For security companies, cleaning contractors, and managed service providers, combined service frameworks can be an efficient route into higher education and wider public sector estates. They can also be deceptively easy to misjudge: buyers want day-to-day reliability, but evaluation often hinges on governance, mobilisation, KPIs, and how you manage risk when things go wrong.
A pipeline notice has been published for a single framework agreement covering Security and Cleaning Services, led by NEUPC Ltd, with NWUPC Limited and SUPC Limited also listed as contracting authorities. The notice describes a framework that could be delivered either by specialist providers for each service or by a single supplier acting as a managed service.
Quick facts to share internally
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Estimated value: £10,000,000 excluding VAT (£12,000,000 including VAT)
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Estimated contract dates: 7 Aug 2026 to 6 Aug 2029, with possible extension to 6 Aug 2030
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Estimated tender notice publication: 26 March 2026
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Categories/CPVs: security services, cleaning services, facilities management services
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Procedure (as stated): competitive flexible procedure
You can review the opportunity in the Security & Cleaning Services Find a Tender notice.
The strategic question: specialist bidder or managed service?
The scope description explicitly allows for either:
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a specialist security provider plus a specialist cleaning provider, or
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one supplier delivering both via a managed service model.
That one sentence is your early clue on how to position.
If you’re a specialist (security or cleaning):
Your bid tends to win on depth: supervision model, site-based delivery, incident response, compliance, and performance reporting that’s genuinely useful.
If you’re a managed service provider:
Your differentiator is coordination: how you govern subcontractors, maintain consistent standards, control variation, and provide one clear line of accountability to the client.
Either way, the buyer’s real requirement is the same: predictable delivery across multiple sites, with measurable performance and rapid recovery when service fails.
What evaluators usually look for
Instead of guessing future questions, it helps to build your prep around themes that commonly drive scoring on estates service frameworks.
1) Mobilisation that doesn’t interrupt operations
University and public sector sites run long hours with sensitive spaces (labs, libraries, residences, public-facing buildings). Strong bidders describe:
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phased onboarding and TUPE-readiness (where relevant)
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training and site inductions
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asset/handover checks, cleaning specifications baselines, patrol routines
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how you stabilise performance in the first 30–90 days
2) Supervision and quality control that’s visible
Buyers want to know who checks the checks. Your answer needs to be operational:
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supervisor ratios and shift coverage
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audit regime (what you inspect, how often, what triggers rework)
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customer reporting cadence and issue escalation
3) Risk, compliance and assurance
For security and cleaning, it’s not enough to say you “have policies”. Make it easy to score:
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incident response workflows (including out-of-hours)
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safeguarding approach (where relevant)
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H&S and safe systems of work
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data handling where CCTV/access control is in scope for your model
4) Social value and sustainability that ties to delivery
For cleaning, sustainability questions might focus on chemicals and waste streams. Meanwhile, for security, social value questions may be asked about local employment, training, and inclusive recruitment. Evaluators reward commitments you can manage and report against, not generic statements.
A short prep list to start now (before the tender notice drops)
If you want to be ready for late March, these actions are worth doing early:
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Decide your model: specialist bid, consortium/partnering, or managed service. Align your evidence and method statements to your chosen model.
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Build three mini-case studies: one “large multi-site”, one “sensitive environment”, one “performance recovery/turnaround”.
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Draft your KPI framework: what you measure, how you evidence it, and how you handle underperformance.
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Stress-test your mobilisation plan: who does what in week 1, week 4, and month 3.
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Get portal-ready: the notice points to a Delta eSourcing link for further notice information, so make sure your registrations and internal permissions are in place.
How Thornton & Lowe helps you turn capability into a higher-scoring tender
Security and cleaning tenders are rarely won by capability alone. The difference is how clearly you make delivery auditable, governable, and low-risk to the contracting authority.
Thornton & Lowe helps suppliers build stronger framework submissions by tightening bid strategy, structuring responses around what evaluators score, and applying rigorous quality assurance so you avoid last-minute compliance issues. When you need hands-on help, our bid writing services focus on making your offer clearer, more persuasive, and easier to mark well.
Next steps
If you’re targeting this framework, start by checking the details in the Security & Cleaning Services notice on Find a Tender and confirming which delivery model you’ll pursue. If you’d like Thornton & Lowe to support your approach, we can help you shape a scoring plan, strengthen your evidence pack, and quality-assure your submission so it’s compliant, confident, and competitive ahead of the March 2026 tender release.
