British standard for procurement of facilities services revised

The revised standard is said to establish a common, standardised approach to the way facilities services are managed and specified

The British Standards Institution (BSI), the business standards company, has published BS 8572:2018 Procurement of facility related services. Code of practice. The revised standard guides those responsible for the management of facilities – such as office managers, owner-occupiers, landlords and tenants – through a roadmap for successful procurement.

BS 8572 was reportedly developed to establish a common, standardised approach to the way facilities services are managed and specified. A facility-related service is a supporting structure to the core business of an organization, such as cleaning, security, waste disposal, pest control, building maintenance, catering and IT.

The revised standard is said to include guidance to improve transparency in operating competitive tendering, and how to thoroughly evaluate tendering proposals. Guidance is also provided on benchmarking performance and cost, enabling inefficiencies and waste to be highlighted and mitigated. Where multiple facilities or locations are involved, application of BS 8572 across all facilities can reportedly bring additional benefits from a more consistent, streamlined approach to procurement.

BS 8572 covers both new and existing facilities. The principle changed in this revised document over its predecessor are:

• New provisions relating to a procurer’s target operating model and integrator model;
• Incorporation of recommendations on the management of the direct cost of a service;
• Recommendations on managing innovation and transformation in service delivery;
• Conversion from a guidance document to a code of practice; and
• General updating to align with, and cross-reference, recently published standards in facilities management.

Ant Burd, head of built environment at BSI, said: “In procuring facility-related services externally, an organisation has taken the decision to outsource. Outsourcing the procurement of such important services, however, extends beyond simply purchasing and supplying. Facilities procurement represents a major and integral part of an organisation’s facilities management – and because of this it must be carried out in a way that is consistent, thorough, and ensures the best value for money. BS 8572 was revised to guide organisations through this process.”

BS 8572 is said to be relevant to all organisations with responsibility for the procurement of facility-related services and the management of space within commercial and industrial property. Procurement of facility-related services apparently should be regarded as a distinct function within the procurer’s organisation and, as such, the standard recommends that it should be covered by a designated role. This may form part of the organisation’s established purchasing and supply processes and procedures.

The following organisations were involved in the development of this standard as members of the steering group: CIOB; RIBA; RICS; CIBSE; BIFM; IFMA; and CoreNet. Combined membership of these bodies in the UK reportedly exceeds 250,000.