Facilities Management Tenders Ireland: Supplier Guide to Cleaning, Security, FM and Catering Contracts

Facilities management tenders in Ireland cover cleaning, security, catering, grounds, mechanical and electrical maintenance, and integrated FM contracts awarded by bodies including the OPW, HSE, ETBs, universities, local authorities, An Post, An Garda Síochána, and the Defence Forces. These are labour-intensive, recurring contracts, ideally suited to SMEs who can handle geographic lots and navigate the sector-specific compliance regime.

The facilities market rewards suppliers who treat bid preparation as an operational discipline rather than a one-off sales exercise. Current live facilities tenders on Tenderwatch show activity across universities, healthcare providers, housing associations, and state bodies at values from below €100,000 up to multi-million framework agreements.

This guide is for cleaning contractors, security firms, catering suppliers, grounds maintenance operators, and integrated FM providers targeting Irish public sector work.

The Buyers, Who Awards FM Contracts in Ireland

FM procurement is spread across hundreds of contracting authorities, but a small number dominate spend.

Office of Public Works (OPW): Manages government buildings, including Leinster House, the Four Courts, state properties and heritage sites. OPW runs its own frameworks and tenders for cleaning, security, grounds and planned preventive maintenance across its estate.

Health Service Executive (HSE): The single largest FM buyer in the state. HSE Estates procures cleaning, security, catering and building services across acute hospitals, community healthcare networks and primary care centres. Hospital cleaning contracts typically run 2–4 years.

Education and Training Boards (ETBs) and Universities: ETBs procure cleaning, security and grounds across secondary schools and training centres. Universities (TCD, UCD, UCC, University of Galway, ATU, the Technological Universities) procure independently, often dividing work by campus.

Local Authorities: Ireland’s 31 local authorities, 3 City Councils, 2 City and County Councils, and 26 County Councils, tender for cleaning, security, grounds, play-space inspection and building maintenance across their estates. Dún Laoghaire-Rathdown, Fingal, and South Dublin are three separate county councils inside the Dublin region.

An Post: Contracts cleaning, security and maintenance across its delivery, retail and processing network.

An Garda Síochána: Procures cleaning, security (very limited, Gardaí handle most direct), canteen catering for Garda stations, and grounds across its national estate.

Defence Forces and Department of Defence: Procure cleaning, messing (catering), grounds and specialist building services across barracks and training facilities.

OGP (Office of Government Procurement): Operates national multi-supplier frameworks for cleaning, security and integrated FM that individual public bodies call off from.

Contract Structures

Single-site tenders: Smaller authorities award as a single contract, one ETB cleaning contract, one council office security contract. Accessible for regional SMEs.

Lotted tenders: Larger buyers (HSE, ETBs, OGP) split work by geography or site type. Lot structure means you do not need national coverage to bid.

Framework agreements: The OGP runs national frameworks for cleaning, security and integrated FM. A framework place gives you 3–4 years of call-off opportunities without re-qualifying. Check the Framework Watch directory for upcoming refreshes.

Dynamic Purchasing System (DPS): Open throughout the life of the system, so new suppliers can join during the term. OPW has used DPS models for FM services.

Total Facilities Management (TFM): Bundled contracts covering cleaning, security, reactive and planned maintenance under one supplier. Example: the current Citizens Information Board TFM tender valued around €2.36m.

CPV Code Reference Table

Tender notices are indexed by Common Procurement Vocabulary (CPV) codes. Search eTenders and TED using the codes below, and re-use them in your bid library.

See the full CPV code guide for how to build a keyword/CPV watchlist.

Thresholds and Where Notices Appear

Thresholds dictate where a contract must be advertised. The figures below reflect the 2026–2027 EU cycle (effective 1 January 2026); verify against procurement.ie before pricing a bid.

• Below €50,000 (services): National threshold. Publication on eTenders not mandatory below €50,000, but encouraged above €10,000.
• €50,000 to EU threshold: Publish on eTenders.gov.ie.
• Above EU threshold (2026–2027 cycle: €140,000 central government, €216,000 other public bodies for services): Publish on eTenders and on TED (Tenders Electronic Daily).

