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The European Social Partners UNI Europa Property Services and CoESS launch updated Best Value Manual to guide how security services are contracted focusing on quality over price.

On 6th November 2014, Europe’s social partners for private security services, CoESS and UNI Europa, published  an updated edition of their “Best Value Manual” with the support of the European Commission. The manual, available in 14 languages, aims to assist contracting authorities when selecting a private security provider to carry out guarding functions. By identifying key do’s and don’ts, those using this manual will be able to combine quality with a favourable price, rather than just settling for the lowest price bidder.

The manual, drafted jointly by CoESS and UNI Europa, is an important update of the 1999 version. It emphasises the need to support the private security industry investments in improving the quality of their services and  implementing high professional standards as well as providing good working conditions and attracting new employees. 

“The systematic approach of awarding contracts to the lowest bidder has a harmful and detrimental impact on the various industries and workers concerned,” explained Oliver Roethig, UNI Europa’s Regional Secretary. “Choosing security services only base on price sends the wrong message and indirectly supports poor professional standards which are very damaging for the industry and its employees who can easily become dissatisfied”.

The manual was launched at the CoESS-UNI Europa workshop, with speakers from the European Commission and representatives from the security services sector as well as trade unions. The new EU legislation about public procurement (Public Procurement Directive 2014/24/EU) was on the spotlight of the discussions.

CoESS and UNI Europa urged their members to support the full application of the EU legislation and underlined that bidders which did not fully abide by the established obligations, or were in breach of payment of taxes or social security contributions should systematically be excluded.

Finally, in order to ensure that the criteria of most economically advantageous tender (MEAT) was effectively applied; quality should be explicitly mentioned as the main criteria for awarding private security contract. The updated “Best Value manual” could prove quite useful to help making a decision.