ISSA Announces First Group of CIMS-Green Building-Certified Organizations

18 Additional Organizations Recognized for Achieving Traditional CIMS Certification

Lincolnwood, IL, USA, October 22, 2009 — ISSA, the worldwide cleaning industry association, is pleased to announce the first 12 organizations to achieve certification to both the ISSA Cleaning Industry Management Standard (CIMS) and the recently introduced CIMS-Green Building (CIMS-GB) criteria.

CIMS-GB, which serves as an optional sixth dimension of CIMS, offers cleaning organizations a certification that is closely tailored to provide customers with precisely what they need to secure points under the LEED for Existing Buildings: Operations and Maintenance (LEED-EBOM) Green Building Rating System, while greening operations overall. Accordingly, CIMS-GB certification demonstrates an organization's capability to assist customers in achieving LEED-EBOM points and offers customers assurance that the organization they select is prepared to partner with them in the LEED process.

"ISSA congratulates the pioneer organizations who are the first to achieve CIMS-GB certification and have, therefore, demonstrated a commitment to delivering environmentally preferable cleaning service," said Dan Wagner, ISSA Director of Facility Service Programs. "Not only do these organizations represent the professional cleaning industry as companies of operational excellence, they depict a commitment to sustainability and providing added value to their customers."

The first group of organizations to achieve CIMS and CIMS-GB certification includes ... Bravo! Group Services, Piscataway, NJ.

In general, CIMS-GB is an optional designation under the CIMS program umbrella and those organizations that wish to achieve GB certification are required to also undergo an assessment to the traditional CIMS management criteria.

In addition to the 12 organizations who achieved both CIMS and CIMS-GB certification, 18 cleaning organizations were recently recognized at the ISSA/INTERCLEAN® North America 2009 tradeshow in Chicago, IL for certifying to the traditional CIMS criteria. All 30 organizations were recognized as part of a "CIMS Certification Ceremony" immediately prior to Mike Ditka’s feature presentation at the show.

"The CIMS Certification Program continues to grow, indicating that the cleaning industry’s need for a consensus-based, non-prescriptive management standard is well served,” noted Wagner. “Further, we continue to see that more end-users require certification to be eligible to be awarded a cleaning service contract, including Region One of the U.S. General Services Administration and the Commonwealth of Massachusetts, which recently made CIMS certification a requirement in their statewide contract."

With the addition of these companies, the total number of CIMS-certified cleaning organizations has reached 48.

About CIMS & CIMS-GB

CIMS applies to management, operations, performance systems, and processes. Compliance with the Standard demonstrates that an organization is structured to deliver consistent, quality services designed to meet the customer’s needs and expectations. It sets forth processes, procedures, and supporting documentation proven to be characteristic of customer-driven organizations. Given that CIMS is non-prescriptive, each organization has the flexibility to choose the most effective ways in which to meet its requirements.

The new CIMS-GB dimension focuses on the delivery of environmentally preferable cleaning service and offers organizations a certification that is closely tailored to provide customers with precisely what they need to secure points under the LEED for Existing Buildings: Operations and Maintenance (LEED-EBOM) Green Building Rating System, while greening operations overall.

The Standard and GB criteria were created through a true consensus-based process that brought together representatives of the cleaning, facilities-management, and purchasing communities. In total, more than 100,000 constituents were represented in the process, which included a full peer review and was administered by ISSA and the American Institute for Cleaning Sciences.

About Certification

To become CIMS- and CIMS-GB-certified, an organization must submit written documentation supporting its compliance with the requirements described in the sections of the Standard. An independent, accredited assessor then conducts an on-site review of the applicant’s systems, processes, and documentation to ensure compliance. To achieve certification, an organization must meet 100 percent of the mandatory elements and 60 percent of the recommended elements, per section.

About ISSA

The leading trade association for the cleaning industry worldwide, ISSA has a membership that includes more than 5,500 distributor, manufacturer, manufacturer representative, building service contractor, in-house service provider, and associated service members. ISSA offers the industry’s largest cleaning shows in conjunction with Amsterdam RAI under the brand name ISSA/INTERCLEAN®, the popular Web site www.issa.com, educational products, industry standards, periodicals, and legislative and regulatory services that specifically focus on the professional cleaning industry.

The association is headquartered in Lincolnwood, IL, USA, with regional offices in Amsterdam, Netherlands; Leicester, United Kingdom; Monterrey, México; Singapore; and Shanghai, China. ISSA also works with more than 75 associations, alliances, and government agencies around the world to represent the cleaning industry. For more information, visit www.issa.com.