Most hospital cleaning, multi-site security and TFM contracts exceed threshold and appear on TED. Smaller site-specific work, a single school or community centre, often stays eTenders-only.

TUPE, The Number One Re-tender Pitfall

Transfer of Undertakings (Protection of Employment) applies to almost every cleaning and security re-tender in Ireland. It is the single most frequent commercial surprise for suppliers winning their first public contract from an incumbent.

TUPE is governed by the European Communities (Protection of Employees on Transfer of Undertakings) Regulations 2003 (S.I. 131/2003). Where a service provider changes, and the economic activity retains its identity, the outgoing contractor’s staff transfer to the incoming contractor on their existing terms and conditions.

Key practical points for cleaning and security bids:

• Ask the contracting authority for the anonymised TUPE list, headcount, hours, hourly rates, length of service, contract type. This is routinely provided once tender documents issue.
• Labour is your largest cost. Pricing without the TUPE list is pricing blind.
• Accrued holiday entitlements, long-service pay premiums and sick-pay history transfer. Model them.
• If you refuse to take on a substantial part of the workforce, TUPE may not apply, but that route carries industrial relations and reputational risk most suppliers cannot absorb.

Get deadline alerts for facilities tenders as they publish: sign up for email alerts.

Sectoral Pay Regime, ERO for Cleaning, ERO for Security

Statutory minimum pay rates apply in both cleaning and security and are enforced by the Workplace Relations Commission (WRC). Under-pricing below the statutory rate is not competitive, it is non-compliant and will fail scrutiny.

Contract Cleaning Industry: Covered by an Employment Regulation Order (ERO) made under the Industrial Relations Acts on foot of the Contract Cleaning Joint Labour Committee. The ERO sets a statutory minimum hourly rate plus premiums for unsocial hours. Rates revise periodically; a new ERO commenced 17 October 2025. Always check the current rate on the WRC site before pricing.

Security Industry: Covered by a separate Employment Regulation Order (ERO) under the Security Industry Joint Labour Committee (S.I. No. 319 of 2024, as amended in 2025). The security ERO sets a statutory minimum hourly rate plus an unsocial-hours shift premium.

Note: cleaning and security use EROs: not Sectoral Employment Orders. The construction SEO is a separate instrument under the Industrial Relations (Amendment) Act 2015. The earlier cleaning REA was struck down in McGowan v Labour Court (2013) and replaced by the ERO regime. Do not quote specific rates from a third-party source without verifying directly on workplacerelations.ie.

Licensing, PSA for Security, Food Safety for Catering

PSA (Private Security Authority): Every company providing security services in Ireland requires a contractor licence from the PSA. Every individual security worker requires an employee licence. Licence categories include Security Guard (Static), Security Guard (Event), Door Supervisor, Installer of CCTV/Access Control/Intruder Alarms, and Private Investigator. Bidding for a security tender without a current PSA contractor licence is a mandatory-stage fail. See the PSA register at psa-gov.ie.

Catering and food safety: Catering bids (Garda canteens, HSE retail catering, Defence Forces messing, ETB school meals) require HACCP documentation, current Environmental Health Officer inspection records, allergen controls, and Safe Catering compliance.

BICSc (British Institute of Cleaning Science): Not a statutory licence, but cleaning specifications on HSE, university and OPW tenders are frequently written using BICSc outcome criteria and productivity rates. Holding BICSc training for supervisors and teams strengthens the quality score.

ISO 41001 (FM Management Systems): International standard for facilities management. Not yet common as a mandatory requirement on Irish tenders but increasingly appears as a scored advantage on TFM and integrated FM bids.

What Gets Scored

Irish public FM tenders almost always use MEAT (Most Economically Advantageous Tender). Typical weighting for cleaning and security:

Quality responses are won on staffing model, supervision ratio, training programme, escalation and reporting, and demonstrable Irish case studies with verifiable referees.

