Official UK procurement notice
On-Site Staffed Security Guarding Services for Devon and Cornwall Police
Authority: Devon and Cornwall Police (Police & fire)
What is being bought
Published requirement descriptionThe provision of the provision of a 24/7 staffed security service primarily at their Headquarters site in Exeter. This will include maintaining a staffed presence at the entrance to the site as well as CCTV monitoring, site patrols and other security related tasks.
CPV: Guard services · Security services
The lotProcurement structure
single lot · no lot value publishedPipeline intelligence · planning stage: how this market runs before the tender is published
How Devon and Cornwall Police buys Security services (CPV 7971), and who usually turns up
Devon and Cornwall Police’s published record next to the market for the same work. Frameworks and DPS are left out: they draw different bid counts. Whole-market view: Security services (CPV 7971) →
How the contest usually goes
Winner shares use published awards; bid and price charts use contested lots.
i
How often small and medium firms win.
Share of awards where the winner’s size is known.
The counts under this question show how many awards have a known supplier size.
Small firms have won here. Neither number says whether you qualify; it describes who has been winning.
i
How often local firms win similar work.
Winners with a registered address in the delivery region, out of awards with a known address.
Local means the winner is registered in the region where that award was delivered. The market figure counts awards delivered in South West England.
A local branch does not count if the registered address is elsewhere.
Most of this buyer’s recorded winners were registered in the region where that award was delivered.
i
How long buyers here take to decide after bids close.
Middle value in days from the bid deadline to the award date, on competitions that published both.
Only decided tenders count, so slow ones still waiting are not in.
Half of these awards have an award date within 32 days of the bid deadline.
i
How often work is awarded with no recorded rival.
Direct awards and tenders where every published lot count shows one bid.
Both shares are minimums: some awards have no bid count.
Thin markets produce this too; it is not proof of a tailored specification.
Direct awards or one recorded bid are common here. Check the route before spending time on a bid.
How many bids did past lots attract?
i
How many bids past lots received.
Each colour is a bid-count range. Only competed lots with a published count are included.
Past bids do not predict this tender.
1 bid25% / 13%
2–313% / 13%
4–663% / 20%
7+0% / 53%
How did awards compare with estimates?
i
Where winning prices landed against estimates.
Each colour shows awards below, close to or above the published estimate, one lot at a time.
Past prices are a guide, not a bid price.
Below estimate36%
Within ±2%45%
Above estimate18%
Assess each lot i
What past awards tell you about each lot.
See the forecast, this buyer’s earlier suppliers and firms with relevant wins.
No supplier is confirmed as a bidder.
i
What past awards tell you about each lot.
See the forecast, this buyer’s earlier suppliers and firms with relevant wins.
No supplier is confirmed as a bidder.
Open a lot for its forecast, this buyer’s previous supplier and possible competitors, from published award history, not a bid list
Lot #1CPV 7971No real estimate
i
How many bids this lot may attract.
The forecast uses similar past competitions. The bar shows either that forecast or past bid counts; the line below says which.
Each lot shows its own forecast based on its own category; forecasts for different lots of the same notice are not comparative. The bar shows 15 past lots.
A forecast, not a list of bidders.
1 bid13%
2–313%
4–620%
7+53%
i
Where the award price may land.
The forecast uses similar awards and the buyer’s estimate. The band covers the middle half of likely prices.
No comparable awards for this lot yet.
A statistical guide from past awards, not a price to bid.
Who has supplied this buyer on similar work? i
Who has done similar work for this buyer.
Past contracts are matched by buyer, title and type of work.
A past supplier may not bid again.
i
Who has done similar work for this buyer.
Past contracts are matched by buyer, title and type of work.
A past supplier may not bid again.
No earlier contract of this buyer matches this lot on the published record.
Who could compete for this lot? i
Who could compete for this lot?
Firms with relevant past wins. On a framework, we show firms on that agreement.
None is confirmed as a bidder.
i
Who could compete for this lot?
Firms with relevant past wins. On a framework, we show firms on that agreement.
None is confirmed as a bidder.
Candidate suppliers for this notice have not been worked out yet, so this is not a verdict that nobody fits.
About this data
- Source. Official UK public procurement notices (Find a Tender), reused under the Open Government Licence v3.0. New notices arrive through the day; the figures are rebuilt nightly.
- Two views, kept apart. The authority’s own track record and the wider market for the same kind of work sit side by side and are never mixed. Where the local picture is too thin, a figure widens to a broader market and says which one it used.
