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10 Things to Expect from Fire Alarm Maintenance Tenders

Fire alarm maintenance tenders and how to succeed

Fire alarm maintenance tenders are constantly being released by buyers in both the private and public sectors. Due to health and safety requirements, every building must have a fire detection system installed. This means that fire alarm maintenance services are needed across the board in residential, commercial and industrial buildings.

Fire alarm maintenance tenders can be used by contractors to procure fire alarm, fire systems and fire protection devices for:

  • Service
  • Testing
  • Inspection
  • Installation
  • Repair
  • Replacement
  • Maintenance.

Tenders are typically split into two sections: quality and price. The quality criteria are often split into different sections that are evaluated.

10 things you can expect from fire alarm maintenance tenders

  1. Providing your organisation’s information

You will always need to detail your organisation and contact details at the first stage of fire alarm maintenance tenders. You can expect to include your company’s registration and VAT number as well as contact details.

  1. Mobilisation plan

For this section, you can expect to detail how your organisation would achieve mobilisation in time for the commencement date. You will likely need to include how your organisation will manage any transition period if applicable during the contract. 

  1. The technical ability of staff

You can expect to detail the technical ability of your staff and the management structure you have in place. This may include staff CV’s or detailing their professional accreditations and qualifications. You may need to detail the reporting lines within your organisation to support the successful performance of the contract.

  1. Training

Buyers for fire alarm maintenance tenders may want you to describe your company’s approach to staff training. This is because they want to know that they are up to date with all requirements and demonstrate best practice.

  1. Service levels and performance

A common section within fire alarm maintenance tenders is service levels and performance. This will likely include how you would ensure emergency call out times are managed and adhered to.

Moreover, a contractor may require you to demonstrate an efficient and fully auditable process for detailing the work. You may need to include the entire work order process from ordering through to invoicing. This will likely include work order, quotations and invoicing.

  1. Contract monitoring

Contract monitoring is another section that you can expect to find within your fire alarm maintenance tender. You will likely need to provide and demonstrate your business’ standard reports you would propose to the buyer using. This covers areas such as health and safety incidents, Key Performance Indicators and jobs and service delivery.

  1. Health and safety

Of course, health and safety are to be expected in almost every tender. In this section, you will need to detail that you hold a recognised health and safety management system. For example, OHSAS 18001, ISO 45001 or equivalent, providing a copy to the buyer. Along with health and safety, you can expect to detail your risk assessments too.

  1. Environmental management and added value

Environmental management and added value are an increasingly important section of a bid. If tendering in the public sector, you can expect a minimum 10% weighting on social value. This means that you must detail the social, economic and environmental aspects when fulfilling a contract. These promises are contractually obliging, so you want to ensure you’re making promises you can keep. These could range from:

  • Aiding COVID-19 recovery
  • Paying staff National Living Wage to tackle economic inequality
  • Employing local labour or appointing apprentices to tackle unemployment
  • Tackling carbon emissions
  • Reducing waste
  • Equal opportunity and diversity policies.

You could include a copy of your environmental management systems certificate such as ISO 14001 or equivalent. Moreover, a buyer is looking at how a potential supplier can bring added value to the contract. This could include the integration of new technology, the use of local labour force and so on.

  1. References

References will be required when writing your fire alarm maintenance tender. These are often referred to as case studies. You can be asked to provide up to three past case studies within the last three to five years. These previous contracts could be from either or both the public and private sector.

You should keep your case studies relevant to the project at hand. You should choose examples that are similar in scope, complexity and location where possible. The case studies should demonstrate your company’s technical capability in the market.

  1. Financial standing

Your business’s economic financial standing will be assessed when you’re applying for tenders. It is often assessed as pass or fail and is assessed on three aspects of your business:

  • Annual turnover
  • Financial ratios
  • Insurance.

Need assistance when writing your next fire alarm maintenance tender?

We know how busy you are when running your own business. Buyer will always expect and look for a high-quality written response when they release a tender. Sometimes you just don’t have the time or resources in house to write a winning response. Outsourcing your next bid to tender writing experts can help you secure a pipeline of work for your business.

Our sister company Hudson Succeed, have over 60 years of bid writing experience and an 87% success rate. They offer four bid writing support services that can help you win more fire alarm maintenance tenders. Whether you’ve never tendered before or need your response proofread before you submit – we can help.

