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How to Get Security Contracts for My Company

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:

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.
  1. 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.
  1. 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.
  • 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.

Where to Find Security Contracts up for Bid

Security contracts up for bid: 3 things to remember

You may be wondering where you can find security contracts up for bid if you’re thinking about tendering for work. It’s no secret that searching for the right tender for your business can turn into a bit of a headache. Procurement can be confusing, particularly if you’ve never ventured into it before.

However, more and more organisations are tendering for work as they look to grow their business via alternative routes. The COVID-19 pandemic led to more businesses going down the procurement avenue. At the moment, companies can’t do business like they used to. No more networking lunches or face to face meetings.

There are a number of advantages to tendering for work. Winning tenders in the public sector can ensure guaranteed income and help you gain experience. The more experience you have, the bigger the contracts you are able to go for.

Where can I find security contracts up for bid?

You can find security contracts up for bid on thousands of sites across the UK. Searching for the right one for your business can turn into a full-time job. Often these websites will post other industry opportunities that aren’t even close to yours. They can be updated daily and it’s easy to get overwhelmed when searching for the right tender for your business.

5 things to bear in mind when searching for security contracts up for bid:

  1. Industry-specific portals

When searching for security contracts up for bid, you should be looking for a site that hosts industry-specific opportunities. This will save you a great deal of time. You don’t have to sift through all the irrelevant posts, trying to look for the right one.

  1. No reliance on CPV codes

Common Procurement Vocabulary (CPV) codes are often used to track opportunities. However, they are often mislabelled, resulting in missed opportunities. You will be able to find security contracts up for bid a lot more easily if you can search by keyword.

  1. Results you can filter

Wouldn’t life be easier if you could just filter relevant tenders by location, keyword and budget. This way, you will be able to find relevant security contracts up for bid in an instant. Customising and filtering the results enables you to find the perfect opportunity for your business. The best tender websites will have this as an option – streamlining the process.

  1. Email alerts to new opportunities

A good tendering website and portal will allow you to choose what areas you would like to tender. Daily emails can alert you to new security contracts up for bid posted that day. This can make things even easier, saving you more time to focus on your business.

  1. Access to an Account Manager

Using a site that includes access to an Account Manager can help you find security contracts up for bid. It’s nice to have someone who can talk you through the tendering process if you’re new to it. An Account Manager can advise you on the right security contracts for your business.

You’re able to find all of this on Facilities Tenders. Book a free live demo today to learn how we can grow your business.

3 things to remember when applying for security contracts up for bid 

  1. Changes to the training you need for an SIA licence 

The UK government has announced that there will be four changes to the training you need for an SIA licence. These changes are applicable for front line SIA licences:

  • On the 1st April 2021, they will introduce updated qualifications for all sectors except close protection and vehicle immobilisation.
  • From 1st April 2021, you must have a first aid qualification. Only then can you train for door supervision or security guard licences.
  • On the 1st October 2021, they will introduce updated close protection qualifications.
  • From 1st October 2021, you must have one of the new qualifications or take top-up training. This is applicable before you can apply for door supervisor and security guard licences, including renewals.
  1. Evidence

After identifying security contracts up for bid, you need to be sure that you’re eligible. Do you have enough evidence to demonstrate your experience? Having a bank of evidence can save you time when writing your response. You may be required to produce up to three case studies from within the last five years. These case studies should be examples of past contracts of work that are similar in scope and complexity.

Including testimonials from previous satisfied clients can strengthen your response. If the word count allows you could also include how you overcame any unexpected challenges. This allows you to demonstrate your problem-solving skills and that you are able to work under pressure.

Your case studies should be:

  • Thorough
  • Detailed
  • Demonstrating your businesses abilities
  • Well-developed
  • Include concrete evidence.
  1. Social value

It’s important to remember when tendering for public sector organisations that there’s a mandatory weighting on social value. The minimum weighting is 10%, but depending on the buyer, it can be as large as 30%. The government is focused on sustainable development and procurement. When completing your security tenders, you must consider the social, economic and environmental aspects.

Buyers want to see you making pledges that you can keep, so it isn’t something to be glossed over. Consider including the following in your next social value response:

  • Supporting COVID-19 recovery.
  • Reducing waste.
  • Encouraging recycling.
  • Creating new jobs or skills to tackle economic inequality.
  • Supporting equality and diversity.
  • The environmental considerations you have in place.

Need assistance?

Our Bid Writers at our sister company, Hudson Succeed, have over 60 years of collective bid writing experience. They are tender writing experts and boast an 87% bid success rate. Whether you’re completely new to tendering or aren’t seeing any success from your own tendering efforts – we can help!

We offer four bid writing services that can help you see success with your next tender.

Tender Mentor

If you’ve written previous security contracts up for bid, but aren’t seeing any success, Tender Mentor can help. Our Bid Writers will assess and proofread your response in line with the specification. They’ll notify you of any grammar or spelling mistakes before you submit.

