Vendor Selection and Management for Facility Services

Vendor selection. Otherwise known as supplier selection. Important for facilities management, as you need to be able to trust the people that are looking after your properties. But what is it, and how do you ensure you choose the right people for the job?

In this article, we are going to discuss all things supplier management, including what vendor management is, how to select the correct suppliers for your requirements, why it is important and how choosing a facilities management company can help with this process.

What is vendor management?

Vendor management is the process of selecting and directing suppliers within your facilities management services. This can include negotiating contracts, controlling costs, ensuring accurate and efficient delivery of requirements, and reducing the risks that suppliers may face when delivering their services.

Effective vendor management also involves building and maintaining strong relationships with suppliers. By maintaining clear lines of communication, businesses can collaborate with their suppliers, addressing issues quickly, identifying opportunities for improvement, and aligning objectives. Vendor management also involves a regular evaluation of supplier performance against key metrics such as quality and timeliness.

Why is effective vendor selection and management important?

Ensuring you select the correct suppliers for your requirements, and making sure you are managing them correctly, is essential for property maintenance and facilities management. Both residential and commercial facilities depend on a range of different suppliers to keep running smoothly, so choosing the right people for the job is paramount!

Vendors can be responsible for a number of different facilities management tasks, including repairs and maintenance, cleaning, landscaping and security services. By making sure that you have chosen the right supplier or group of suppliers for you and your needs, you can ensure that the essential functions are carried out effectively, helping to contribute to the smooth operation of the facility.

Efficient supplier management helps to control costs. By properly negotiating contracts and monitoring expenses, you are able to identify opportunities for cost savings and reduce your overall operating costs.

Choosing the right vendors also helps to ensure that the required services are delivered on time and to a high quality. Timely maintenance work or repairs can prevent operational downtime and can reduce disruptions to the health and safety of the occupants, leading to higher tenant satisfaction.

By choosing appropriate vendors and suppliers for your jobs and requirements, you can ensure a cost-effective, high-quality service that provides long-term value for your properties.

How to select the correct suppliers for your facilities management requirements

We’ve spoken about what facilities vendor management entails and why effective selection is important, but how do you choose the right vendors for your needs? In this section of the article, we are going to delve into our top tips on how to choose the best suppliers for the job and explore how to manage them effectively to get the most out of them!

Our top tips for supplier selection:

Evaluate your requirements: Before you go on the hunt for suppliers, you need to evaluate what your facility actually needs. Has the company that rents out your office block got a team of in-house cleaners? You don’t need to look at outsourcing this job. It is essential you have an understanding of what is needed before researching so that you don’t waste time.
Research: When you start your hunt for various suppliers for your properties or facilities, you need to spend a long time researching in order to identify potential service providers. Narrow it down to a shortlist.
Evaluate their capabilities: Once you have a shortlist of a few different vendors for each different area of facilities management, try and schedule a meeting to understand their capabilities. If you are a multi-property landlord that has extensive requirements, a small team might not be capable of handling such a large workload. Factor this into your final decision making.
Choose the best fit for your needs: Once you have analysed your requirements, researched different providers, narrowed them down to a shortlist and evaluated their capabilities, you should be in a prime position to choose the company that best fits the needs of yourself and your facility.

How to manage vendor relationships once your chosen suppliers are onboard

Once you have onboarded your chosen suppliers, you need to ensure that you’re correctly managing vendor relationships so that everyone is on the same page and so that they stay with you for a long time.

Here are some of our best practices for supplier management:

Keep vendor information in a safe place: There’s nothing worse than needing to contact a certain supplier, but being unable to find the information required. Ensure all of the necessary information for every different vendor you use is stored in a single place, whether that be a spreadsheet, an online software, or the good old filing cabinet!
Store records of previous maintenance: Alongside your supplier contact details, make sure to keep a record of every maintenance callout that is completed. This can be useful in preventing potential conflicts and can demonstrate compliance in audits etc.
Communication is key: Make sure you set clear expectations straight away, even before the contract is signed, so that everyone is on the same page and has an understanding of requirements and expectations. If you are unhappy with the level of service,provide the suppliers with constructive feedback so that they are able to fix it. Be transparent but respectful and professional with every interaction.
Continue to monitor and evaluate performance: An easy way of tracking performance is by setting KPIs and regularly monitor whether or not they are being met. Make sure to also track feedback and satisfaction levels, alongside their performance, and conduct inspections to verify work and identify any issues.
Review and renew contracts: Periodically review your contracts to make sure that they are still relevant and working well for both parties. Evaluate the performance, cost and value of each supplier and find opportunities to optimise your contracts. Negotiate renewal terms based on your changing requirements.

How Dependable can help

At Dependable, we are your one-stop-shop for all things maintenance and management. We have teams of experienced professionals, specialising in a range of different skills – from property inspections to garden maintenance, and even electrical and gas services – we have someone onboard that can help you and make sure your property is well looked after. With a large team of experts, you can depend on Dependable to keep your property in the best state possible.