Tender Writing

Once you’ve found the perfect tender for your business, why not send it over to us? Our Bid Writers can take care of it all for you. They’ll let you know what they need from you, providing you with a full Tender Writing breakdown. They’ll even submit it on your behalf.

Tender Ready

Our Tender Ready programme is perfect for those who have never tendered before. A Bid Writer will work with you to make sure you have everything you need in place to tender successfully. The 4-week programme offers your business:

  • A 12-month subscription to Facilities Tenders
  • Access to Global Bid Directors and Senior Bidding professionals
  • An organisation-wide Bid Library, including 3 case studies, 5 CV’s and 8 policies
  • Additional flexible benefit options.

Tender Improvement

If you’ve been tendering but aren’t seeing the results you want, our Tender Improvement package can help. The Bid Team will assess your previous responses and tender documents, working with you to improve for future submissions. This package includes a 12-month subscription to Facilities Tenders and additional tendering development services.

Tender Mentor

If you’ve written your tender response and need someone to double-check it for errors, Tender Mentor can help. Our Bid Team will proofread your work for any inconsistencies, grammar or spelling mistakes. They’ll also ensure that it’s in line with the specification before you submit it.

Where can I find fire alarm maintenance tenders for my business?

Knowing where to find fire alarm maintenance tenders can take a lot of time out of your day. There are hundreds of websites posting multi-sector opportunities. Each requiring their own portals, logins and passwords – keeping track can turn into a full-time job! Luckily for you, we have a solution.

Enter…Facilities Tenders!

Facilities Tenders is one, easy-to-navigate portal that hosts all facilities management tendering leads and opportunities. Gone are the days of relying on inaccurate CPV codes that can result in missed opportunities. Our Opportunity Trackers manually source and upload tenders from hundreds of websites.

You’re able to search all exclusive, public and private sector opportunities from across the UK. You are able to filter the results by keyword, location, budget and more. This allows you to find the perfect fire alarm maintenance tenders for your company, streamlining the process.

Below are previous fire alarm maintenance tenders sourced on our portal:

Fire Systems Maintenance Services

London Borough of Bromley- London- Budget: £540,000

Fire Safety Maintenance Contract

Almond Housing Association- Scotland- Budget: £90,000

Fire Safety & Maintenance 2021

Irwell Valley Homes- North West- Budget: £125,000

GB-St Leonards on Sea: Fire Alarm Maintenance

East Sussex Healthcare NHS Trust- South East- Budget: £50,000

Oldbury Fire Systems Maintenance Reference number: MX-OLD-FIRE2021

Sellafield- West Midlands- Budget: Undisclosed

A subscription to Facilities Tenders offers your business:

  • Access to all exclusive, public and private sector opportunities within the facilities management industry.
  • An on-hand Account Manager is available to answer any questions you may have about fire alarm maintenance tenders. They can help you understand the procurement process and answer any questions you have about the tendering process in general.
  • A daily email bulletin sent straight to your inbox when new, sector-specific opportunities are uploaded.
  • Discounted support from Hudson Succeed, our bid writing division.
  • 20-minutes of free 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!

Want to save even more time?

Upgrading to Discover Elite allows you to identify tender 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 fire alarm maintenance tenders.

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.

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.

School Maintenance Contracts Explained

School maintenance contracts and where to find them

School maintenance contracts often involve maintaining and updating an inventory of equipment and building fixtures within a school premises. These duties require service contracts as educational institutions often look to outsourcing the works or services.

School maintenance contracts can cover a wide range of services. These could include:

The tendering process

Tendering for school maintenance contracts generally follows a standard process. You will often need to complete a pre-qualification questionnaire (PQQ) or a selection questionnaire (SQ). This is a preliminary stage that establishes if you meet the necessary minimum eligibility criteria. It’s usually a box-ticking exercise that generally asks for the following information:

  • Company information
  • Subcontractor information
  • Economic and financial standing
  • Health and safety policy and risk assessment
  • Grounds for mandatory exclusion
  • Non-collusion statement
  • Equality and diversity policy
  • Environmental policy
  • Modern Slavery policy.

