Facilities management guide
10 questions to ask a facilities management provider
In short
Ask how much of the work the provider delivers itself, who will manage each service, which accreditations each service holds, how alarms and faults are handled out of hours, how you'll get reports, how pay rises are priced and who your single point of contact is.
Written by the SPS Group team · Updated 29 October 2026
The questions
- 1
How much do you self-deliver?
Ask what percentage of the work is done by the provider's own employees and what is subcontracted.
- 2
Who manages each service?
A specialist manager for each service usually means better standards than one generalist covering everything.
- 3
Who is my single point of contact?
Ask who oversees the whole contract and who you escalate to.
- 4
Which accreditations cover each service?
For example SIA Approved Contractor for security, BAFE and SSAIB for fire and security systems, BICSc for cleaning, and ISO 9001 and 14001.
- 5
How are alarms and faults handled out of hours?
Ask whether the provider runs its own control room and who attends.
- 6
How are staff recruited, vetted and trained?
Ask about vetting standards, safeguarding where relevant, and ongoing training.
- 7
What reports will I get?
Ask to see example reports, how often you'll get them and whether they can be combined across services.
- 8
How will mobilisation work?
Ask for a mobilisation plan with named managers, dates and how TUPE will be handled.
- 9
How is pricing set out?
Each service should be priced clearly, with no hidden subcontract markup.
- 10
How are wage increases handled?
Ask how National Living Wage rises each April affect the contract price.
How SPS Group does it
SPS Group self-delivers about 95% of its services, and 98% of its security officers are directly employed. Each service has a dedicated specialist manager, the group runs its own 24-hour control room in Hull, and reporting comes through OneView, combined or service by service.
How our integrated facilities management works
