Find a TenderPlanned procurementPreliminary market engagement notice
Published 16 Oct 2026, 10:22 BST

Official UK procurement notice

Pre Engagement for the Provision of Community Safety Patrolling and Response Services

Authority: London Borough of Croydon (Local council)

ServicesSME suitable
Planned pipeline value£2,000,000pipeline notice, not a live tender
Tender notice expected 1 Feb 2027from the planned procurement notice
Contract term 4 yrsends 31 Mar 2031 · starts 1 Apr 2027

What is being bought

Published requirement description

The London Borough of Croydon is seeking to engage with the market in advance of a future procurement exercise for the provision of a Community Safety Patrolling and Response Service.

The purpose of this engagement is to gain insight into current market capability, innovation, best practice, service delivery models, emerging technologies, and commercial approaches that could support the Council in delivering an effective, efficient, and value-for-money service.

The Council is looking to engage with organisations that have the capacity, capability, and experience to provide community safety patrol services, support the reduction of anti-social behaviour (ASB), and work collaboratively with the Council and Access Croydon teams to support vulnerable residents and reduce instances of homelessness.

This engagement does not form part of any formal procurement process and is intended solely to inform the Council's future commissioning and procurement strategy.

Service Requirements

The Council is considering a borough-wide Patrol and Response Service comprising four separate but interconnected service areas.

The successful provider will be expected to demonstrate experience in delivering comparable services and hold accreditation under the Security Industry Authority (SIA) Approved Contractor Scheme (ACS), or an equivalent recognised industry accreditation demonstrating compliance with industry best practice.

The Council is not currently proposing to allow subcontracting of any part of the service.

Service Area 1: Environmental Patrols

A proactive and responsive patrol service tasked by Council officers to patrol identified priority locations ("red zones") and areas within the borough where environmental issues require management and enforcement support.

The service will include:

  • Daytime and out-of-hours patrols.
  • Patrols within parks, open spaces, town centres, and other identified locations.
  • Reporting of environmental concerns and incidents.
  • Engagement with residents and visitors.
  • Support for Council-led environmental initiatives.

Service Area 2: Estates Anti-Social Behaviour Patrols

A proactive patrol service tasked by the Council's Safer Communities Team and focused on Council-managed housing estates.

The service will include:

  • Visible reassurance patrols.
  • Early intervention and engagement with residents.
  • Identification and reporting of ASB incidents.
  • Gathering intelligence to support Council enforcement activity.
  • Partnership working with housing and community safety teams.

Service Area 3: Noise, Nuisance and Anti-Social Behaviour Response Service

A reactive patrol and response service responding to reports from residents regarding:

  • Noise nuisance.
  • Environmental nuisance.
  • Anti-social behaviour.
  • Neighbourhood disputes where appropriate.
  • Community safety concerns requiring an on-site response.

The provider will be expected to gather evidence, provide incident reports, and work collaboratively with Council officers to support enforcement action where required.

Service Area 4: Borough-Wide Incident Reporting and Intelligence Service

The provider will be required to maintain effective reporting and intelligence systems, providing:

  • Daily operational reports.
  • Incident reporting and trend analysis.
  • Management information and performance reporting.
  • Evidence gathering and case support where appropriate.
  • Recommendations for preventative interventions and service improvements.

Operational Requirements

The council is seeking a provider that can work across all four service areas in an integrated manner, delivering:

  • High-quality community safety outcomes.
  • Efficient deployment of resources.
  • Continuous service improvement.
  • Innovation and best practice.
  • Opportunities to reduce future demand and expenditure.

The services will be delivered throughout the London Borough of Croydon, including certain Council-managed facilities located outside the borough boundary, such as cemeteries.

As operational requirements vary across the four service areas, the provider must be capable of delivering flexible and responsive services, including the ability to deploy personnel on a 24-hour, 7-day-a-week basis where required.

It is the intention of the council that there will be synergy across all services, therefore evidence of integrated working relationship will be a required.

The Council is also interested in preventative approaches and initiatives that contribute to a long-term reduction in anti-social behaviour, environmental nuisance, and community safety concerns.

Desired Outcomes

The Council is seeking a service that contributes to:

  • Reduced levels of anti-social behaviour.
  • Improved community safety and public reassurance.
  • Enhanced resident satisfaction.
  • Reduced repeat incidents and repeat locations.
  • Improved support for vulnerable individuals.
  • Better intelligence-led deployment of resources.
  • Stronger partnership working between service providers, Council departments, and external agencies.
  • Value for money and efficient use of public funds.

This opportunity is available on the Croydon Tenders portal

supplier.in-tend.co.uk/croydontenders/home ↗

Please submit your response to the questionnaire.

CPV: Administration, defence and social security services · Provision of services to the community · Public security services · Security services

The lotProcurement structure

single lot · no lot value published

Pipeline intelligence · planning stage: how this market runs before the tender is published

How London Borough of Croydon buys Public security, law and order services (CPV 7524), and who usually turns up

London Borough of Croydon’s own published record, next to the published market for the same work. Frameworks and DPS are kept out: they attract a different number of bids. Whole-market view: Public security, law and order services (CPV 7524) →

1

How the contest usually goes

Winner shares use published awards; bid and price charts use contested lots.