Once you have passed this initial stage, you’ll be shortlisted and sent an invitation to tender (ITT). This is called a closed tender. This stage requires you to write your tender responses to the buyer’s questions. The tender documents will contain information such as:

  • A buyer profile – detailing the buyer’s overall missions and objectives.
  • The award criteria – detailing how the tender is awarded and evaluated.
  • Specification – an in-depth document detailing what’s required.
  • Separate appendices – these vary depending on what’s being procured, it can include pricing schedules or key performance indicators for example.

Framework agreements

Framework agreements are often used as a tendering procedure for school maintenance contracts within the public sector. A framework agreement is a multi-supplier agreement that can run for months or several years. They allow a potential supplier to be able to supply a certain good, work or service within a wider contract.

Framework agreements can be split into lots. These lots typically refer to specific goods, services or locations. A supplier need only apply to the specific lot they can deliver. This allows them to be a part of a wider contract, without needing to fulfil all aspects. A framework agreement for school maintenance contracts could look something like this:

  • Lot 1 – The Provision and Installation of Electrical Equipment
  • Lot 2 – Painting and Decorating Works
  • Lot 3 – Grounds Maintenance Services
  • Lot 4 – Manned Security
  • Lot 5 – Janitorial Cleaning

So, if your business specialises in janitorial cleaning, you need only apply to lot 5. Some framework agreements may allow suppliers to apply for multiple lots, although this is often capped at three. When applying to multiple lots, you will need to supply the buyer with evidential proof of your capability. You will need to demonstrate that you have the necessary resources, money, experience and ability to deliver all three.

Methods of measurement  

There are often multiple methods of measurement for school maintenance contracts. These could include, but aren’t limited to the following:

Each aspect can be assessed either individually or as a mix. A buyer is looking for those tenders that score highly across the board. The weightings for the evaluation of school maintenance contracts vary depending on the buyer’s needs.

A private buyer is not restricted by the same policies and processes as a public buyer is. They are able to choose the cheapest bid if they want. However, a public buyer must award the bid to the most economically advantageous tender. This is because a public buyer must demonstrate the most value for money when spending taxpayer’s money.

Social value and sustainability

Schools routinely purchase products and services and it’s up to them if they purchase sustainable consumer goods. With many wanting to head towards more sustainable procurement of products and services, they may wish to purchase:

  • Cleaning products with reduced environmental impacts
  • Recycled paper and stationery products
  • Kitchen equipment that’s energy efficient
  • Vehicles that are fuel efficient
  • Water efficiency equipment
  • Office machinery that’s energy efficient.

When tendering in the public sector, there’s now a mandatory minimum weighting on 10% on social value. A supplier will need to assess the relevant economic, environmental and social aspects while carrying out the contract. These could include the following examples:

  • COVID-19 recovery
  • The environmental considerations taken
  • Creation of new jobs to tackle unemployment
  • Equal opportunities and diversity policies implemented
  • Paying employees the National Living Wage to tackle economic inequality.

Need help with tenders for school maintenance contracts?

Writing a tender response for school maintenance contracts can turn into quite the headache. You may have multiple deadlines on the horizon or lack the resources to write a winning response in-house. Luckily for you, we have the solution.

Our sister company Hudson Succeed, have over 60 years of bid writing experience and an 87% success rate. They offer four bid writing support services that can help you win school maintenance contracts.

Tender Writing

Once you’ve found the perfect school maintenance contract for your business, why not send it to Hudson Succeed? Our Bid Writers can take care of it all for you. They’ll let you know what they need from you, providing you with a full Tender Writing breakdown. They’ll even submit it on your behalf.

Tender Mentor

If you’ve written your own tender response and need someone to double-check it for errors, Tender Mentor can help. Our Bid Team will proofread your work for any inconsistencies, grammar or spelling mistakes. They’ll also ensure that it’s in line with the specification before you submit.

Tender Improvement

If you’ve been tendering but aren’t seeing the results you want, our Tender Improvement package can help. The Bid Team will assess your previous responses and tender documents, working with you to improve for future submissions. This package includes a 12-month subscription to Facilities Tenders and additional tendering development services.

