CASE STUDY
Background
The London Borough of Lewisham Council appointed SmartSec Solutions to provide security services to their sites as of 1st May 2022 at the end of March 2022.
The contract included the provision of 26 security personnel to 9 locations, a mobile guarding service to 19 locations, a keyholding and alarm response service to 41 locations and 73 guardians to reside and look after many vacant properties within the Council.
Challenge
Given the wide and complex scope of the contract, the main challenge was that SmartSec Solutions was given one month to mobilise the contract.
Early in the mobilisation period, we identified that the security manager was not eligible to transfer under TUPE. The previous supplier had moved one of their security managers from another contract on secondment. Therefore, upon the contract transfer, the site manager would return to their original site.
We also discovered six vacancies in the various locations in scope in addition to that of the security manager.
At the start of the mobilisation, we were informed that election week would take place five days into the contract. This would require an additional six security personnel to unlock various locations and facilitate the counting of votes at various council buildings.
SmartSec was also informed of additional cover requirements from day one of the contract to support projects across the Council’s buildings.
To complicate matters, our main point of contact with the client resigned just before the start of the mobilisation.
Our Co-Owners Fawad Ahmad and Theo Nicolaou welcoming colleagues at the start of the contract at Wearside Depot
Approach
As soon as SmartSec Solutions was appointed, we recognised the complexity of the Lewisham Council account and immediately formed a mobilisation team. Our Key Account Director led this team. It included our Operations Support Manager, Mobile Guarding Department Manager, Sales and Marketing Director, HR Manager and a further Account Manager from within our business.
We submitted our mobilisation plan to the Head of Facilities Management within the Council and introduced him to the various SmartSec stakeholders involved in the mobilisation.
Our Key Account Director, within the start of the 1st week of mobilisation, attended each site, and by the end of the 1st week, SmartSec had a clear picture of where the vacancies were and everyone’s uniform sizes. The identified vacancies were immediately advertised both internally within SmartSec and externally by our HR Department.
During our site visits, our Key Account Director carried out one-to-one TUPE consultations with each team member eligible to transfer to SmartSec at the start of the contract. During these, those eligible to transfer were given a thorough introduction to SmartSec Solutions, and the implications of TUPE were explained to them in great detail.
Our Operations Support Manager focussed on the procurement aspect of the mobilisation. He ordered all required uniforms, arranged the lease of a new vehicle for the mobile guarding and keyholding service, collated photos for ID cards, and ordered the communications and IT equipment required for each site.
Our Operations Support Manager supported our Helpdesk and Key Account Director in setting up the schedules for Lewisham Council on our time management system and uploaded the rosters.
Our Mobile Department Manager attended each site shadowing the previous supplier’s mobile team. This allowed him to collate assignment instructions and health and safety risk assessments for each of the 60 sites in scope requiring this service. He also arranged for the newly appointed mobile response operatives to shadow the previous supplier’s staff in advance of the contract start date.
Our Sales and Marketing Director worked closely with the SmartSec mobilisation team to ensure that an agreement with a 3rd party to supply live-in guardians was ready for day one of the contract. He was also heavily involved in reconciling what was being delivered against the information provided at the point of tender, resolving any commercial elements that needed adjusting and communicating this with the Council.
Successes
SmartSec Solutions successfully appointed a new security manager. This swiftly allowed our newly appointed security manager to spend a week with the previous supplier’s temporarily appointed security manager for a handover.
SmartSec was also able to recruit for all the vacancies we were inheriting and train these personnel before the contract start date. We also trained a team of relief security officers, ensuring we had contingencies for any staffing issues.
Our success with resourcing the contract did not merely cater for the main contract. However, it allowed us to fully fulfil all of the additional cover requirements for the elections and the projects across the Council.
Our early engagement with the transferring employees successfully alleviated the concerns of those involved in the TUPE process. As a result of our early and open engagement, we achieved a 100% TUPE transfer rate on this account.
Due to our approach to starting the equipment procurement process early in the mobilisation, we ensured all our personnel had the tools and uniforms needed from day one.
The transitioning of the 60 mobile guarding and keyholding locations went smoothly. As of day one, we supplied these services to the various stakeholders within the Council.
Our Sales and Marketing Director identified that the most pragmatic approach to appointing a 3rd party to supply the live-in guardians would be to engage with the existing supplier. Following the required due diligence and adding this 3rd party supplier to our preferred supplier list during the mobilisation period, SmartSec Solutions were in a position to continue these services with no disruption.
Following this successful mobilisation, SmartSec Solutions has commenced to re-solution this contract by exploring and leveraging technology to enhance further the service they receive and achieve efficiencies.