Official UK procurement notice
Security Services to the Museums Security Consortium
Authority: Victoria and Albert Museum (Central government)·Consortium: 3 public authorities
What is being bought
Published requirement descriptionWe - the Natural History Museum and the V&A - are the Museums Security Consortium.
We are looking for a supplier of security services to provide 24/7 control room services, security guarding and patrols, key and pass issuing services, event security, logistic services (deliveries etc.), and other related services for the following sites:
For the NHM:
- Natural History Museum, South Kensington, London
- Natural History Museum Tring, Hertfordshire
- NHM Storage, South-west London
- NHM Unlocked, Thames Valley Science Park, Reading (completion summer 2027 and its inclusion/exclusion in the scope of this contract will be confirmed at Stage Two)
For the V&A
- V&A South Kensington
- Young V&A (Bethnal Green)
- V&A East Storehouse
- V&A East Museum
- Object store, Wiltshire (monitoring & response only)
- Commercial Store, North-west London (monitoring & response only)
For more information, log on to Delta and look at the tender pack which includes a draft spec.
We also invite you to join an online session at 13:00 on 14 April 2026 where we will talk through our requirements and take any questions. If you'd like to attend, log on to Delta to get notified of the link out nearer the time of the session. Anyone can attend this session and a recording will be available on Delta afterwards for anyone that missed it.
This is a single contract for the delivery of all of the services to us.
The following organisation has carried out part of the procurement on our behalf: Toro Risk Solutions - Global Ltd, company number 09465940, whose registered address is 124 City Road, London, United Kingdom, EC1V 2NX. Their role in this procurement is assisting us with pre-procurement activity such as drafting procurement documentation, and assisting with procurement activity such as evaluating submissions from suppliers. They may also provide contract lead-in and aftercare services.
- How the procedure runs: We envisage that this procurement process will include the following stages: Stage One: where anyone may submit a Stage One Tender. - Stage One Tenders will be evaluated and the three to five highest scoring tenderers will proceed to Stage Two. Stage Two: where selected suppliers are invited to submit a final Tender. - Stage Two Tenders will be evaluated to determine the most advantageous tender. The anticipated award criteria are set out in this notice. Scores from Stage One don't carry over in any way to Stage Two. Please note that whilst this section is correct to the best our knowledge, we reserve all our rights under the Procurement Act 2023 including the right to vary the process and the right to revise the award criteria between stages. At this Stage One of the procurement process you are invited to complete and return a Stage One Tender. We will evaluate Stage One Tenders to determine which suppliers will proceed to the second tender stage at Stage Two. Stage Two suppliers will be required to sign a non disclosure agreement in order to receive the full specification and appendices. Stage Two includes site visits to be held on dates to be confirmed. It will be mandatory that each tenderer attends a site visit. All Stage Two tenders submitted must be capable of acceptance without the need for negotiation, fine tuning or value engineering. We do not anticipate conducting any negotiation during this procurement process. We reserve the right to introduce negotiation stages into the procurement process at our sole discretion. Whilst the evaluation of tenders will be based strictly on the criteria set out in the ITT issued at Stage Two, once the evaluation is complete, we reserve the right to, with the successful tenderer before finalising the contract and at our sole discretion, fine tune the scope of services and/or conduct a value engineering exercise. For more information please log on to Delta and review the tender pack.
CPV: Security services
The lotProcurement structure
single lot · value publishedLot #1RenewalPublished value£85,829,691
- Economic & financial standing
As set out in the tender pack. We recommend the following in order to demonstrate appropriate financial capacity for this contract:
Turnover is £20m or higher
Balance sheet is positive
Current ratio is 1 or higher
- Technical & professional ability
Must be a member of the SIA Approved Contractor Scheme (ACS) or demonstrate an equivalent level of accreditation.
What it takes to wini
How this buyer will score bids.
The evaluation criteria and weights exactly as published on the notice, grouped by family (price, quality, social value and so on).
Evaluation split and conditions of participation as published; the tender pack may add morei
How this buyer will score bids.
The evaluation criteria and weights exactly as published on the notice, grouped by family (price, quality, social value and so on).
Published sub-criteria (5)
- Service delivery model: 30%
- Mobilisation and transition: 10%
- Innovation and continuous improvement: 20%
- Price: 30%
- Social value: 10%
Published award criteria (5)
- Price
- Social value: includes sustainability
- Service delivery model
- Mobilisation and transition
- Innovation and continuous improvement
- Economic & financial standing
As set out in the tender pack. We recommend the following in order to demonstrate appropriate financial capacity for this contract:
Turnover is £20m or higher
Balance sheet is positive
Current ratio is 1 or higher
- Technical & professional ability
Must be a member of the SIA Approved Contractor Scheme (ACS) or demonstrate an equivalent level of accreditation.
- Price carries 30 of 100 points: a 10% discount moves about 3 points. The method statement decides this lot, not the discount.
Price arithmetic assumes straight proportional scoring; the tender pack may use another formula.
Procedure terms & legal framework
From the official record- Procedure method
- Competitive flexible procedure
- Legal basis
- UKPGA · 2023/54 Procurement Act 2023
- Procurement category
- Services
- Notice status
- Closed
- Procurement threshold
- Above threshold (FTS publication)
- Regulatory regime
- Light touch regime
- Commercial structure
- Stand-alone contract (no framework)
- Competition type
- Competitive procedure
- GPA / WTO covered
- Yes (GPA)
- Recurring procurement
- Unspecified in notice
- First published
- 13 Jun 2025, 10:28 BST
- Last source update
- 1 Apr 2026, 10:08 BST
- Award evaluation window
- Submission end – 12 Aug 2026
- Authority reference
VA/CON/F25/14- FTS notice number
2026/S 000-030146- Latest notice
- Tender notice (UK4)
- Classification (CPV)
- Delivery area
- Official registry OCID
ocds-h6vhtk-05483cFind a Tender
- How it runs
We envisage that this procurement process will include the following stages:
Stage One: where anyone may submit a Stage One Tender.