Tender Ready

Our Tender Ready programme is perfect for those who have never tendered before. A Bid Writer will work with you to make sure you have everything you need in place to tender successfully. The 4-week programme offers your business:

  • A 12-month subscription to Facilities Tenders
  • Access to Global Bid Directors and Senior Bidding professionals
  • An organisation-wide Bid Library, including 3 case studies, 5 CV’s and 8 policies
  • Additional flexible benefit options.

Where can I find school maintenance contracts?

So now you know what to expect from tenders for school maintenance contracts. The wide variety spreads into multiple sectors. Finding the right one for your business can take time. Wading through hundreds of tender sites trying to find a suitable opportunity isn’t for everyone. We have a time-saving tool that can help optimise your search.

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, allowing you to find the perfect school maintenance contracts for your business.

Below are previous school maintenance contracts sourced on our portal:

Multi-Party Framework Agreement for Building Maintenance Services at Maynooth University

Maynooth University- International- Budget: £8,000,000

Planned and Responsive Repairs and Maintenance Contractor Framework

PROSPER- North East- Budget: Undisclosed

Panel of Approved Works Contractors for General Works

Athlone Institute of Technology- International- Budget: Undisclosed

Automatic and roller shutter doors maintenance and service contract

Lancaster University- North West- Budget: £268,000

Quantum Technology Centre Cleanroom Service and Maintenance

University of Lancaster- North West- Budget: £25,000

What makes Facilities Tenders different?

With a subscription to Facilities Tenders, your business will have access to all exclusive, private and public sector opportunities. An on-hand Account Manager will be able to answer any questions you have about finding school maintenance contracts. 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 will be entitled to 20-minutes of free 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!

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 school maintenance contract tenders.

The Ultimate Time Saver package offers your business:

  • A maximum of five tender breakdowns per month.
  • 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.
  • 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 dedicated Account Manager to discuss viable facilities tendering opportunities.

The Become a Pre-Bid Master package also includes:

  • 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!

The Difference Between Public and Private Security Bids

Three Myths Surrounding Private Security Bids

Public and private security bids are often used when companies are looking to outsource security services. They are after the expertise and experience that a dedicated security company provides. This ultimately saves them money and training costs from directly employing security personnel. Both public and private security bids can increase your business prospects, helping you to further develop a security service business.

What’s the difference between public and private sector procurement?

Public Procurement

Public procurement is conducted by not-for-profit (NFPs) organisations, also known as the public sector. It’s often affiliated with the government both local and central.

Private Procurement

Private procurement is completed within for-profit organisations (FPs). This happens within privately-owned companies who are looking to outsource their needs. This is known as the private sector.

Budget

The budgets of private and public procurements are often the biggest difference between them. Public procurement that’s driven by governments tend to have a lot less flexibility on how they spend their money. The private sector has a lot more flexibility within budgeting.

Due to this, it’s easier to procure goods and services based upon their price and competitiveness. As there is an underlying focus on procuring to increase top-line value, there’s a need for wiggle-room. At the end of the day, the private sector wants to make a profit. This means they tend to favour the most economically advantageous tenders (MEATs). The public sector also prefers MEATs. However, the private sector can choose a supplier without the regulations that the public sector is bound by.

For any private security bids, guards will need a Security Industry Authority (SIA) licence. You need to have an SIA licence relevant to the nature of the job in hand. 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.

SIA licencing covers the following activities:

  • Manned Guarding
  • Key Holding
  • Vehicle Immobilising

The SIA doesn’t currently licence the following activities, although the Private Security Industry Act 2001 allows for:

  • Security Consultants
  • Precognition Agents
  • Private Investigation Activities

Tendering for work in the private sector

Several myths are surrounding private and public sector tendering. If you’re a small and medium enterprise (SME), these myths might put you off the tendering process. We hope we can straighten some of these out.

Myth 1 – “You have to be on the inside to get access to private sector opportunities”

It can be easy to understand why some people might think this. There can be fewer opportunities within the private sector, and they can be even harder to find. This is particularly relatable when talking about private security bids.

Luckily, our talented team at Facilities Tenders are skilled at finding both public and private sector tendering opportunities. They then upload them onto our portal, so you don’t have to trawl through thousands of sites.

Myth 2 – “There are no rules or governing principles for the private tender process”

You might think that when comparing it to public procurement. Luckily, this isn’t actually the case. Although significantly less strict than public procurement, which has strict rules and regulations, there’s still important legal principles that apply. Particularly when turning over a specific amount.

