Identification of environmental cleaning and managerial best practices for integration in competitive bidding documents for outsourcing of housekeeping services in tertiary care hospitals in India

Aim: This study aimed at the identification of environmental cleaning and managerial best practices for integration in competitive bidding documents for outsourcing of housekeeping services in tertiary care hospitals in India. Materials and Methods: This study design was cross-sectional. The sample comprised of tender documents of eight government super-specialty hospitals/corporations and housekeeping contract agreements of five private ones. Convenience sampling was used-current tenders of most popular government hospitals available online and housekeeping agreements of consenting popular private hospitals were considered. Excel sheet was used for the analysis. Results: Hospitals outsourced housekeeping services on performance or human resource basis, use risk classification (23%) of hospital areas for determining intensity of cleaning, and outlined scope of services (50%). Fifteen percent tenders provide comprehensive lists of material. Scrubber requirements ranged from one per 25–250 beds. In 40% tenders, scope included handling of biomedical waste. Workforce included managerial cadres. There is a focus on occupational health and safety. Quality assurance is inbuilt in the contracts including bid evaluation criteria for selecting competent agencies and penal provisions such as in case of adverse report (INR 10,000) and unsatisfactory survey reporting (1% of monthly payment). Conclusion: Since successful outsourcing must focus on above-mentioned parameters, this study provides necessary guidance for health-care administrators for patient satisfaction, positive image, reducing hospital-acquired infections, and ensuring provision of quality care services.