How to qualify a facility services supplier for a cleared site
Qualify a facility services supplier for a cleared site: the twenty questions
Twenty questions in four sets: security and access, the people on your floor, operations and records, and the commercial terms that decide year three. Each one comes with why it matters and the evidence to ask for. That way, you score the answers rather than admire them.
To qualify a facility services supplier for a cleared site, ask twenty questions and require evidence for each. They cover who runs the security program, which staff can enter controlled spaces alone, and how the supplier handles departures and records. They ask what share of hours its own employees perform and how it pays and benches cleared staff. Finally, they cover the safety and completion numbers, where scope stops, which commercial model the data supports, and what happens at exit. A supplier that answers all twenty in one reply, with records, is ready for your portal. One that answers with adjectives is a broker or a commodity vendor, whatever the proposal says.
Qualify a facility services supplier: five security and access questions
- Who runs your security program, and under what rule?
Why it matters: In short, a cleared site needs a counterpart for its own security office, not a sales contact.
Evidence to ask for: The name of the dedicated Facility Security Officer, the training standard (32 CFR Part 117), and confirmation that DCSA administers the program.
- Which of your people can enter our controlled spaces without an escort?
Why it matters: After all, every escorted visit costs two people’s time; the share that can work alone sets the escort bill.
Evidence to ask for: A roster of cleared staff proposed for the site, discussed between security offices rather than printed in a proposal.
- How fast do you report a departure, and can you show the record?
Why it matters: Above all, an active badge for someone who left is an access-control finding waiting to happen.
Evidence to ask for: Departure-to-deactivation records for the last 90 days, with the elapsed time on each.
- Where do your work orders, floor plans, and photos live, and who can see them?
Why it matters: Of course, facility data about a cleared site can be sensitive even when the people are not.
Evidence to ask for: The system name, its access list, and the alignment to NIST SP 800-171 for the information handled on your behalf.
- Can you produce access logs and completion records for every controlled-area visit?
Why it matters: In other words, auditors pull records, not assurances; a supplier that cannot produce them hands you the finding.
Evidence to ask for: A 90-day extract of access logs reconciled with your own, plus completion records for the same visits.
Five questions about the people who will be on your floor
- What share of hours on a current defense site do your own employees perform?
Why it matters: In short, a broker’s proposal reads like a self-performer’s; the hours tell you which one you are qualifying.
Evidence to ask for: A percentage, by service line, for a named site type, with references under NDA.
- Who is the site manager’s employer, and who signs the corrective action when something fails?
Why it matters: After all, one accountable name is the difference between a fix and a finger-pointing exercise.
Evidence to ask for: An org chart for the site with employer named for each role, and a sample corrective-action record.
- How do you pay cleared employees, and what happens when one underperforms?
Why it matters: Above all, a premium rate makes escorts look cheap; a captive cleared employee makes performance unmanageable.
Evidence to ask for: The pricing basis (IH Services pays a wage differential, not a premium). Also, the bench policy: two or three cleared beyond site need, so the supplier can change out an underperformer.
- What are your EMR and current-year TRIR, as numbers?
Why it matters: Of course, safety performance is the one metric every prime already knows how to read.
Evidence to ask for: The experience modification rate and total recordable incident rate, with the safety program named (IH Services runs the 5-4-0 program).
- What training do your crews hold for our floor’s programs: FOD, ESD, energetics?
Why it matters: In other words, a crew with office equipment cannot work a composites shop or an energetics bay.
Evidence to ask for: Training records by program, and the equipment list the crew will bring into each area.
Qualify a facility services supplier: five operations and records questions
- Which operating system runs the site, and what does it measure monthly?
Why it matters: In short, playbooks, root-cause analysis, and KPIs are what keep year three as good as month one.
Evidence to ask for: The system by name (ours is R3 Secure FacilityOps), its KPI set, and a sample monthly report.
- What is your on-time work-order completion rate, with its source?
Why it matters: After all, response is the metric your production managers feel first.
Evidence to ask for: The rate (IH Services publishes 99 percent), the CMMS it comes from, and how long the supplier has collected the data.