Myth 3 – “Private sector tenders don’t use structured tender processes”

This isn’t strictly true. Like public procurement, private tenders can use basic ITT formats, RFTs, RFPs or similar. However, there’s one big difference. Even if the contract is worth more than the EU threshold, you’re not lawfully required to fill out a PQQ. You may be asked to fill out a simplified form concerning your basic company information. But it’s highly unlikely to be as detailed as the requirements for public procurement.

The disadvantages of private procurement

Despite these myths, there can be some disadvantages to private procurement. The private sector is not bound by the same rules and regulations that the public sector is. As mentioned above, they can choose a supplier without having to implement a fair process such as PQQs.

There is another disadvantage of private procurement that’s worth thinking about if going for private security bids. This is a matter of payment. There aren’t as many regulations around payment as the public sector, like the prompt payment code.

These points are worth thinking about when going for a private security bid. There are obvious advantages when going for public security bids instead, such as more opportunities. However, if you’re concerned about how to complete a private security bid, don’t worry. It could be a fairly simple process. But if you have any qualms, we can help.

Here at Hudson, we have over 40 years’ experience across a variety of industries and an 87% success rate. Our Bid Writing Team can help you! Whether this is your first-time tendering, or if you simply need someone to take a look at your bid response. We have four packages to suit your needs:

Join Facilities Tenders

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

We know you’re busy! Our goal is to save you both time and money by manually searching for new business opportunities for you. We’ll send you daily alerts when new tenders are released. You’ll have 24-hour access to our portal, and a dedicated Account Manager on hand to help.

We track opportunities for the following sub-sectors:

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

A subscription with Facilities Tenders can offer you:

  • A team of opportunity trackers sourcing public and private security bids from 1000s of sites.
  • A dedicated account manager on-hand to answer any questions or queries you may have about the process.
  • No reliance on CPV codes or algorithms. Our team manually upload each tender, making sure that you have access to all public and private security bids.
  • The ability to filter bid opportunities by keyword, budget, location and more.
  • Discounted support from Hudson Succeed, our bid writing division.
  • 20-minutes of free consultancy every month with our bid experts.

THE £12BN CLEAN UP

THE £12BN CLEAN UP – Commercial Cleaning Contracts

This is the moment a lot of cleaning companies have been waiting for! A large Commercial Cleaning Contract.

The government has announced ‘a £12bn tender for cleaning and maintenance services at schools, hospitals and in other public buildings’.

The folks at Cleaning Matters has stated that the ‘move comes in the wake of Carillion’s collapse’ and will also help support the 2020 SME initiative, where 1 in 3 pounds will be spent with Small, Medium Enterprises.

Due to the recent Carillion crash, this has led to one of the biggest Facilities Management frameworks we’ve seen in a long while.

‘There are concerns that managing so many different suppliers would be a nightmare for the civil service, who have struggled to oversee outsourced work in the past’.

independent aspects of Commercial cleaning contract management

One thing that will undoubtedly be asked via tenders is the independent aspects of contract management. We advise all cleaning companies to get ahead, act fast and ask themselves to why they should be chosen and what makes them stand out in such a competitive market?

This will make sure you have the functions readily available to put across in your tender submissions.

If you need extra help, we offer a Tender Mentor service where we can guide and review your tender submissions for as little as £295+VAT.

Get in touch to get a part of the action and win various national contracts, with a value range from £500 to £1.4bn.

Below are some cleaning tenders previously sourced on our Facilities Tenders portal:

Cleaning Tender – Bolder Academy – New School Site – Isleworth

Bolder Academy- London- Budget: Undisclosed

Cleaning Tender, Bishop Stopford School, Kettering

Bishop Stopford School- South East- Budget: £100,000

Cleaning and Caretaking Services Framework for Schools and Corporate Properties

Gloucestershire County Council- South West- Budget: £17,040,341

Derby Cathedral School Cleaning

Derby Cathedral School- East Midlands- Budget: £725,000

For the Provision of Cleaning Services at Myddelton House

Lee Valley Regional Park Authority- South East- Budget: Undisclosed

Join Facilities Tenders

We track opportunities for the following sub-sectors:

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