Tender Writing

Have you found security contracts up for bid but don’t know where to start? You can send the specification over to our Bid Writers and they’ll take care of it all for you providing you will a full Tender Writing breakdown. They’ll write the response and even submit it on your behalf!

Tender Improvement

Have you been tendering for security contracts up for bid, but aren’t seeing any success? Our Tender Improvement package can help. During the course of the programme, our Bid Writing Team will assess your previous tender responses and supporting documents. They’ll provide you with feedback and guidance on how to improve for future tenders.

Tender Ready

Our Tender Ready 4-week programme is designed for businesses who have never tendered for work before. This programme works with you, ensuring you have everything in place to tender successfully. You’ll have access to an expert Bid Consultant who can help your business grow.

Below are previous security contracts up for bid that were sourced on our portal:

Homes England – Framework ESPO Call off Information Security Specialist

Homes England (the name adopted by the Homes and Communities Agency)- West Midlands- Budget: £144,000

25-02-2021

Invitation to Tender – Site Security Services

Eden Geothermal Limited- South West- Budget: Undisclosed

23-02-2021

Luton Council Security Patrol and Unlocking / Locking Services – QQ ‘ By Invitation Only’ under the Light Touch Regime (LTR) Schedule 3 of the PCR15 Regulations

Luton Council- Eastern- Budget: £500,000

18-02-2021

Provision of Security Guarding Services in Iraq

Foreign Commonwealth and Development Office- International- Budget: Undisclosed

25-02-2021

Mid Sussex DC & Horsham DC – Manned Security Services

Mid Sussex District Council- South East- Budget: Undisclosed

15-02-2021

Join Facilities Tenders

At Facilities Tenders, we source sector-specific tenders on a daily basis from thousands of buyers, across the UK.

We track opportunities for the following sub-sectors:

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

Want to save even more time?

Upgrading to Discover Elite can help optimise your tendering opportunities – even when you’re busy! Our two upgraded packages can improve your bidding success rate and competitor awareness. Each package is a time-saving tool that can help your business when searching for security contracts up for bid.

The Ultimate Time Saver package offers your business:

  • An annual subscription to a maximum of two Hudson Discover sector-specific portals. This option best suits a business that overlaps two industries such as Facilities and Logistics.
  • 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
  • Weekly phone calls with your on-hand Account Manager to discuss viable tendering opportunities.

The Become a Pre-Bid Master package includes:

  • 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.

Open Security Bids – 10 things to consider

10 things to consider when applying for open security bids

There are a number of things to consider when applying for open security bids. Firstly, you might be wondering what the difference is between open and closed tendering.

  1. The difference between an open and closed tender process:

Open Tender

If a tender is open, it means that it is open to all qualified and interested bidders. If there is an open security bid, then anyone can submit a response to the invitation to tender (ITT).

Closed Tender

A closed tender is when only specific parties are invited to submit a final bid response. This could be an ITT that’s only accessible for those who have passed the pre-qualification questionnaire (PQQ) stage. A closed tender gives buyers greater confidence that their requirements will be satisfied. A closed tender is more likely to be put out when there are more complex, or specialist contract needs. Due to this, only a limited number of businesses can meet these.

  1. Security Industry Authority (SIA)

For any open security bid, guards will need a Security Industry Authority (SIA) licence. They would need an SIA licence relevant to the nature of the job. For example, key holding, manned guarding or door supervision. The organisation will need to be registered with the SIA as well. The SIA is the organisation responsible for regulating the private security industry in the UK. They report to the Home Secretary under the Private Security Industry Act of 2001.

There are a number of licensable activities in which SIA licencing covers:

  • Public Space Surveillance (CCTV)
  • Security Guarding (SG)
  • Key Holding (KH)
  • Close Protection (CP)
  • Door Supervision (DS)
  • Cash and Valuables in Transit (CVIT)
  • Vehicle Immobilisation (VI)

There are two types of SIA licence:

  1. A front line licence

A front-line licence is a credit card-sized plastic card that must be worn, subject to the licence conditions. It’s required for those undertaking licensable activities other than key holding. It also covers non-front-line activities.

  1. A non-front-line licence

A non-front-line licence is a letter that can also cover key holding activities. It’s required for those who supervise, manage and/or employ individuals who engage in licensable activities as long as the front-line activity is not carried out.

  1. Qualifications and Accreditations

When applying for an open security bid, you might need to attach some additional qualifications and accreditations. These could be specific for the job at hand, for example:

  • ISO 9000
  • ISO 14001
  • ISO 45001
  • CHAS
  • SMAS
  • NSI
  • NASDU
  1. Types of open security bids:

Typically, buyers in the private and public sectors put out open security bids when they’re looking for services such as:

  • Manned Guarding Security
  • Technological solutions
  • Fire Marshals
  • Dog Handling
  • Access/Egress Systems

These services may be delivered across different sectors including events, housing and education.

  1. The specification

You must read the specification. This may seem obvious but it’s crucial. You need to understand exactly what the buyer requires. You also need to make sure you can provide every single aspect of it. If they’re asking for an SIA accreditation and you don’t have one, then there’s no point in applying. You don’t want to waste time and money responding to a tender when you don’t meet the criteria.

