Security Sector Tender Writers: How to Win Security Contracts in 2026
Security contracts represent a significant and consistent market across UK public and private sector procurement. Local authorities, NHS trusts, housing associations, universities, schools, transport operators, and corporate clients all procure security services through competitive tendering — covering manned guarding, dog handling, CCTV monitoring, access control, alarm response, fire marshalling, and integrated security solutions.
Our team includes writers with direct in-house security tender experience — which gives us an understanding of the sector’s specific procurement language, accreditation requirements, and evaluation priorities that generalist bid writers cannot offer. This guide covers the complete security tendering process — from pre-qualification through to ITT quality responses — and what it takes to produce submissions that win. For the complete tendering process overview, see our guide to tendering for contracts.
The Security Tendering Market
Security services are procured across multiple client types and contract structures. Understanding the market helps you focus your tendering activity on the opportunities most suited to your scale, capability, and accreditation profile.
Manned guarding. The highest-volume security contract category. Buyers across social housing, education, healthcare, transport, and corporate sectors all procure manned guarding on regular re-procurement cycles — typically three to five year terms. SIA licence compliance for all deployed officers is mandatory and universally verified at pre-qualification stage.
Dog handling. Specialist contracts typically procured for industrial, construction, and high-security sites. Buyers require evidence of British Institute of Professional Dog Trainers (BIPDT) compliance alongside standard security accreditations.
CCTV monitoring and alarm response. Increasingly procured alongside manned guarding as integrated security packages. NSI or SSAIB accreditation is effectively mandatory for above-threshold contracts in this category.
Access and egress systems. Installation and management of electronic access control — often procured by facilities management contractors as part of integrated FM packages rather than through standalone security tenders.
Fire marshalling and event security. Project-based contracts with distinct accreditation requirements — including the SIA Door Supervisor licence for crowd management. These are shorter-term contracts but can provide valuable case study evidence for manned guarding re-procurements.
Stage 1: The Pre-Qualification Stage (PQQ/SQ)
Most above-threshold security tenders run a two-stage process. The first stage — the Pre-Qualification Questionnaire (PQQ) or Selection Questionnaire (SQ) — shortlists eligible suppliers before the ITT is issued. Our guide to the pre-qualification questionnaire covers the selection stage in detail.
Basic company information
Companies House registration number, SIA Approved Contractor Scheme (ACS) registration, office locations, parent company details where applicable, and proposed subcontracting arrangements. If you plan to subcontract any element of service delivery, the buyer will typically ask for full details of each proposed subcontractor — their registration status, SIA compliance, and financial standing.
Financial standing
Most security tenders specify a minimum annual turnover threshold — typically at least twice the annual contract value. Financial accounts or profit and loss statements are required to demonstrate financial stability. Check this threshold before committing to any submission. A contract worth £500,000 per year requires a minimum annual turnover of approximately £1 million. Our guide to the bid no-bid decision covers how to apply the financial standing assessment.
Grounds for mandatory and discretionary exclusion
Standard Procurement Act 2023 exclusion ground declarations — covering criminal convictions, fraud, tax non-compliance, professional misconduct, and similar matters. These are pass/fail declarations. Any mandatory exclusion ground failure disqualifies the submission before any other element is assessed.
Technical and professional ability
This is the scored element of most security PQQs. Buyers typically require three case studies from the past five years demonstrating comparable security service delivery — similar contract type, similar site environment, similar contract value. Each case study should name the client or client type, describe the scope and scale, detail the specific challenges encountered and resolved, and quantify the outcomes — customer satisfaction ratings, incident response times, security audit results.
Case study selection is critical. If you are bidding for manned guarding services to an educational institution, your three case studies should ideally all be from educational institution manned guarding contracts. Where directly comparable examples do not exist — particularly for newer businesses — select the closest available examples and explicitly describe the shared challenges, standards, and operational context that make the experience relevant. Our guide to writing case studies for tenders covers the structure that security tender evaluators score most highly.
Passing the PQQ
PQQ evaluation is largely pass/fail rather than individually scored. You either meet the financial threshold or you do not. You either hold the required accreditations or you do not. The technical and professional ability section is typically scored — with a minimum threshold score required to progress to the ITT stage. Before submitting any PQQ, confirm that your organisation meets every mandatory eligibility criterion. Submitting a PQQ you cannot pass wastes resource and provides no intelligence value.
Stage 2: The Invitation to Tender (ITT)
Shortlisted PQQ applicants receive the Invitation to Tender. Security ITTs typically follow one of two formats — a structured set of quality questions with defined word counts, or a free-flowing proposal. Both require the same substantive content — what differs is the structural freedom you have to present it.
Resource management
Buyers want to understand your staffing structure, your rostering and scheduling approach, and how you maintain operational visibility over deployed officers. Describe your staffing model specifically for this contract — how many guards, supervisors, and control room staff will be deployed. Name the contract management system you use. Explain how your rostering system ensures cover is maintained and how absences are managed without service gaps. Demonstrate that you always know where your officers are and what they are doing.
Quality assurance and control
How do you ensure your officers consistently deliver the service to the required standard? Quality assurance in security covers SIA licence verification for all deployed personnel, regular site audits and inspections, mystery shopper or performance monitoring visits, client satisfaction measurement, and incident trend analysis. Quality control covers your response to underperformance — your escalation process, your remediation approach, and your process for removing and replacing officers where performance standards are not met.
Your accreditations are the independent verification of your quality management system. SIA Approved Contractor Scheme (ACS) accreditation is the primary sector-specific quality standard. ISO 9001 provides broader quality management verification. NASDU accreditation applies to dog handling operations. NSI or SSAIB accreditation applies to electronic security and alarm monitoring. Reference every relevant accreditation you hold and explain what each one verifies about your operational standards. Our guide to ISO certification and tendering covers how to present your certifications effectively.
