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Government facilities are expected to expand their use of cleaning chemicals by 5 percent annually through 2014. Government will spend $285 million annually on industrial and institutional cleaning chemicals by 2014, up from $223 million in 2009, according to the Freedonia Group’s “Industrial & Institutional Cleaning Chemicals to 2014” market report. The Freedonia Group is a Cleveland-based international business research company that publishes more than 100 industry research studies annually.

The top spend categories for cleaning chemicals in government are disinfectants and sanitizers, floor care products, laundry detergents and vehicle wash products.

The Freedonia report explains, “Growing public concern related to the transmission of infectious diseases in environments with high population densities, such as overcrowded prisons, will spur demand for antimicrobial cleaning products. In addition, the anthrax scare in the early years of the decade highlighted the vulnerability of government and military facilities to bioterrorist attacks, and has hastened development of new value-added disinfectants and other cleaning products.”

Yes, floor maintenance products, general cleaners and disinfectants are big spend categories in government facilities. The report notes, “Due to the large areas and variety of surfaces in many of these facilities, multifunctional and durable products are generally favored. In floor care, ultra high speed (UHS) floor burnishing and compatible floor care products are popular due to the large hard surface floor spaces (e.g., meeting rooms and wide hallways) found in many military and government buildings.”

Freedonia analysts report that Diversey, Ecolab, NCH, Spartan Chemical, State Industrial Products and Zep are among the companies that supply cleaning chemicals to government facilities, including prisons. Some of the companies are listed in Government Product News’ latest online “Government Product Guide.” The cleaning supplies listing is here.

Albany, N.Y.-based BidNet offers additional proof that government agencies are active buyers of cleaning chemicals. Over the past three months, BidNet has received 43 requests for bids for cleaning supplies and related products from 19 state and local governments and three federal agencies. The bid requests cover the following products: janitorial, custodial cleaning supplies, cleaning services, products for dry carpet cleaning and products for cleaning of mass transit vehicles.

BidNet is a provider of government business intelligence, delivering actionable data to clients across the U.S. The firm tracks government buying and planning at local, state and federal levels.

Lincolnwood, Ill.-based ISSA, a global trade group focused on cleaning, keeps tabs on various markets, including the government market for cleaning products.

"Government purchasers of cleaning products and supplies are becoming more sophisticated as they seek innovative and more environmentally preferable solutions,” says ISSA Facilities Services Director Dan Wagner. “Further, as procurement professionals better understand and appreciate the crucial role that cleaning plays in protecting against public threat outbreaks, they will increasingly treat cleaning not as a cost to be minimized, but rather as an investment in facility assets, occupant health and the environment.”

Wagner says many governmental entities are relying on third-party certification programs to ensure that the products and services they are employing meet their needs. “For example, the U.S. Army Medical Command requires all cleaning service providers to be certified to ISSA's Cleaning Industry Management Standard (CIMS) and, in some cases, CIMS-Green Building criteria," Wagner says.

ISSA is a worldwide community of more than 5,900 distributor, manufacturer, building service contractor, in-house service provider and manufacturer representative companies. It has a web-based Buyers’ Guide with company information.