Last week I had the pleasure to sit in on a bid meeting with Hines Real Estate Investments. Our 3 year contract with them had expired and it was time to put in a new bid to clean their buildings. We had the first meeting because of our past work history with Hines but other building solutions companies were to follow after us. Hines manages Mayo Clinic Square, Wells Fargo Center, U.S. Bank Plaza, 50 South Sixth, International Plaza, and a new building in the early stages of development called T3. The entire portfolio of properties totals around 4 million square feet and is extremely important to our northern branch. Before the meeting, we worked around the clock to develop individual powerpoints for each location detailing our existing staffing model vs. our proposed model, pricing summary/base wage, equipment summary, and a 2016 look ahead. The meeting took place in the auditorium of U.S. Bank Plaza. I was just one of seven employees from around the Minnesota region from ABM that attended the meeting. Overall I thought the proposal went well besides some minor misunderstandings concerning the language of our information. It was an exceptional experience and I hope I can participate in future bid meetings.
