3 steps to help you get security contracts for your business

Have you been Googling terms such as “how to get security contracts for my company”? You aren’t alone with your dilemma. Tendering for work is a great route that can enable your business to grow. Security contracts can range from key holding to CCTV and manned guarding to patrols.

You may be wondering how to get security contracts for your company? Generally speaking, there are three steps to winning security contracts:

1. Knowing where to find security contracts that are up for tender.
2. Competitively pricing your services.
3. Knowing how to write a high-quality bid response.

Let’s assess these steps one by one.

Step 1: How to find security contracts for your company

Knowing where to find security contracts for your company can turn into a bit of a headache. There are thousands of sites across the UK that publish security tenders daily. Many of them require their own login and passwords and keeping track can turn into a full-time job.

Ideally, you should be looking for one site that posts industry-specific opportunities from across the UK. You want to be able to search for viable security contracts for your company, tailored to your needs.

Facilities Tenders is a portal that hosts all the live tendering opportunities within the facilities management industry. Gone are the days of relying on inaccurate CPV codes! Our Opportunity Trackers source and upload exclusive, public and private sector opportunities from across the UK. You’re able to filter and search the results by keyword, budget, location and more. This streamlines the process. It’s a good solution for when you’re asking yourself “how do I get security contracts for my company”.

Below are previous security contracts sourced on our portal:

Street Marshall Service – 29 March – 21 June 2021 for Allerdale BC

Allerdale Borough Council- North West- Budget: Undisclosed

Door Access System for Tamworth Enterprise Centre

Tamworth Borough Council- West Midlands- Budget: Undisclosed

West Alarm and CCTV Signalling and Monitoring

English Heritage- South West- Budget: Undisclosed

Barnet & Southgate College – Onsite Security Services

Barnet and Southgate College- London- Budget: Undisclosed

Invitation to Tender – Site Security Services

Eden Geothermal Limited- South West- Budget: Undisclosed

What makes Facilities Tenders different?

A 12-month subscription to Facilities Tenders offers your business access to all exclusive, private and public sector opportunities. An on-hand Account Manager will be able to answer any questions regarding how to get security contracts for your company. They’ll also be able to answer any queries you may have about the procurement and tendering process in general.

A daily email bulletin is sent straight to your inbox when new tenders are uploaded. The 12-month subscription also includes discounted support from Hudson Succeed, our bid writing division. Moreover, you’ll be entitled to 20-minutes of free tender consultancy with one of our Bid Consultants each month.

We also track opportunities for the following sub-sectors:

• Property Maintenance Contracts
• Solar Energy Contracts
• Electrical Testing Contracts
• Cemetery Contracts
• Grounds Maintenance Contracts
• Cleaning Contracts
• Facilities Management Tenders
• Window Cleaning Contracts
• Manned Security Tenders
• Landscape Design Tenders
• Grass Cutting Contracts.

Book a free live demo today to learn how we can grow your business!

Step 2: Price your bid right

You want to make sure that you don’t try to undercut your competitors on price when tendering for security contracts. The cheapest bid does not win if tendering for public sector contracts. Buyers will be expecting the prices you put in your bid to be fixed and final. You want to price your services competitively, but pricing too low will raise suspicion. Pricing your services too low may lead the buyer to question your company’s legitimacy.

If tendering for a private sector contract, the cheapest bid may well win. The private sector isn’t constrained by the same rules and requirements the public sector is. The public sector can’t award a bid simply on price. They have to award it to the most economically advantageous tender, known as the MEAT. The MEAT seeks out the most value for money.

A public sector buyer will evaluate a range of factors, including:

• COVID-19 recovery
• Accessibility
• Technical ability
• Customer service
• Ability to deliver on time
• Innovation
• Environmental considerations
• Equality and diversity policies
• Sustainability.

A buyer may assess these factors, and others, individually or combined. Each buyer will have different requirements, so it’s best to give the tender specification documents a thorough read through.