  1. Health & Safety

Buyers want to be confident that the security services you’re providing are carried out to the highest health and safety standards. Specific health and safety questions could ask how you handle risk, conflicts and your out of hours procedure. How do you keep up to date with new guidance? How do you communicate this to your staff? You need to convey that all of these are aligned with best practice.

  1. The competition

As with any tender, you’ve got to consider your competition. You want to convince the buyer that you’re the best person for the job. Why are you the best security provider? What’s your USP? What will you do that your competitors won’t?

  1. Past examples

Buyers will always ask for previous case studies in order to establish your experience. You must select the case studies that are most relevant to the services you are bidding for. For example, you’re bidding to provide Manned Guarding services to an educational institution. For this, you should use three previous examples of providing these services to other educational institutions.

  1. Structure

Some open security bids will have a structured approach. Others can have a free-flowing proposal. Sometimes buyers can give you a structure with word counts, others can simply ask for a proposal. With free-flowing proposals it’s worth considering the following:

  • Make sure your structure is clear and coherent. Signpost each section clearly. This will make it easier to read.
  • You shouldn’t rely on assumptions. You should give specific details and examples to assure the buyer that you’ve given it thought. Ambiguity can cost you. You don’t want the buyer to assume the wrong thing, so it’s best to be clear.
  • Demonstrate your capabilities. Discuss factors that clearly indicate your competence. Prove to them you are capable of delivering what they’re asking for.
  1. The advantages of tendering for work

Many SMEs find the procurement landscape daunting. If you’re unsure of the benefits, let’s look at some advantages to tendering.

Guaranteed pay

In the public sector, suppliers can benefit from guaranteed pay once winning a contract. Public organisations are contractually bound to pay the awarded supplier. Obviously, this is one of the biggest advantages when tendering for work.

If you’re an SME and think only the big businesses can win contracts, the government has a target to help. The UK government has set a target to see £1 in £3 spent with SMEs. This is good news if you’re an SME as it means public sector businesses are actively awarding contracts to smaller businesses.

Gain experience

When applying to tenders, you must provide relevant past case studies of your work. Tendering for contracts as part of dynamic purchasing systems (DPS) or framework agreements is an effective way of building experience. Once you have some of these under your belt, you can then progress onto larger contracts.

Make Contacts

You need to make contacts in order to gain experience. Building relationships will help you gain experience and work with more buyers. This will help you in the future as you’ll be able to impress buyers with your previous experience. It’s good to have a foundation of contacts that provide opportunities for collaboration and inter-trading.

Sustainability

Securing a place on a long-term framework or contract can give your business sustainability. Here at Hudson, we’ve helped clients secure four years of income just from one win. This is surely an attractive prospect for any business owner.

Here are some past examples of open security bids we have sourced:

Manned Guarding Security Services

NHS Grampian- Scotland- Budget: Undisclosed

31-08-2020

Provision of Manned Security Services at White Cross Business Park, Lancaster and Lancashire Business Park, Leyland – RFQ 15268418

Lancashire County Council- North West- Budget: £950,000

24-11-2020

Supply of Manned Security and Keyholding Services

Sanctuary Housing Group- West Midlands- Budget: Undisclosed

05-10-2020

Safer Streets: Home Security

BURNLEY BOROUGH COUNCIL- North West- Budget: £120,000

13-01-2021

GB-Barnet: Security SStoSH

Barnet Homes Ltd- London- Budget: £500,000

22-12-2020

So, you’ve found an open security bid that you’re wanting to go for. If you don’t know where to start, we can help. Our tendering experts at Hudson Succeed, are here to help your business grow. They offer four main services to help you with your open security bids. These are:

Tender Ready

A programme that’s perfect if you’re completely new to the tendering process.

Tender Writing

Our Bid Writers take care of the whole tendering process for you.

Tender Improvement

This service can help businesses who aren’t seeing successful results from their tendering efforts.

Tender Mentor

This can help you make sure your bid is the best it can possibly be. Our Bid Writers will provide feedback and guidance on a tender you’ve already written before you submit.

Find more open security bids via our sector-specific portal 

You don’t want to miss out on any opportunities for work due to mislabelled CPV codes. At Facilities Tenders, we source sector-specific opportunities via manual tracking. Our Opportunity Trackers manually search for the latest public and private sector security bid opportunities daily. They search through thousands of sources and upload them to our portal. This allows you to search for open security bids easily using filters to suit your needs. Be it budget, location or keyword.

When you sign up to Facilities Tenders, you’ll start receiving security bid opportunities straight to your inbox. You’ll have 24-hour access to our portal, and a dedicated Account Manager on hand to help. This saves you time and money, allowing you to get on with running your business.

Join Facilities Tenders

The security tenders on our portal include:

  • Events security
  • Manned guarding
  • Access control
  • Cark park attendants
  • CCTV
  • Intruder alarms
  • Out of hours security and more!

We also track opportunities for the following sub-sectors:

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