISO55000 asset management principles.

3. Consider Whole-of-Life Outcomes

Rather than just lowest cost per visit, sourcing strategies should consider:

• Expected life extension per asset category
• Reduced downtime risk
• Reduced reactive maintenance callouts
• Improved compliance metrics and insurance risk ratings

This moves the conversation from ‘price per hour’ to ‘value per outcome.’

4. Engage the Right Providers

Not all PM providers are the same. Procurement teams should assess:

• Experience with similar asset classes
• Ability to scale across sites and geographies
• Digital capability (e.g. condition monitoring, reporting tools)
• Safety record and compliance rigour
• Culture fit and partnership approach

Where appropriate, alternative contracting models like performance-based maintenance contracts or bundled service agreements may be more effective than transactional models.

5. Embed Reporting and Continuous Improvement

Contracts must specify clear KPIs such as:

• Completion rates vs. schedule
• Asset reliability improvements
• Downtime reduction
• Response and rectification times
• Audit findings and non-conformances

Embedding mechanisms for quarterly reviews, lessons learned, and innovation pilots strengthens supplier engagement.

A Strategic Sourcing Framework for Preventative Maintenance Services

Trace Consultants recommends a structured approach to PM procurement, using a strategic sourcing and transformation lens. Below is a typical methodology we apply.

Phase 1: Spend & Asset Base Analysis

• Review current PM spend, service contracts, and categories
• Analyse asset inventory, criticality, and condition
• Assess historical maintenance performance and cost drivers

Phase 2: Opportunity Identification

• Identify duplicate contracts, low-performing vendors, or high-reactive spend areas
• Conduct benchmarking on servicing frequencies, costs, and outcomes
• Evaluate internal vs. external service provision trade-offs

Phase 3: Scope and Specification Design

• Define standardised scopes of work and service level agreements (SLAs)
• Prioritise high-impact categories or assets
• Develop asset care plans by type and criticality

Phase 4: Market Engagement Strategy

• Develop Go-To-Market (GTM) strategy (bundled vs. category-based)
• Determine contracting model (e.g. term-based, performance-based)
• Prepare RFx documents with clear evaluation criteria

Phase 5: Supplier Selection and Contracting

• Support tender evaluations, negotiations, and supplier onboarding
• Finalise KPIs, reporting obligations, and escalation processes

Phase 6: Implementation and Performance Management

• Support transition to new providers or processes
• Embed contract management practices and digital dashboards
• Facilitate quarterly reviews and continuous improvement

Preventative Maintenance in Key Infrastructure Sectors

The approach to PM procurement must be tailored to industry-specific operating environments. Below are a few considerations across key infrastructure sectors:

Mining and Resources

• Assets operate in remote, harsh conditions; reliability is critical
• Fly-in/fly-out (FIFO) servicing models often apply
• Contracted providers need to meet stringent safety standards and operate 24/7

Transport and Logistics

• Rail, port, and airport assets require strict adherence to service windows to avoid passenger or freight disruption
• Shared asset environments demand clear accountability between multiple parties (e.g. lessor, operator, government)

Utilities and Energy

• Preventative maintenance plays a central role in network reliability and bushfire prevention
• PM plans must integrate with real-time SCADA and asset condition data
• Increasing expectations around ESG reporting linked to asset management

Social Infrastructure (Hospitals, Universities, Correctional Facilities)

• PM influences safety and comfort of occupants
• Growing expectation to bundle services (e.g. HVAC, plumbing, fire safety) for integrated FM delivery models

The Role of Technology in PM Procurement

Technology plays an increasingly important role in both the execution and procurement of PM services.

Asset Management Systems (AMS)

Robust AMS platforms (e.g. IBM Maximo, TechnologyOne, Assetic) enable:

• Asset lifecycle tracking
• Condition monitoring
• Maintenance scheduling
• Contractor integration

Procurement teams must ensure service contracts are structured to align with the organisation’s digital architecture.

Power BI and Analytics Dashboards

Dashboards enable procurement, operations, and engineering to:

• Visualise PM performance across sites
• Track contractor compliance
• Monitor asset performance trends
• Compare reactive vs. preventative ratios

Mobile-Enabled Field Reporting

Best-in-class PM providers offer digital tools that:

• Capture field servicing data in real time
• Flag defects and non-conformance immediately
• Auto-generate audit trails and compliance reports

Trace Consultants helps organisations design performance frameworks and contract requirements to ensure technology integration is considered during procurement—not as an afterthought.

How Trace Consultants Can Help

At Trace Consultants, we specialise in helping asset-intensive industries optimise procurement and performance across their supply chain and operations.

When it comes to preventative maintenance services, our approach is both strategic and practical. We partner with clients across Australia and New Zealand to:

• Analyse maintenance spend and vendor performance
• Define standardised scopes, SLAs and evaluation frameworks
• Develop Go-To-Market strategies and manage the procurement process
• Identify opportunities for cost reduction, bundling, or insourcing/outsourcing
• Support supplier transition and contract implementation
• Benchmark performance and enable continuous improvement through data

Our work is grounded in deep industry knowledge—from mining to energy, transport to healthcare—and we pride ourselves on being hands-on, trusted advisors.

By engaging Trace Consultants, clients gain not just procurement expertise but a team that understands the operating context of their assets and the broader strategic drivers behind their maintenance strategies.

To learn more about our services and recent work, visit our insights page: www.traceconsultants.com.au/insights

Preventative maintenance is no longer just an operational issue. For asset-intensive industries across Australia and New Zealand, it is a strategic lever for performance, risk mitigation, and long-term value creation.

Yet too often, preventative maintenance services are procured like commodity labour—without the strategic rigour, planning, and alignment to outcomes required to drive real impact.

As infrastructure ages, capital budgets tighten, and safety and compliance expectations rise, the organisations that treat PM as a strategic procurement category—not just a cost centre—will be best positioned for long-term success.

Whether you’re about to go to market, reassessing vendor performance, or looking to drive cost efficiencies, Trace Consultants is ready to help you transform how you procure and manage preventative maintenance services.

How well is your preventative maintenance procurement strategy working for you?

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