Branson-based cleaning company Brokate Janitorial LLC began working under the city of Springfield’s largest contract for janitorial services Aug. 1 after the company beat out a handful of competitors.
Since signing the deal – worth up to $1.2 million – Brokate has added seven full-time employees. The agreement was the largest of four awarded July 6 to serve facilities operated by the city and the Springfield-Greene County Park Board.
Cheyne Brokate, vice president of operations for the cleaning company whose clients include the Showboat Branson Belle and Skaggs Regional Medical Center, said the Springfield contract includes regular cleaning and janitorial services for 26 city buildings. Among them are City Hall, Police headquarters, the municipal court, the Busch building and several Public Works facilities. The agreement is worth roughly $200,000 a year for the company, and the city has four annual renewal options.
Brokate said companies that bid on the contract toured the city properties in mid-June.
“With some lines of work, you can bid based on this or that, but with janitorial, there are so many variables, you have to go through and see it all,” Brokate said.
In addition to the city contract, Brokate landed a $26,000 annual agreement to clean the Cooper Tennis Complex and Springfield-Greene County Park Board offices at 1923 N. Weller.
Public Works Assistant Director Jonathan Gano said Brokate Janitorial’s bid was more than $194,000, but the city has options to request additional cleaning services as needed, which would increase the value of the contract. He said the company could request increases in pay as options are considered, but the company would need to show why additional funds are needed.
“It gives us up to five years if the contractor both performs satisfactorily and maintains competitive pricing. It lets us not have to go shopping for a new contractor,” Gano said.
Gano said ISS Facility Services Inc. – a division of Copenhagen, Denmark-based ISSWorld – was awarded the city’s second-largest cleaning contract, worth roughly $41,000 per year. ISS, which previously cleaned the buildings Brokate Janitorial now handles, was selected to regularly clean four buildings constructed to Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design standards: the Transportation Management Center, the Environmental Resource Center, the Springfield Police-Fire Training Center and the Springfield-Greene County Botanical Center. ISS officials could not be reached for comment.
“(Brokate) is cleaning almost everything that falls within the jurisdiction of the Public Works Department to maintain. That doesn’t include anything to do with City Utilities, the Park Board, the airport or the art museum. Anything that has an independent administrative board is free to make its own arrangements,” Gano said. He said Public Works does not have the staffing or funding to conduct its own cleaning, which is why janitorial services are outsourced.
The city issued a request for bids May 17 on
SpringfieldMo.gov, and about a dozen companies turned out to tour facilities. Companies Brokate Janitorial competed against included ISS, Houston, Texas-based EMS Janitorial Services Inc. and Orlando, Fla.-based DNA Building Services.
“A lot of government bids are strictly price-based, but this one was a little bit different in that the city could look at other things,” Brokate said, adding the company previously cleaned the state of Missouri office building in Branson.
During the process to gain the city of Springfield contract, Brokate said he was asked to detail how the company would plan to meet the cleaning requirements. Brokate Janitorial is providing basic janitorial service under the contract, cleaning most buildings five days a week, said Brokate, noting the projected profit margin on the 26-building deal is nearly 30 percent.
Nancy Lucas, who manages the Brokate and ISS accounts for Public Works, was one of four officials who helped select the contract companies for the city and the Park Board. Lucas said she was impressed by Brokate Janitorial’s work record.
“It was the lowest bid, but we don’t always go by [only] the lowest bid. We also check out references and stuff, and I found their references to be quite good,” Lucas said.
Gano said Public Works has a policy to select the lowest bid by a company responding to the request for services that also demonstrates it is capable of performing the work.
The city awarded the fourth contract, which outlines the requirements for cleaning service at its workforce development centers in Springfield and Branson, to two companies. Springfield-based Grime Scrubbers Inc. was selected to clean the Missouri Career Center in Springfield for $30,000 per year, with four renewal options, and Brokate Janitorial’s agreement in Branson for more than $7,500 per year was renewed.
Lucas said companies that toured facilities prior to bids could have been considered for one or all of the contracts, but she said several smaller companies chose not to put their hats in the running for the larger city contract or the LEED buildings due to manpower or insurance responsibilities. For example, those bidding on the LEED buildings were required to have general liability insurance of more than $2.6 million, according to
SpringfieldMo.gov.[[In-content Ad]]
