Getting cleaning robots right in tenders and bills of quantities

An entire procurement market without robotics

Municipal templates, model bills of quantities, tender platforms: in building cleaning, robotics is practically absent from tendering practice. Anyone who wants to procure automated cleaning finds no standard clause – and therefore either writes product-specific text (and becomes contestable) or writes nothing at all.

Our answer: we do not only supply machines, we supply the language used to procure them. Product-neutral, evidence-oriented, fit for acceptance.

How robot performance goes into a bill of quantities cleanly

• As a service, not as a device: area, frequency, result quality, documentation duty. The means is left to the bidder.
• Evidence as an award criterion: a cleaning report per task with area, time and result, exportable.
• A clear interface: which items may be fulfilled robotically and which expressly may not.
• Time windows instead of full automation: night capability and weekend service as separate items.
• Acceptance: reconciling the reports with the bill of quantities instead of visual inspection by feel.

What we do not promise

A robot does not fulfil a complete cleaning bill of quantities. It covers large, unobstructed floor areas – verifiably and repeatably. Anyone who writes it into sanitary and patient areas will have problems at acceptance. And we will not draft you a text tailored to us: a tender only one supplier can fulfil will not survive a challenge.

Your robot. Your data.

A robot working in your organisation sees and hears things that are nobody’s business outside it. That is why the AI processing runs on the device and not in someone else’s cloud. A permanent internet connection is not required for operation — closed hospital, care and laboratory networks are possible. What is created with you stays with you: you decide on storage, analysis and deletion. Through uGo+ you define who may start which tasks, and mission reports are auditable — the basis for a data protection impact assessment, for the works council and for the authorities.

Buy or rent: Robot-as-a-Service

You can buy or rent as Robot-as-a-Service. With rental you pay a recurring monthly rate covering hardware, software maintenance and service together — from the operating budget instead of the capital budget. This is the usual route for a pilot and for a step-by-step rollout across several sites.

An honest note: rental is not automatically cheaper than purchase — it shifts risk and timing. What adds up for your organisation depends on term, quantity, funding options and budget structure. We work through that openly with you in the first conversation instead of selling you a model. We do not publish prices, because configuration and integration scope decide the outcome — a figure without that context would be misleading.

Frequently asked questions

How do you specify cleaning robots in a bill of quantities?

Not as a device but as a service: defined areas, frequency, result quality and documentation duty. The robot is then a means of fulfilment for the bidder, not the subject of the award.

May robot deployment be required in a tender?

You can formulate requirements for documentation, reproducibility and night capability that in practice can only be met economically with automation – without prescribing a specific product. The tender then remains product-neutral.

How is robot performance accepted?

Through cleaning reports per task with area, time and result. These records are exportable and can be reconciled with the bill of quantities.

What does not belong in a robot bill of quantities?

Sanitary areas, patient rooms, hand-contact surfaces and edges. Assigning these items to a robot produces change orders and disputes at acceptance.

Do you support the drafting?

Yes. We provide text modules for the service description, documentation duties and acceptance criteria – phrased product-neutrally so that your tender remains legally sound.

Sources: OECD, Health at a Glance: Europe 2024 · Federal Statistical Office of Germany, care workforce projection, press release of 23 January 2024 · German Economic Institute, MINT Spring Report 2026.