Foster City’s City Council approved a contract for janitorial services with Little Giant that will cut costs in half over a three year period.
Starting in November and ending in Oct. 2013, Little Giant Building Maintenance, Inc will charge Foster City $66,000 a year for its services. The previous contract with U.S. Building Services cost $126,000.

The contract is for city facilities, including the Library, Recreation Center, Senior Wing, Police and Fire stations, and the Vibe Teen Center. Maintenance standards will remain the same.

The City received six bids for the services, and Little Giant’s was “significantly lower” than the rest, according to a report to the Council by Parks and Recreation Director Kevin Miller.

“After meeting with the company president, the low bid submitted was justified by the company’s ability to deploy staff in coordination with another of their locally serviced facilities,” said the report.

The company has been servicing Visa International on Metro Center Blvd since 1994, according to company officials, and the company also served the Foster Enterprise buildings on Gateway Drive about three years ago.

The City would have seen additional savings of approximately 22 to 47 percent if maintenance service standards had been reduced. However, the impact would have been negative, said the report by Parks and Recreation Director Miller. It would have included “noticeable smell in restrooms after heavy use on a non-service day,” more stains, smelly trash receptacles and an overall negative general appearance of City facilities.

The Millbrae city council convened on Sept. 28 to unanimously approve a new janitorial services contract for the city of Millbrae that will save the city thousands of dollars.

The city reviews the janitorial contracts when they expire every three years to save money by finding companies willing to do the job for less. This year Little Giant Building Maintenance (http://littlegiantbuilding.com/) bid at $39,000, while all other bids from other companies were between $80,000 and $90,000. Total Quality Management currently cleans Millbrae city buildings and is paid $84,000 annually.

“It’s shocking to see the difference,” said council member Marge Colapietro.

The contract consists of janitorial services to all of the city buildings three days a week, including the two fire stations, city hall and the community center. The contract is virtually the same as the previous one with Total Quality Management – the only difference is price.

“The low bidding caused concern. So we held another meeting with Little Giant,” said Director of Public Works Ron Popp.

The city reexplained the contract during the second meeting, but Little Giant still stood by their bid. The city then checked into the company’s references and heard nothing but glowing remarks. Little Giant’s General Manager Sarah Kirk remained confident in their work despite the price differences.

“Our guys are really good at doing that type of work. We’ve been working together for so many years, so we’re very efficient. We’re saving the city money because we keep our overhead minimal. For example, we already have a lot of contracts in the area, so there is no travel costs,” said Kirk.

The city remained weary however. Popp explained that three years ago the city had to fire the lowest bidder because they could not perform all the necessary tasks. “We’ll be keeping a very close eye on them making sure they’re not doing anything suspicious,” said Popp.

If Little Giant doesn’t perform to city standards then the contract will be awarded to the next lowest bidder.