- Stage One Tenders will be evaluated and the three to five highest scoring tenderers will proceed to Stage Two.
Stage Two: where selected suppliers are invited to submit a final Tender.
- Stage Two Tenders will be evaluated to determine the most advantageous tender. The anticipated award criteria are set out in this notice.
Scores from Stage One don't carry over in any way to Stage Two.
Please note that whilst this section is correct to the best our knowledge, we reserve all our rights under the Procurement Act 2023 including the right to vary the process and the right to revise the award criteria between stages.
At this Stage One of the procurement process you are invited to complete and return a Stage One Tender. We will evaluate Stage One Tenders to determine which suppliers will proceed to the second tender stage at Stage Two.
Stage Two suppliers will be required to sign a non disclosure agreement in order to receive the full specification and appendices. Stage Two includes site visits to be held on dates to be confirmed. It will be mandatory that each tenderer attends a site visit.
All Stage Two tenders submitted must be capable of acceptance without the need for negotiation, fine tuning or value engineering.
We do not anticipate conducting any negotiation during this procurement process. We reserve the right to introduce negotiation stages into the procurement process at our sole discretion.
Whilst the evaluation of tenders will be based strictly on the criteria set out in the ITT issued at Stage Two, once the evaluation is complete, we reserve the right to, with the successful tenderer before finalising the contract and at our sole discretion, fine tune the scope of services and/or conduct a value engineering exercise.
For more information please log on to Delta and review the tender pack.
- Risks
Known Risks (under Procurement Act, Schedule 8, Sections 5-7) are not included in the contract value estimation. Known Risks will include changes outside of ours and the supplier's control such as to living wage, inflation, and statutory changes that affect the sums paid
How it was run
Official notice- Requests to participate (first stage)
- 1 May 2026, 12:00 BST
- Submission deadline
- 6 May 2026, 12:00 BST
- Clarification deadline
- 27 Apr 2026, 23:59 BST
- Submission channel
- Official e-sourcing portal
- Electronic submission
- Allowed
- Accepted languages
- en
Timeline
13 Jun 2025 → 17 Mar 2027 · 9 dates- Planning notice published13 Jun 2025, 10:28 BST
- Market engagement7 Jul 2025, 23:59 BST
To respond to our survey, please use this link: forms.office.com/Pages/ResponsePage.aspx ↗
We are looking to go out to market for security services in 2026 for a start date of March 2027. We are currently considering our options for how those services could be provided. This includes thinking about whether we remain as a consortium and if so, in what form.
We want to hear your views to help us make this decision so we are issuing this survey as part of our preliminary market engagement.
The purpose of this survey is to help us understand suppliers' appetite and capability for providing these services to us a. individually or as a consortium, and b. as a single combined contract or in various packages. We want to get your opinion on what benefits there might be from us packaging up the contract in various ways.
Responses submitted in this survey will not in any way impact any future submission for these - or any other - tenders with the NHM, SMG and V&A. Any data received as part of our preliminary market engagement activities will be retained and deleted in line with Regulation 98 (4) of the Procurement Act 2023 (three years after a contract is entered into). We will not share responses to this survey with any third parties except in an anonymised format. We have carried out a conflicts interest assessment for all individuals that will have sight of the responses received. To fulfil our duty under the Regulation 16(3) of the Procurement Act 2023 we will include in our tender pack an aggregated summary of all responses received once we go out to market for these services but such summary will not contain any personally identifiable information.
The survey closes at the end of the day on 07 July 2025.
- Tender notice published209 days ago1 Apr 2026, 10:08 BST
- Next notice expected208 days ago1 Apr 2026, 23:59 BST
- Clarification questions by182 days ago27 Apr 2026, 23:59 BST
- Expressions of interest by179 days ago1 May 2026, 12:00 BST
- Submission deadline174 days ago6 May 2026, 12:00 BST
- Award decision expected by75 days ago12 Aug 2026, 23:59 BST
- Today27 Oct 2026
- Contract startsin 140 days17 Mar 2027
Notice history
9 events · 3 releases on Find a Tender · since 13 Jun 2025- Preliminary market engagement notice published13 Jun 2025, 10:28 BSTUK2
- Planned procurement notice published30 Jan 2026, 15:14 GMTUK3
- Published value updated to £85,829,69130 Jan 2026, 15:14 GMTwas £140,000,000
- Status changed to planned30 Jan 2026, 15:14 GMT
- Procurement method changed30 Jan 2026, 15:14 GMT
- Tender notice published1 Apr 2026, 10:08 BSTUK4
- Status changed to active1 Apr 2026, 10:08 BST
- Procurement method changed1 Apr 2026, 10:08 BST
- Deadline published: 6 May 2026, 12:00 BST1 Apr 2026, 10:08 BST
Contracting authority & participating public bodies
3 public bodies on the noticeConsortium members and other public bodies
- Natural History MuseumContracting authorityPublic authority - central government
- Science Museum GroupContracting authorityPublic authority - central government
Official documents & specifications (4)
Official links; attachments are not copiedTender pack and attachments
Notices published for this procedure
- Tender notice Tender notice on Find a Tender
- Planned procurement notice Planned procurement notice on Find a Tender
- Preliminary market engagement notice Preliminary market engagement notice on Find a Tender