A Stake In National Security

A. A. Security now has a proud 3 year tradition of providing security to the Ministry of Defence at their Abingdon Barracks and North Luffenham Barracks. Contracts of this type are amongst the most difficult to secure within the Public Sector as the branch of the MOD responsible for the tender process "Commercial in Confidence" undertake a very stringent investigative analysis of the organisations approaching them for work. The mandatory Finance Audits, Quality Assurance testing and Health and Safety analysis required for most public sector contracts are only part of a process that is elongated by requirement and meticulous in detail. For instance when completing the tender documentation for these contracts in the initial phase and in the second phase the MOD made it compulsory that organisations tendering endorse a commitment to professionally develop all potential employees to be deployed on site to a full NVQ level 2 standard. Some might say this is no real landmark, however this learning stipulation places the MOD in excess of many other commercial and public sector organisations and sets a rather refreshing precedent - something many of you will be aware that I have been championing for our industry in its entirety - an opportunity in the re-licensing of officers has been overlooked/missed by our Industry regulators the SIA!

The contract also required organisations to demonstrate their Environmental, Innovation and Technology and Corporate social responsibility practices. This recognition of the need to reduce the collective Carbon Footprint is an element of the process that should be hailed and the very fact an organisation not conventionally expected to be concerned with miasma - they are taking a lead role is filtering out insouciant companies and cascading a message of responsibility. I can confirm that the SIA have improved their Approved Contractor scheme to incorporate a stronger focus on these items.