Bid writing · Sector
Security services tenders.
Manned guarding, mobile patrols and monitoring for councils, NHS trusts, universities and housing providers. A gated market, which is good news once you are through the gate.
The licensing regime is doing you a favour.
Security is the one sector we work in where regulation thins the field before the tender opens. SIA licensing is a legal requirement, and a large share of public buyers go further and make SIA Approved Contractor Scheme status a Condition of Participation.
That means the number of eligible bidders on a council or NHS guarding contract is a fraction of what a cleaning lot attracts. If you hold ACS approval, you are competing against a shortlist rather than a crowd, and the quality submission genuinely decides it.
The sector also overlaps with work we already do. Guarding in hospitals, housing schemes and civic buildings means officers meeting people in crisis, and the safeguarding, lone working and incident reporting answers are closer to a care submission than most security contractors expect.
- GuardingStatic manned guarding for civic, NHS, education and retail estates
- MobileMobile patrols, alarm response and keyholding contracts
- MonitoringCCTV monitoring, control room and remote surveillance services
- EventsEvent security and stewarding for councils, venues and stadia
- Front of houseCorporate reception, concierge and security receptionist lots
- SpecialistHospital security, mental health settings and lone working contracts
What the panel is really testing
Anyone can staff a gatehouse. They are buying what happens at 3am.
Security submissions that score badly describe the post. Submissions that score well describe the decision an officer makes when something goes wrong, and the trail that decision leaves behind.
SIA licensing and ACS
Licence checking at recruitment and in-contract, your ACS score and assessment date, and the process when a licence lapses while an officer is rostered.
BS 7858 screening
Five year vetting, how employment gaps are resolved, and whether your screening file would survive the audit a client can carry out at any point in the contract.
Conflict management and force
De-escalation as a trained method rather than a value, restraint policy and its limits, body-worn video, and the reporting trail in the hour afterwards.
Vulnerable people and safeguarding
Officers in hospitals and housing meet people in mental health crisis. Awareness training, the referral route, and the line between security and a safeguarding response.
Rostering and fatigue
Shift patterns against the Working Time Regulations, absence cover, and honest resourcing arithmetic for a post that has to be filled every hour of the year.
Incident reporting and KPIs
Categorisation, response times, and client reporting that shows the difficult months as well as the good ones. Buyers notice data that is always green.
Straight answer
When to walk away from a security bid.
If you cannot fill the roster from week one without agency cover, the contract will expose that within a month. A guarding post left uncovered is visible immediately, and the remedy clauses in this sector are unusually sharp.
We will run the resourcing arithmetic with you at bid/no-bid, before you pay for any writing.
- Do you hold ACS approval?Many public contracts make it a Condition of Participation, not a desirable.
- Can you cover from day one?Posts cannot sit vacant while you recruit and screen replacements.
- Is your screening audit-ready?BS 7858 gaps are found at mobilisation, and they are a contractual breach.
- Have you priced absence?A 168-hour post needs more than 4.2 officers once holiday and sickness are real.
If any of these is a no, we will say so before you commit.
Who writes it
The team behind your security bid.
- GraceManned guarding, event and retail security, social value
- SharonMobile patrol, facilities and local authority security
- HezekiahPublic sector, residential, keyholding and alarm response
- KayodeCCTV monitoring tenders and framework applications
- WilliamsMethod statements, SIA licensing and compliance documents
Got a security tender with a deadline on it?
Send the closing date and the portal link. We'll tell you honestly whether it's worth your time, before you pay us anything.