1970s: BSCAI Makes Big Moves

The travelling Supervision Seminar was a popular event in the 1970s, and an updated version is still offered today.

The 1970s were met with optimism and progress from the industry. In fact, the National Association of Building Service Contractors (NABSC) entered the decade calling it the “Dawn of a New Era,” and it was.  

During the early 1970s, NABSC looked to expand outside the U.S. and officially changed their name to Building Service Contractors Association – International (BSCA-I), although it was most commonly known simply as BSCA. 

The association was also growing quickly, which resulted in the relocation of the Washington, D.C. headquarters to Virginia. It was there that BSCA leaders prioritized the implementation of professional standards in the contracting industry.  

In 1976, BSCA launched its Certified Building Services Executive standard (CBSE) certification, which was open to applicants with a minimum of five years of field experience, with three of those years being in a management position. Association founder James Purcell was named as the first certified building service contractor, but he was quickly followed by roughly 60 other experts that first year.  

After two years of growing member interest in education, the association introduced a second standard, the Registered Building Service Manager (RBSM), which would formally recognize managers and supervisors with a high degree of expertise. This, too, was a success as more than 25 managers and supervisors graduated in the first class.  

The initial goal was that every association member would have at least one person on staff with the CBSE and RBSM designation. Throughout the rest of the 1970s and into the decades that followed, BSCs were tested by the thousands.   

Meanwhile, training and education continued to be in high demand as the decade continued, which led BSCA to launch the Supervision Seminar, a traveling training opportunity that would educate leaders on how to handle staffing issues. The event took place in cities across the country and was held upwards of 15 times a year. 

By 1979, BSCA had gained a lot of attention and included members from roughly 25 different countries. The board felt there was a need to “increase the exchange of information between contract cleaning firms worldwide.” BSCA took the leadership role in forming the World Federation of Building Service Contractors (WFBSC), with then-BSCA president David Meiers as its first president. The first World Congress was held that same year in Berne, Switzerland. Of the 138 attendees, more than a third were BSCA members.