Health and safety
Security work involves specific health and safety risks that buyers evaluate carefully. Lone working protocols. Conflict management and de-escalation procedures. Out-of-hours emergency response. Body-worn camera usage and data governance. Fatigue management for overnight and extended shift workers. First aid provision. Every response should describe your specific policies and procedures for each relevant risk — referencing the relevant legislation (Health and Safety at Work Act 1974, Working Time Regulations 1998) and any sector-specific standards that apply.
Do not describe generic health and safety management. Describe the specific arrangements for this site, this client type, and this service scope. Evaluators can identify immediately when a health and safety response has been copied from a standard template without reference to the specific contract context.
Methodology and approach
The methodology question is often the highest-weighted quality criterion in a security ITT. It asks you to describe specifically how you will deliver the contract — not how you deliver security services in general. Your methodology response should address the staffing structure, the rota management approach, the operational risk assessment for this specific site, the emergency response procedures, the communication protocols between officers and control rooms, the reporting and escalation process, and how you will maintain service quality throughout the contract term.
Evidence every operational claim specifically. Response times are a particularly important methodology element — state your specific response time commitments and provide evidence from comparable contracts that you consistently meet or exceed them. Our guide to technical response questions covers how to structure methodology responses for maximum evaluation impact.
Social value
Social value carries a minimum mandatory weighting of 10% in most public sector security contracts. Security sector organisations have genuine social value strengths — local employment, accessible employment routes for people facing barriers to work, apprenticeship programmes, and community safety contributions. These are credible and scorable social value commitments that should be developed specifically for each buyer’s priorities rather than submitted as generic statements. Our guide to social value and tendering covers how to develop commitments that win.
Free-Flowing Proposal Format
Some security tenders forgo the structured question format and invite a free-flowing proposal — sometimes with no word count, giving you full structural freedom. This format requires stronger structural discipline from the writer, not less. Without a question-by-question framework to follow, a poorly structured proposal will confuse evaluators and lose marks regardless of the quality of the content.
Three disciplines are essential for free-flowing security proposals. First — make your structure coherent and clearly signposted. Every section should have a clear heading. The evaluator should never have to search for the content they need. Second — do not leave room for assumptions. Cover every aspect of service delivery explicitly. If it is not in the proposal, the evaluator cannot score it. Third — evidence every capability claim with specific, verifiable proof. Do not rely on stated accreditations and experience alone — describe specifically what those accreditations mean for your operational delivery and how your experience directly informs your proposed approach.
Key Accreditations for Security Tenders
Missing a mandatory accreditation disqualifies a security tender submission before evaluation begins. Check every accreditation requirement in the selection questionnaire before committing to any submission.
SIA Approved Contractor Scheme (ACS). The primary sector-specific quality accreditation for security companies. Effectively mandatory for above-threshold public sector manned guarding contracts. Required for door supervision and close protection services.
NSI (National Security Inspectorate) or SSAIB (Security Systems and Alarms Inspection Board). Required for electronic security systems, alarm monitoring, and CCTV operations. Buyers specify which scheme is acceptable — check the specific requirement.
BIPDT (British Institute of Professional Dog Trainers). Required for dog handling operations.
ISO 9001. Quality management system certification — required on many above-threshold security contracts alongside sector-specific accreditations.
ISO 45001. Occupational health and safety management — increasingly required given the physical risk profile of security work.
ISO 14001. Environmental management — required on some larger integrated security contracts, particularly where vehicle fleet operations are a significant element of service delivery.
Frequently Asked Questions About Security Tenders
Do all security tenders require SIA ACS accreditation?
Most above-threshold public sector manned guarding contracts specify SIA ACS as a mandatory requirement. Below-threshold contracts and some private sector tenders may accept SIA Approved Contractor status without full ACS accreditation. Check the specific mandatory requirements in every tender’s selection questionnaire. An SIA ACS accreditation gap is a disqualifying compliance failure on any contract where it is specified as mandatory.
How do I write a security case study if most of my contracts are confidential?
Anonymise the client where required — “a large NHS trust” or “a major social housing provider” — while retaining the specific operational detail, scale, and outcome data that makes the case study credible. Most buyers accept anonymised client descriptions provided the contract value, scope, duration, and outcomes are specific and verifiable. Include a named reference contact who can verify the delivery even if the client is not publicly identified in the case study text.
What response times should I commit to in a security tender?
Commit to the response times you can actually meet and evidence on comparable contracts — not the times you think will win the evaluation. Buyers verify response time claims against contract performance data and reference checks. A response time commitment that cannot be evidenced is a credibility risk. Where you can evidence exceeding the specification’s stated minimum response times, state this explicitly with specific data from comparable contracts.
Can a new security company win public sector contracts?
Yes — particularly through below-threshold approved supplier lists and smaller single-site contracts that are accessible to newer organisations with limited trading history. Financial standing thresholds on below-threshold contracts are proportionally lower. Build your track record and case study evidence through these accessible entry points before pursuing higher-value above-threshold framework appointments.
Win More Security Contracts With Expert Support
Together: The Hudson Collective supports security companies across manned guarding, dog handling, electronic security, and integrated security services — producing submissions that score maximum marks on quality, accreditations, and social value. Our team holds an 87% win rate across all sectors, working with 3,500+ organisations across 52 countries.
Send us your tender documents and we will tell you exactly where we can give you the edge.
Tell us about your opportunity.
About the author: Written by Joshua Smith, a seasoned bid-writing expert with experience across the UK, Middle East and US, helping organisations secure the contracts they deserve through high-quality, competitive tender responses.