Security guarding tenders: PSIRA, grading and wage costing

The Private Security Industry Regulatory Authority registers both security businesses and individual security officers. A business must be registered and in good standing to provide security services lawfully, and every officer deployed must be individually registered and graded.

Government tenders check this. Expect to submit your business registration certificate and, frequently, evidence for the officers you intend to deploy. A lapsed registration, on the business or on officers, is a compliance failure that ends the bid regardless of price.

PSIRA grades security officers from A to E, with grade A the most senior. Tenders specify the grades required for each post, and the grade determines both the wage and the competence expected. A site needing grade B and C officers costs materially more than one specified at grade D and E.

Price the grades the specification asks for, not the grades you would prefer to deploy. Substituting lower grades to win on price is a contract breach that surfaces during the first inspection.

The private security sector is covered by a sectoral determination setting minimum wages by officer grade and by geographic area, revised periodically. Government buyers are alert to underpricing here, because a rate that cannot cover the lawful wage bill signals either non-compliance or a contract that will fail.

Confirm the current determination for the relevant area and grade before pricing. As with cleaning, the wage is only part of the employment cost.

The specification will state posts, hours and coverage. Turning that into headcount is the step where errors compound. A single post covered 24 hours a day, seven days a week is not three officers. Once shift patterns, rest days, leave and relief are accounted for, it is materially more, and the exact figure depends on the roster you design.

Build the roster, count the actual people required, then cost them. Every underpriced guarding bid traces back to this calculation being done in reverse.

Beyond wages, guarding contracts carry uniforms and replacement, radios or communication equipment, torches and batons where permitted, occurrence books and reporting systems, vehicles for patrol or supervision, and area supervision visits.

Many specifications require control room monitoring and documented patrol verification. If the tender requires it, it needs to be in the price. If it does not, offering it can earn functionality points, but only if the tender's scoring matrix rewards it. Read the matrix before adding cost.

Guarding is tendered by every tier. Provincial health and education departments secure hospitals, clinics and schools; municipalities secure depots, halls, libraries and water infrastructure; national departments secure offices and courts; state-owned companies secure stations, substations and depots.

See Public Works tenders and municipal tenders for the largest sources. Many guarding businesses also bid cleaning tenders, since buyers increasingly package facilities services together.