Blog

August 10, 2012

Four New SBER Tools Support More Sustainable Facility Management (FM) Contracting

Leading companies and FM service providers are actively revising and updating FM contracts to align with RE and corporate mandates for more sustainable facilities, resulting in a sea change to the contractual relationship between the parties. SR Inc’s new guidance, part of our Global Guidebook for Sustainable Real Estate, captures current best practices in sustainable facility management contracting and provides four comprehensive tools to assist executives as they work to improve FM service procurement and execution.

This new guidance includes the following four time-saving tools, in addition to proof-sourced guidance and implementation recommendations:

1. Sample contract language and provisions, organized by target sustainable practice areas (e.g. data sharing and collection, sustainable sites, energy and atmosphere, materials and resources, etc.).
2. A sustainable facilities RFP template, based on sample documents from two SBER Member-Clients and one outside service provider.
3. A sustainable facilities RFQ template and selection document, built upon SR Inc’s Sustainable Site Selection Tool (see our post about the Global Guidebook for more) and sample documents from SBER Member-Clients.
4. A sample contract template that builds upon service provider sample documents and SBER Member-Client examples.

Today, an effective service contract is the result of a comprehensive negotiation process in which sustainability practices are carefully embedded into each step of facility management (FM) service provider selection, from the initial definition of the service requirements through to contract negotiations and ongoing performance evaluations.

As part the FM contracting process, some companies integrate performance-based clauses, which detail objectives without specifying a method for achieving them. Depending on organizational policies for sustainability, timing of contract renewals, and objectives, companies use performance clauses to integrate sustainability goals and targets in three areas:

• Within the FM contract itself, particularly with new contracts or when sustainability is a core component of the company’s real estate and facilities strategy.
• Within a sustainability service-level agreement (SLA) or similar contract attachment.
• Within amendments to the existing contract, memoranda of understanding (MOUs), or agreements for sustainability services.

To download a copy of the Sustainable Facility Management (FM) Contracting: Guidance & Tools document click here to access SR Inc’s Member-only Digital Library. To learn more about gaining access to the Digital Library for your company or organization, leave a note through our Inquiry Form or Contact Us directly. Do you have an innovative contracting practice that we haven’t mentioned? Leave us a comment below.

Author: Andrew Reovan, Sustainability Analyst (andrewreovan@sustainround.com)