- Forecasts are labelled. The price forecast and its range, possible competitors and the earlier-work matches are our estimates from past awards: not published facts, not win chances and not price advice. Official notices do not say who is bidding.
- Every figure shows what it rests on. Not every notice publishes a bid count, a value or a delivery region, so each figure carries the number of records behind it, and one built on few records is marked as such. The on a figure explains it; the counting rules are in the methodology. Spotted something wrong? Tell us.
Procedure terms & legal framework
From the official record- Legal basis
- UKPGA · 2023/54 Procurement Act 2023
- Procurement category
- Services
- Notice status
- Planned procurement
- Procurement threshold
- Above threshold (FTS publication)
- Regulatory regime
- Standard
- Commercial structure
- Stand-alone contract (no framework)
- Competition type
- Competitive procedure
- GPA / WTO covered
- Unspecified in notice
- Recurring procurement
- Unspecified in notice
- First published
- 2 Oct 2026, 07:47 BST
- Last source update
- 2 Oct 2026, 07:47 BST
- Authority reference
1168- FTS notice number
2026/S 000-093074- Latest notice
- Preliminary market engagement notice (UK2)
- Classification (CPV)
- Delivery area
- Official registry OCID
ocds-h6vhtk-077f22Find a Tender
How it was run
Official notice- Submission deadline
- —
Timeline
2 Oct 2026 → 1 Sept 2027 · 4 dates- Planning notice published25 days ago2 Oct 2026, 07:47 BST
- Market engagement11 days ago16 Oct 2026, 23:59 BST
THIS NOTICE IS FOR THE PURPOSES OF INVITING SUPPLIERS TO PARTICIPATE IN PRELIMINARY MARKET ENGAGEMENT AND IS NOT A CALL FOR COMPETITION.
The South-West Police Procurement Service (“SWPPS”) is currently undertaking preliminary market engagement and considering route to market options for a future procurement process for on-site staffed security guarding services for Devon and Cornwall Police.
The procurement will consist of the provision of the provision of a 24/7 staffed security service primarily at their Headquarters site in Exeter. This will include maintaining a staffed presence at the entrance to the site as well as CCTV monitoring, site patrols and other security related tasks.
We are seeking engagement from suppliers with experience in the provision of staffed security services, and who can demonstrate the expertise necessary to support this requirement. Responses from all interested suppliers are welcomed. The purpose of the preliminary market engagement, prior to undertaking any future procurement process, is to seek input from the market to inform our requirements, help develop our specification for the services, and identify the most appropriate route to market.
SWPPS invites interested suppliers to complete a short questionnaire and, where appropriate, participate in a Microsoft Teams meeting with the SWPPS Team to discuss their responses in more detail.
If you are interested in supporting SWPPS with this engagement, please respond to this notice by emailing the SWPPS Category Manager at gemma.hawkins@devonandcornwall.pnn.police.uk and we will be in touch with a questionnaire for completion. The closing date for pre-market engagement questionnaire returns is 1200 hours on Friday 16th October 2026. Subsequent Teams meetings may take place after this date.
SWPPS is committed to ensuring fairness, openness and transparency, and to complying with the Procurement Act 2023. This preliminary market engagement notice is issued solely for the purpose of pre-procurement market testing and engagement.
Participation in this preliminary market engagement exercise is entirely voluntary. Suppliers who choose not to participate will not be excluded from, disadvantaged in, or otherwise affected in any subsequent procurement process. Equally, participation in this engagement exercise will not provide any advantage in any future procurement.
This notice does not constitute a call for competition, a commitment to commence a procurement process, or an offer to procure any services, supplies or works. SWPPS shall not be liable for any costs, fees or expenses incurred by any party participating in this preliminary market engagement exercise.
- Today28 Oct 2026
- Tender notice expectedin 96 days1 Feb 2027, 23:59 GMT
- Contract startsin 307 days1 Sept 2027, 00:00 BST
Notice history
1 event · 1 release on Find a Tender- Preliminary market engagement notice published2 Oct 2026, 07:47 BSTUK2
Commercial outcome & contract awards
Pipeline notice- Awards (0)
- No award published
- Contracts (0)
- No contract published
- Bid statistics
- No aggregate bid statistics published
Contracting authority & participating public bodies
Official documents & specifications (1)
Official links; attachments are not copiedNotices published for this procedure
- Preliminary market engagement notice Preliminary market engagement notice on Find a Tender