Executive Summary
In many large organizations, individual sites handle their own facilities management (FM) —things like maintenance, cleaning, and building upkeep. On the surface, this feels practical. In reality, it creates a mess: too many suppliers, inconsistent service quality, and no clear picture of what’s actually being spent across the business.
The obvious fix is to bring FM under one roof through an integrated model. But most procurement teams hit a wall fast: the data is patchy, site teams are often protective of their turf, and the whole thing stalls before it starts.
This bulletin makes the case for a smarter path forward called unified facilities management (UFM). Instead of waiting until you have perfect data, UFM gets the sourcing process moving with what you already have. Suppliers are brought in early to help fill the gaps through their own due diligence, and a 90-day transition period after contract award gives everyone time to get the baseline right, without grinding site operations to a halt.
The payoff is real: procurement teams using this approach have seen cost savings of 8%–15% in North America and 5%–12% in EMEA, based on GEP’s client engagements.
The bulletin also tackles the two roadblocks that derail most FM transformations — inconsistent data and resistant stakeholders — and offers practical ways to work through both. It shares eight concrete best practices to help procurement teams actually execute, not just plan.
The bottom line: you don't need perfect conditions to make this work. You need the right approach.
FAQs
Unified facilities management (UFM) is a sourcing approach that brings fragmented facilities services together across multiple sites without waiting for perfect data. Rather than stalling sourcing events, UFM works with whatever data is available, includes a supplier-led due diligence, and brings stakeholders into the process early. This maintains the momentum from sourcing through awarding the contract. The result is a more consistent and standardized approach to facilities management operations that organizations can actually build on.
When facilities management is managed site by site as is the case with decentralized operations, the problems compound quickly. Supplier bases fragment, service levels vary from one location to the next, and spend visibility becomes very difficult to maintain. Without standardized governance and data, procurement teams find it challenging to leverage organizational scale for better rates and deals; and performance management remains reactive rather than strategic.
Unified facilities management generates both measurable cost savings and operational improvements by consolidating suppliers, standardizing maintenance practices, and introducing predictive maintenance capabilities. Organizations in North America have documented savings of 8%–15% while those in EMEA have seen 5%–12%, based on results from GEP’s client engagements.