A major BSIA Conference last December focused on the issues facing public sector purchasers when selecting both manned security and cash-in-transit services.
"Going for the lowest price option compromises a best value approach" was a clear message. Speakers highlighted the fact that, across Europe, an average of 77% of public sector security contracts are awarded on the basis of price alone. The considerable purchasing power of the public sector also means that its approach has a major impact on overall market conditions.

A central theme of the conference hinged on a new system for assessing manned security/cash-in-transit suppliers, highlighted in the recent publication 'Selecting Best Value: A Manual for Public Authorities Awarding Contracts for Guarding Security Services'.

This document is the result of collaborative work between two European bodies: namely the European Confederation of Security Services (COESS) and the European Regional Organisation of the International Federation of Commercial, Clerical and Technical Employees (formerly Euro-FIET, now known as Uni-Europa).

It provides a scoring system to be used in the tendering process. In essence, the tendering organisation needs to establish what importance it is going to allocate to pricing in relation to technical merit.

The document also recommends that purchasers award points (according to perceived importance) for four key areas of technical merit – namely guarding personnel, contract management, contract infrastructure (ie how a contractor would deal with elements of a contract, such as access control and CCTV) and a given contractor's previous track record.

Source

SMT