Question for the bid
This buyerLondon Borough of Croydon · all categories
What to do with it
How often do SMEs win?
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.

Last 36 months.

Buyer: 19 of 45 known-size awards · market: CPV 7524 · Greater London, n=7
42%57%

Small firms have won here. Neither number says whether you qualify; it describes who has been winning.

How often do local suppliers win?
i

How often local firms win similar work.

Winners with a registered address in the delivery region, out of awards with a known address.

Here, local means registered in Greater London.

A local branch does not count if the registered address is elsewhere.

Last 36 months.

Buyer: 36 of 57 known-location awards · market: CPV 7524 · Greater London, n=7
63%71%

Most of this buyer’s recorded winners are registered in Greater London.

How long to a decision?
i

How long buyers here take to decide after bids close.

Middle value in days from the deadline to the first award notice, on competitions that published both dates.

Only decided tenders count, so slow ones still waiting are not in.

Last 36 months.

Buyer: 17 decided notices · market: CPV 7524 · UK-wide, n=10
95 days39 days

Half of these awards were announced within 95 days of the bid deadline.

How often single-bid or direct?
i

How often work is awarded with no recorded rival.

Direct awards and tenders where every published lot count shows one bid.

The buyer’s share is a minimum: some awards have no bid count.

Thin markets produce this too; it is not proof of a tailored specification.

Last 36 months.

Buyer: at least 29 of 64 procurements with awards had no recorded rival · market: CPV 7524 · Greater London, n=7
45%29%

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.

Last 36 months.

This buyer27 lots with bid counts · all categories
7% had one bid
The market6 lots with bid counts · CPV 7524 · Greater London
0% had one bid
Buyer / market · select a colour for counts
1 bid7% / 0%
Buyer: 2 of 27 lots with published bid counts. Market: 0 of 6 lots with published bid counts.
2–341% / 17%
Buyer: 11 of 27 lots with published bid counts. Market: 1 of 6 lots with published bid counts.
4–633% / 67%
Buyer: 9 of 27 lots with published bid counts. Market: 4 of 6 lots with published bid counts.
7+19% / 17%
Buyer: 5 of 27 lots with published bid counts. Market: 1 of 6 lots with published bid counts.

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.

Last 36 months.

This buyer15 lots with estimate and award · all categories
40% below estimate
The market15 lots with estimate and award · CPV 7524 · UK-wide
40% below estimate
Buyer / market · select a colour for counts
Below estimate40% / 40%
Buyer: 6 of 15 lots with an estimate and award. Market: 6 of 15 lots with an estimate and award.
Within ±2%47% / 47%
Buyer: 7 of 15 lots with an estimate and award. Market: 7 of 15 lots with an estimate and award.
Above estimate13% / 13%
Buyer: 2 of 15 lots with an estimate and award. Market: 2 of 15 lots with an estimate and award.
2

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.

Open a lot for its forecast, this buyer’s previous supplier and possible competitors, from published award history, not a bid list

Lot #1CPV 752448 monthsSME suitablePublished estimate£2.0m
Expected competition
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 65 past lots.

A forecast, not a list of bidders.

—No model forecast yet17% single-bid risk
Past bids on 65 similar lots
1 bid17%
11 of 65 similar past lots received 1 bid (17%).
2–346%
30 of 65 similar past lots received 2–3 (46%).
4–626%
17 of 65 similar past lots received 4–6 (26%).
7+11%
7 of 65 similar past lots received 7+ (11%).
Comparable past lots usually drew 3 bids.
Commercial price forecast
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.

—No model forecast yet
No comparable awards on record for this lot’s category yet. The published estimate is £2.0m, and the forecast stays empty until the market has a record to read.

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.

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.

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
Unspecified in notice
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
16 Oct 2026, 10:22 BST
Last source update
16 Oct 2026, 10:22 BST
FTS notice number
2026/S 000-097768
Latest notice
Preliminary market engagement notice (UK2)
Classification (CPV)
Administration, defence and social security servicesProvision of services to the communityPublic security servicesSecurity services
Delivery area
London (UKI62)
Official registry OCID
ocds-h6vhtk-078926 Find a Tender

How it was run

Official notice
Submission deadline
—

Timeline

16 Oct 2026 → 1 Apr 2027 · 4 dates
  1. Planning notice published5 days ago
    16 Oct 2026, 10:22 BST
  2. Today
    21 Oct 2026
  3. Market engagementin 20 days
    9 Nov 2026, 23:59 GMT
  4. Tender notice expectedin 104 days
    1 Feb 2027, 23:59 GMT
  5. Contract startsin 162 days
    1 Apr 2027, 00:00 BST

Notice history

1 event · 1 release on Find a Tender
  1. Preliminary market engagement notice published
    16 Oct 2026, 10:22 BST
    UK2

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

London Borough of Croydon

Contracting authorityPublic authority - sub-central government GB-PPON: PJTH-3594-VXYL Bernard Wetherill House, Fell Road, Croydon, London, CR01EAContact name, email

Official documents & specifications (1)

Official links; attachments are not copied

Notices published for this procedure