Insights from Illinois cleaning bids

What public bid results show about pricing, winning and losing custodial contracts in Illinois.

• How long do Illinois public cleaning contracts last? Terms and renewal options on 48 custodial bidsNovember 6, 2026 · Of 48 Illinois public custodial contracts, terms split evenly between one, two and three years. With renewal options, most can run five years.
• How many companies bid on Illinois cleaning contracts? 46 public bids by region and agency typeOctober 30, 2026 · Chicago-area custodial contracts drew about 7 bids each. Central Illinois averaged under 3. What 46 public cleaning bids show about the competition.
• Renewal or rebid: what happens to Illinois cleaning contract prices when the term endsOctober 23, 2026 · Six Illinois custodial contracts show what happens at the end of a term: prices locked in years ahead, long extensions, and incumbents who held, raised or lost.
• The lowest bid lost on 24 of 42 Illinois cleaning contracts. Here's why.October 22, 2026 · On 24 of 42 Illinois public custodial contracts where the award is on record, the lowest bidder did not get the job. Staffing hours, missing documents, references, a withdrawal and scored proposals all played a part.
• Same buildings, very different prices: what 97 Illinois cleaning bids showOctober 22, 2026 · We compared 97 bidder prices on 15 public custodial contracts in Illinois. On the typical contract the highest bid was about 2.5 times the lowest, and on one job it was more than 7 times higher.
• Won by less than 0.1%: how close Illinois cleaning bids really getOctober 22, 2026 · On some Illinois public cleaning contracts, the top two bids were less than 1% apart. And on one joint bid, no single company was cheapest on every building.