The Reluctant Customer

As the facility support services manager for the state capitol in Olympia, Wash., Pattie Williams faces a difficult road ahead. Starting in 2005, her 100 custodians and pest-control workers face competition from building service contractors, and she’s apprehensive, at best, about it.

“Our custodians are paid a very modest living wage and receive benefits,” she explains. “The benefits put their labor cost above what would be expected of a contractor. This fact makes outsourcing a strong possibility.”

Williams has several concerns about outsourcing; first and foremost, she worries about her workers.

“These are people who are dependent upon having a job that pays a living wage, albeit modest, with health benefits for them and their family,” she says. “My next concern is not that contractors don’t perform well. I know that many contractors do a great job. However, state government tends to select contractors on the basis of cost and I have enough experience with contractors to know that not all are honest.”

The state has a requirement that contractors will pay employees the prevailing rate for this area, as well as provide a work plan. But, when Williams compares the plan to the prevailing wage requirements, many times things don’t add up.

For instance, for practice, she once participated in a bid at a nearby building. The bid eventually was awarded to a BSC who workloaded far fewer hours than were needed to keep the building clean; although adjustments were made to the contract, and that BSC eventually was replaced, the building still suffered cleaning-related air-quality problems 10 years later.

Character counts
Although Williams is looking for ways to keep her department in-house, she concedes outsourcing is a distinct possibility. Good BSCs might help assuage her apprehension, she says, if they demonstrate strength of character.

“I want good, reliable, honest bidders who would bid so they could actually provide the level of service requested,” Williams says. “The state needs to become sophisticated in selecting good, honest bidders.”

She’d also like to see BSCs use a measurable system of cleaning, so she can benchmark results.

In addition, Williams acknowledges bidding for state contracts can be confusing, with mixed messages about price and service, but she hopes BSCs take the high road and call out bid awards that obviously are inconsistent with the specifications.

However, she reiterates, her first concern is for her staff, and she would want BSCs to show similar priorities.

“If a BSC came in I would hope that they would be required to pay a modest living wage, provide benefits and hire from my staff,” she says. She believes her collective-bargaining agreement might require at least some of those elements.

Williams is the first to admit her department isn’t perfect. Budget cuts have left her department underfunded, and absenteeism has forced reductions in detail cleaning.

“Basically, our buildings are not being cleaned well, but we want to be our customers’ first choice for service,” she says. “We are exploring ways to improve so we can expand our ‘base’ service and give our reimbursable customers more for their money. We want to find a process that will enable us to do more with less, not so we can downsize, but so we can expand our service levels.”