The International Security Ligue has released a major new edition of its GSB Pulse, presenting what is likely the largest sector-specific examination of public procurement ever conducted. Built on nearly 40,000 tender records, the report sheds unprecedented light on how public authorities purchase security services — and what that means for taxpayers, frontline security professionals, and public safety.

For years, stakeholders have speculated about the drivers of contract awards in the security sector. The Ligue’s global data project aims to replace assumptions with facts, answering a simple but consequential question: If we looked deeply at tens of thousands of tenders, what story would the data tell?

If we looked deeply at tens of thousands of tenders, what story would the data tell?

The findings are clear. Across Europe, price remains overwhelmingly dominant in procurement decisions for guarding services, with an average weighting of 85% since 2018. This places security procurement closer to refuse collection and cleaning services than to other professionalized service categories — despite the mission critical nature of security work and the risks associated with contract failure.

“The results confirm something many practitioners had long suspected: price remains structurally dominant in guarding contracts, even in procurement systems that formally encourage quality-based awards,” said Stefan Huber, Executive Director of the International Security Ligue.  “The reality on the ground is that price still hijacks the process.”

The reality on the ground is that price still hijacks the process.

The report pulls back the curtain on multiple aspects of public procurement for security services:

• Market data, including the frequency of framework agreements; tender-to-award timeframes, supplier profiles, procedure type, contract value, and competition level (example: with a slight variation based on contract value, the number of bids fluctuated in a narrow range between a high of 7.4 per tender in 2020 and a low of 4.7 in 2013).
• Data correlation analysis, including conditions that support a multi-criteria approach to contract awards (frameworks, renewal clauses) and which are associated with low-bid approach (e-auctions).
• Price weighting analysis for insight into the influence of price in award decisions, including historical trends and cross-sector comparisons.

Derived from consultations with security experts, the report outlines model procurement practices and extracts 8 key indicators that shape service quality in security contracts. Extensive data analysis then reveals whether these indicators – such as the competence of frontline officers and responsible employment practices – are considered in procurement of guarding services.

The consequences are far reaching. When public authorities rely primarily on lowest bids, they often receive inferior service, undermine transparency, and unintentionally incentivize a race to the bottom in wages, training, and working conditions. The report highlights that such practices not only weaken industry professionalism but also jeopardize public safety, especially as today’s risk environment demands highly trained officers capable of responding intelligently to emerging threats and working alongside new technologies.

Procurement practices directly shape the lives of frontline security professionals. When contracts are awarded on cost alone, salaries, training opportunities, and working conditions deteriorate — penalizing the very companies that invest in quality and comply with Collective Agreements.

This issue of GSB Pulse shares initial results from the International Security Ligue’s global, long term research initiative to illuminate structural patterns in security procurement. It is available now, and readers are encouraged to share it widely to help advance a factual understanding of forces driving public procurement of security services.

The report is free to download at our Responsible Tendering page.