Step 3: Write a high-quality written response for security tenders

Buyers will be expecting a high-quality written tender response. The quality of your writing is important, no matter the weighting. Even if the quality section is weighted less than cost, you should still aim for the best score possible.

You should aim to keep your response:

• Clear and concise
• Assertive and persuasive, not descriptive
• As close to the word or page count as possible.

3 things you can expect from security contracts

1. Qualifications and accreditations

You will be expected to hold a range of qualifications and accreditations when tendering for security contracts. The security industry faces high risks. Contractors like to know that your business and employees are up to date on the relevant policies and regulations. They want to be reassured that you have completed relevant training and your security company demonstrates best practice. These could include:

• SIA Licenses
• CHAS
• NSI
• ISO 9001; 14001; 18001; 27001; 45001
• CyberEssentials
• SMAS
• NASDU.

2. Evidence

Buyers will always ask for previous evidence and examples of past contracts you have carried out. They want to be reassured that you are capable of fulfilling the contracts and have experience. You may be required to provide up to three case studies carried out within the last three or five years.

These case studies should be similar in scope and work of a similar calibre. You may want to consider:

• Your experience on a project of a similar scale.
• How you mobilised and delivered the contract.
• The challenges you encountered and how you overcame them, demonstrating problem-solving skills and flexibility.
• If you completed the contract on time and in budget.

Depending on the word count, you may also consider adding a positive testimonial from a previous satisfied client. A glowing testimonial will give your response an added edge over your competitors, increasing the buyer’s confidence in your company.

Your case studies should be:

• Relevant
• Detailed
• Thorough
• Well-developed
• Include concrete evidence
• Demonstrate your company’s abilities.

3. Health and Safety

As mentioned above, the security industry comes with risks. Buyers should be confident that the security services you’re providing are carried out to the highest health and safety standards. You should ask yourself and detail:

• How do you keep up to date with new guidance?
• How do you communicate this to your staff?
• What health and safety practices do you have in place?
• How do your staff receive training?
• How do you safeguard your employees and members of the public?

In your response, you must convey that all of these are aligned with best practice to win security contracts for your company. You may be required to provide a risk assessment. You may also be asked how you handle risks, conflicts and your out of hours procedure.

Need assistance?

We understand that writing a tendering response doesn’t come naturally to a lot of people, and that’s ok. It can be confusing keeping up with various procurement terminology and navigating through tendering specification documents for security contracts. You may not have the time, money or resources to write a winning response in-house. Outsourcing to bid writing experts can help you get the most out of your security company. They can help you write, or completely take over writing, a winning tender response for you.

Our sister company, Hudson Succeed, have an 87% success rate and over 60 years of collective bid writing experience. They offer four levels of bid writing support that can help increase your chances of success. Whether you’re completely new to the tendering process, or even if you’ve tendered before, they can help via:

1. A Tender Ready programme
2. The Tender Improvement package
3. Tender Writing services
4. Tender Mentor

Hopefully, these three steps can help you if you’re asking yourself “how to get security contracts for my company”.

Want to save even more time?

Upgrading to Discover Elite allows you to identify tendering opportunities – even when you’re busy. Our two upgraded packages can improve your competitor awareness and bidding success rate. Each can help save you even more time when searching for security contracts for your business.

The Ultimate Time Saver package offers your business:

• An annual subscription to a maximum of two Hudson Discover sector-specific portals. This option can help businesses that overlap two industries such as Facilities and Logistics, for example.
• A maximum of five tender breakdowns per month.
• Pre-market and award engagement notices monitored on your behalf.
• Buyer portal management, including registration, password management, downloading documents and assessing viability based on your bid or no-bid strategy.
• Weekly phone calls with your Account Manager to discuss viable tendering opportunities.

The Become a Pre-Bid Master package offers your business:

• All of the above.
• Up to seven tender breakdowns per month.
• A Bid Strategy delivered by a Senior Bid Manager with a minimum of 5 years of experience. It will also be managed by our Global Bid Director.

Contact us to find out how we can help your business grow.