- How do you handle preventive work when access slips?
Why it matters: Above all, deferred preventive tasks come back as corrective repairs months later.
Evidence to ask for: The escalation rule, the record of deferred tasks on a current site, and the recovery plan for each.
- Where does your scope stop?
Why it matters: Of course, a supplier that touches production equipment creates liability on both sides of the line.
Evidence to ask for: A written scope boundary. Ours stops at the production equipment line, with corrugate removal and recycling as the one named exception.
- What records would an auditor receive from you, and where does each live?
Why it matters: In other words, the records you cannot find at audit time are the ones a fragmented vendor base scatters.
Evidence to ask for: A one-page records map: completion records, access logs, training files, safety records, each with its system and retention period.
Five commercial and continuity questions before award
- Can you hand us the qualification record in one reply?
Why it matters: In short, a supplier that cannot assemble its own record is not ready for your portal.
Evidence to ask for: CAGE, UEI, NAICS, SAM status, safety metrics, and a capability statement, in one message. Ours is on the supplier qualification page.
- Which commercial model does your data support today, and which one next year?
Why it matters: After all, every structure past unit rate needs data the supplier either has or must build.
Evidence to ask for: A position against the O&M commercial models chart, plus the data it will collect in year one.
- What happens to your people and our records if we part ways?
Why it matters: Above all, exit is where site knowledge walks out and records go missing.
Evidence to ask for: A transition plan with named staff who stay through it and a records hand-back schedule.
- What reduction have you delivered for a client, against the client’s own target?
Why it matters: Of course, savings claims without a client-defined baseline are marketing.
Evidence to ask for: The share of client-defined reduction targets met (IH Services publishes 100 percent) and a reference under NDA.
- How long has your longest defense client stayed, and why?
Why it matters: In other words, retention is the only proof that year one did not oversell year three.
Evidence to ask for: Client retention rate (IH Services publishes 98 percent) and one renewal you can discuss. For example, a New York defense and aerospace client renewed in March 2026 for seven years.
How to score the answers when you qualify a facility services supplier
Score each question on evidence, not on the answer’s confidence. A number with a source scores full marks; a number without one scores half; an adjective scores nothing. Then, weight the first five questions heaviest. A good price cannot rescue a supplier that cannot work in your controlled spaces. After that, look for consistency. The roster in question two should match the departure records in question three and the access logs in question five.
Finally, keep the security answers out of the proposal. Clearance specifics belong in a conversation between your Facility Security Officer and theirs. So, a supplier that prints them is showing you how it handles sensitive information. For the regulatory background, the NISPOM at 32 CFR Part 117 sets the access rules these questions test.
Want the questions in a scoring sheet, or all twenty answered by IH Services for your site? Then use the contact page and name the site type. We reply with the record, the evidence, and the FSO’s contact for the rest.
Questions sourcing teams ask about how to qualify a facility services supplier
How many questions does it take to qualify a facility services supplier for a cleared site?
Twenty is enough to separate self-performing, cleared providers from brokers and commodity vendors, provided that every answer comes with evidence. The five security questions settle whether the supplier can work in your controlled spaces at all. The rest settle whether it will still be performing in year three.
What is the single most revealing question?
What share of hours on a current defense site do your own employees perform, as a number. A broker’s proposal and a self-performer’s proposal read the same; the hours do not. Likewise, a supplier that answers with adjectives instead of a percentage has told you its model.
Should the security questions go to the supplier’s sales team?
No. Ask for the Facility Security Officer by name and put the clearance questions to that person through your own security office. A supplier that routes security questions through sales, or prints clearance levels and counts in a proposal, is not handling the information well.
How does IH Services answer these twenty questions?
The same way we suggest you score them: with evidence. The qualification record, safety metrics, and proof points sit on the supplier qualification page. We state the pricing position on cleared staff plainly, and the security specifics go from our FSO to yours. In other words, you should not have to take anything on this page on faith.
Want all twenty answered for your site?
Tell us the site type and the portal you use. We send the qualification record, the evidence behind each answer, and the FSO’s contact for the security questions, within five business days.