by Brianna Crandall — August 24, 2018 — Facility solutions provider ABM announced several new contracts this summer to provide various types of facility services to Chicago’s iconic Navy Pier, school districts in three states, and a hospital campus in Louisiana. What these contracts entail and what the facilities hope to accomplish by outsourcing these services is highlighted below.
Navy Pier, Chicago, IL
ABM was contracted to provide parking services to Navy Pier, one of the top-attended destinations in the Midwest. Under the agreement, ABM will provide parking management services for Navy Pier’s onsite parking facilities, comprising more than 1,500 parking spaces in total, as well as support in implementation of planned updates to parking revenue control equipment and signage within the facilities.
Located on Lake Michigan, Navy Pier is one of the leading nonprofit cultural destinations in the Midwest, stretching more than six city blocks and welcoming more than 9 million guests annually. Now in its second century, the Pier is in the midst of a bold, multiyear redevelopment project that has resulted in the opening of the iconic Centennial Wheel, the 13-acre Polk Bros Park, and most recently, the new Fifth Third Bank Family Pavilion, featuring dozens of options in dining, retail, entertainment and attractions. The Pier has yet to unveil its Peoples Energy Welcome Pavilion this August, a 220-room hotel in 2020, among other exciting new renovations to its more than 50 acres of parks, restaurants, attractions, retail shops, sightseeing and dining cruise boats, exposition facilities and more.
Arnold Klauber, SVP of Parking, ABM, stated:
Navy Pier is an integral part of the fabric of Chicago. We are excited to partner with this popular Midwest destination to help make the guest experience more seamless, and leverage our industry expertise to meet the unique demands of their operations.
Brian Murphy, chief operating officer (COO), Navy Pier, commented:
As the People’s Pier, Navy Pier remains committed to finding ways to continue enhancing its guest experience and delivering quality service across the board, from arrival to departure. We look forward to working with ABM, a parking solutions provider with a proven track record in successfully managing large-scale facilities, and utilizing their resources and expertise to improve the parking and overall guest experience at the Pier.
For more information about ABM Parking Services, visit the company’s website.
Huntley Community School District 158, IL
Huntley Community School District 158 in Illinois awarded ABM a custodial contract for its five elementary schools, two middle schools and one high school, spread across three campuses.
For the last decade, Huntley has been one of the fastest-growing school districts in Illinois. The district employs 1,400 staff members who provide leading educational opportunities to 9,600+ children in pre-kindergarten through 12th grade. As part of ABM’s custodial services, the team will implement a new cleaning system that uses electrolyzed water to replace the standard cleaning chemicals. This new system will enhance the overall sustainability factor within the district and promote the use of a green cleaning custodial program.
ABM Education Business Development Manager Joe Koselleck remarked:
We are thrilled to welcome Huntley Community School District 158 to the ABM family of over 45 school systems in the Illinois market. The ABM local and regional management teams will work diligently to implement the service transition this summer and focus on a long-term partnership with the school district and the community stakeholders to provide a healthier, more environmentally-friendly learning environment for the children and staff.
Huntley’s Director of Operations and Maintenance Doug Renkosik stated:
The school district has a high level of expectations and standards for the custodial services in our district. We feel very confident in our selection of ABM and look forward to the development of an excellent custodial program.
ABM partners with its clients to create a cleaner, healthier and more attractive learning environment for 500+ K-12 school systems, colleges and universities throughout the US. ABM’s facility services expertise includes custodial services, energy management, maintenance services, parking, landscaping and more. For more information about ABM Education Services, visit the company’s website.
Portland Public Schools in Portland, MI
ABM was also awarded a multiyear contract to provide custodial and groundskeeping services for Portland Public Schools in Portland, Michigan.
The ABM Education team will maintain the interior and exterior grounds of the transportation facility and the five schools — two elementary schools, a middle school, a high school, and an alternative education facility — that make up the school district.
ABM Education Senior Vice President of Operations Tom Martin said of the partnership:
We are excited to partner with the Portland Public School district and expand our presence in mid-Michigan. We plan to increase savings for the school district through product purchase and inventory control, while providing a clean, healthy environment for the 2,000+ students and staff of Portland Public Schools.
Portland Public Schools Superintendent William Heath stated:
Since joining PPS in 2016, I have been focused on driving fiscal responsibility and expanding the opportunities for our students and staff with new technology, programs and processes. The passage of the bond extension in May, coupled with our new partnership with ABM — a best-in-class provider of custodial services throughout the US, will help ensure a safe and clean environment for those we serve well into the future.