Practical Tips, How to Win FM Contracts

1. Get the TUPE list before you price. Request it in writing during the clarification window. Without it, your cost model is guesswork and your margin risk is uncapped.

2. Map CPV codes to your capability, not the other way round. List the CPVs your insurance and licences cover; search eTenders weekly using those codes, not marketing keywords. The Tender Matcher does this against your profile automatically.

3. Apply to the next OGP framework refresh. Missing a framework refresh locks you out of call-off work for the full framework term. Monitor the Frameworks directory for published PIN notices signalling an upcoming refresh.

4. Verify current ERO rates on WRC before every bid. Rates change. Pricing against last year’s rate destroys margin on multi-year contracts without indexation clauses. Check workplacerelations.ie each time.

5. Build a live pre-qualification pack. Current tax clearance, insurance certificates (public liability typically €6.5m+, employer’s liability €13m), PSA licence (if security), ISO certification, three referenced Irish case studies. The Bid Readiness tool scores your pack against a typical selection criteria profile.

6. Bid on the lot you can deliver, not the framework you want on your website. Lot-level win rates for regional SMEs are higher than national lot win rates for mid-market firms. Don’t overreach.

7. Read the selection criteria before the specification. If turnover, insurance or certification requirements exclude you at selection stage, the specification and price model do not matter. Run the Mandatory Check against the tender documents first.

Frequently Asked Questions

Where can I find facilities management tenders in Ireland?

Live FM tenders are listed on Tenderwatch’s facilities category page, updated daily from eTenders and TED. You can also search eTenders.gov.ie directly using CPV 90910000 (cleaning), 79713000 (guard services), 50700000 (building installations) or 55512000 (canteen management).

Do I need a PSA licence to bid for a public security contract?

Yes. Every company providing security services requires a current contractor licence from the Private Security Authority, and every individual guard requires an employee licence. Unlicensed provision is a criminal offence under the Private Security Services Acts.

Does TUPE apply when an Irish public body changes cleaning contractor?

Usually, yes. S.I. 131/2003 applies to labour-intensive outsourced services including cleaning and security where the economic activity retains its identity. The incoming contractor inherits the outgoing contractor’s staff on existing terms. Always request the anonymised TUPE list before pricing.

Is cleaning pay in Ireland set by a Sectoral Employment Order or an Employment Regulation Order?

An Employment Regulation Order (ERO). The Contract Cleaning Joint Labour Committee makes recommendations to the Labour Court, which are given effect by Ministerial order. This is separate from Sectoral Employment Orders, which apply to construction under the Industrial Relations (Amendment) Act 2015. Security is also governed by an ERO, not an SEO.

What ISO certifications help win FM tenders in Ireland?

ISO 9001 (quality management) is commonly required on HSE, university and OPW contracts. ISO 14001 (environmental management) is an advantage on sustainability-weighted tenders. ISO 45001 (occupational H&S) increasingly appears as a scored criterion. ISO 41001 (FM management systems) is emerging on larger TFM bids.

Can a regional SME win an OGP national FM framework?

Yes, OGP cleaning and security frameworks are typically lotted by geography, so a regional operator can bid for their home region without national coverage. Lot-level competition is usually less intense than the national lots.

Tools and Further Reading

• Tender Matcher, score live FM tenders against your profile
• Bid Readiness, qualification and selection-stage check
• Mandatory Check, identify disqualifying selection criteria before you bid
• Fit Score, rapid fit scoring by sector and value band
• Jargon Decoder, CPV, MEAT, ESPD, PSA, ERO and other terms
• Cleaning tenders Ireland, deeper dive on cleaning
• HSE tenders Ireland, HSE procurement patterns
• Office of Government Procurement, OGP structure and frameworks
• Live facilities tenders, updated daily

Find open facilities management tenders on Tenderwatch, or sign up for daily deadline alerts across cleaning, security, catering and building services.