Five Things to Ask Every Security Bidder
A security tender is easy to turn into a price comparison. These five asks turn it into a question the bidder has to answer with records: licensing, BS 7858 screening, shift records, incident logs and insurance.
By Michael Bryce · 10 November 2026 · 4 min read
A tender is easy to turn into a price comparison. Three bids come back, two are close, one is a lot cheaper, and the cheap one starts to look like the sensible choice.
These five asks turn the comparison into something else: a question the bidder has to answer with evidence. A supplier that works properly can produce each one quickly. If one can't, you have learned something the price didn't tell you.
If you run a security company, these are also the five questions your clients should be asking your competitors. Feel free to send them this page.
Why you are the one asking
You can outsource guarding. You can't outsource your own duty for what happens on your site.
- Any site: the Health and Safety at Work etc. Act 1974, section 3, puts a duty on any employer running an undertaking to make sure people who aren't their employees aren't exposed to risk, so far as is reasonably practicable. Untrained or unvetted guards on your site can fall inside that.
- If you supply guarding on to someone else (a facilities management company, a main contractor, a guarding firm that subcontracts): the Private Security Industry Act 2001, section 5, makes using an unlicensed operative an offence for the person supplying the service. One defence is showing you took all reasonable steps. That means records.
- Venues: under Martyn's Law (the Terrorism (Protection of Premises) Act 2025), the responsible person cannot delegate their legal responsibility to a contracted service provider, though they may delegate tasks. The duties are not yet in force. They are expected in spring 2027 (as at November 2026).
This is general information, not legal advice. If a decision turns on it, ask a solicitor.
The five asks
1. How they keep their guards licensed
Ask whether the company is an SIA Approved Contractor (ACS) and how it checks licences: who checks, against what, and how often. Named guards and their licence numbers come once the contract is accepted, so at tender stage you are asking about the process, not the individuals.
Why: licence status changes. A check at recruitment says nothing about today.
Look for: a described routine with dates, not "all our guards are licensed". Once you have names, check them yourself. The SIA public register is free to search, and our guide to verifying a guard's SIA licence walks through it.
2. Their BS 7858 screening record
Ask for a sample screening completion record (names removed or shown as initials): completion date, result, and who signed it off. You don't need the screening file itself. That holds references, address history and criminal-record information, and the supplier shouldn't hand it over.
Why: it's the part of a guard's background you can't see from the licence.
Look for: a completion record with the date, result and sign-off all there, and agreement that the same record will exist for each guard you are given.
3. A shift and patrol record from last month
Ask for a real record from a comparable contract: who was on site, when each shift started and ended, what was checked and when. Client details and personal details (guard names, members of the public) can be removed or shown as initials.
Why: a rota says who should have been there. A record shows who was.
Look for: times recorded when things happened, not typed up afterwards.
4. The incident log, with the time each entry was written
Ask for a sample showing both when the incident happened and when the entry was made. Again, client and personal details can be removed or shown as initials.
Why: an incident written up the same shift is evidence. One written up three days later from memory is weaker evidence.
Look for: entry times close to event times.
5. Current insurance certificates
Ask for the supplier's current employers' liability and public liability certificates, showing the insurer, the limit and the expiry date.
Why: if something goes wrong on your site, the insurance is what stands behind the contract, and certificates lapse.
Look for: an expiry date after the contract start, and a limit that fits the size of the site.
What this does to a price gap
Sometimes a bid is cheaper because the supplier is efficient. Sometimes it is cheaper because the work above isn't being done. Asking for the same five records from every bidder is how you tell the two apart, and a supplier that keeps these records can usually produce them quickly.
Ask your supplier how they produce this
TacDesk is one way. It records clock-ins and reports as guards work, keeps SIA licence tracking alongside, and holds BS 7858 vetting records in the Compliance module on paid plans.
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Michael Bryce
Founder of TacDesk. Writes about SIA compliance, operations, and running a UK security company, from someone who actually works the shifts.
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