For more information about ABM Education Services, visit the company’s website.
Lowndes County School System, Valdosta, GA
In addition, ABM initiated an Energy Performance Contracting program for Lowndes County Schools in Valdosta, Georgia. ABM’s customized solution is projected to save Lowndes County Schools more than $13.6 million in energy and operating costs over a 15-year period, which the school system will utilize to make facility upgrades and put more funding toward building a new high school. The project launched in June 2018 and is scheduled for completion in June 2019.
Energy and operations savings will be achieved by implementing lighting, HVAC (heating, ventilation and air-conditioning) and control upgrades at each of the school system’s facilities. The upgrades are expected to save Lowndes County Schools approximately $800,000 in energy and operating costs in the first year, which will climb during the life of the program.
The infrastructure at seven of Lowndes County School System’s facilities is aging or near the end of its lifespan, according to ABM. In addition, the school system plans to demolish and rebuild half of Lowndes High School. The project allows the school system to dedicate more funding to the high school project, while using the guaranteed energy savings to fund the other facilities’ upgrades.
ABM’s Energy Performance Contracting program will enable the school system to make these upgrades without impacting its capital budget. The program is designed as a financial solution to meet clients’ technical facility needs and sustainability goals. The goal is to drive costs out of a client’s operating budget, allowing savings to be reallocated to fund mission-critical facility needs. ABM plans to use the project to invest in the community by using local contractors to handle the majority of the school system’s equipment installations.
Highlights of the energy efficiency improvements at Lowndes County School System’s facilities include:
- Retrofitting lighting systems to energy-efficient LED lighting at five schools, the Parker Mathis Learning Center, the Board of Education, and the bus shop and maintenance buildings;
- Rejuvenating HVAC units at seven facilities, which will be controlled by state-of-the-art HVAC control systems to maximize energy and operational efficiency;
- Incorporating refrigeration management programs and installing high-efficiency hand dryers at six of the school system’s buildings; and
- Upgrading ventilation systems at Lowndes County High School and Hahira Middle School, and sealing building envelopes at nine facilities.
For more information on ABM’s Energy Performance Contracting program and to watch a video on how ABM is providing facility and financial solutions to school districts without upfront costs or tax increases, visit online.
Ochsner Medical Center, Ochsner Elmwood Hospital, and Ochsner’s post-acute care facility, LA
Lastly, ABM was contracted to provide facility services including environmental services for Ochsner Medical Center, Ochsner Elmwood Hospital, and Ochsner’s post-acute care facility on their West Campus in southeast Louisiana. Under this agreement, which covers acute and post-acute care facilities comprising approximately 850 beds in total, ABM will also identify key performance indicators (KPIs) and track performance against them via a customized and mutually agreeable dashboard, to quantify the impact of environmental services on the patient experience at the facilities.
Infection prevention practices are paramount in today’s healthcare environment. ABM says its environmental services experts undergo rigorous training in chemicals handling, safety, equipment, systems, and processes along with customer service training; they offer quality and safety performance, and help clients meet the stringent infection prevention standards set forth by regulatory oversight organizations such as the Department of Health, CDC, Joint Commission, and OSHA.
Ochsner is described as the largest private not-for-profit healthcare system in southeast Louisiana and the surrounding region, encompassing 30 owned, managed and affiliated hospitals and over 85 health centers. Ochsner is recognized among the Top Hospitals in the nation by US News & World Report, Truven Health Analytics and cares for patients from all 50 states and more than 60 countries worldwide each year.
ABM’s award-winning Healthcare group partners with hospitals, healthcare systems, senior living communities, and medical facilities to improve the patient, resident, and guest experiences through environmental services, housekeeping, facilities management (FM), food and nutrition, dining, healthcare technology management, laundry and linen, patient transportation, patient sitter/companion, and parking and guest services. ABM Healthcare’s specialists focus on delivering the highest standard of care, while reducing operational costs, improving HCAHPS scores, and maximizing resources.
ABM’s Healthcare group comprises hundreds of dedicated individuals, including a number of Certified Patient Experience experts (CPXP), credentialed through a leading provider of certification and programs for Healthcare Patient Experience. ABM’s on-site account team at Ochsner Medical Center includes two dedicated Patient Experience Managers.
As of 2018, the Patient Experience Dashboard is offered as a standard component of all ABM environmental services agreements offered.
For more information on ABM’s offerings for the Healthcare industry, visit the company’s website.
