Original Tender Description
Rushmoor Borough Council (the 'council') will be re-tendering its Cleaning and Security contract in place at The Meads, Farnborough. Alongside this the Council is also considering its options for re-tendering its cleaning & security arrangements in place across a further three of its key investment assets located in Guildford, Aldershot and Frimley.
The subsequent formal procurement process, which will be run as an over threshold openly advertised covered procurement, is targeted for issue in early March 2026. Prior to undertaking this process, the Council is keen to engage with the market to gain feedback & insight via a formal Preliminary Market Engagement process that will help inform its final technical, commercial, contracting and procurement strategy.
One of the Council's key considerations which will be tested through this preliminary market engagement process, is whether to procure all security & cleaning services across all sites under one contract, split contracts by service, split contracts by property asset and other potential bidding combinations.
The award date for the contract/s is targeted for 16th May 2026 with commencement of services to run from 1st September 2026. The Council anticipates letting the contract/s on a 3-year base term with options to extend up to a maximum of 7 years but will be seeking views from the market on this element.
The combined value of all services across all sites is currently in the region of £730,000 per annum (excluding VAT). This is broken down in more detail further in the PME brief document which is available on Rushmoor Borough Council's e-tendering solution, Procontract, a link to the site can be found here - https://procontract.due-north.com/Login.
Overview of Sites, Requirements & Current Budget Levels
The Council requires high-quality cleaning and security suppliers who specialise in the delivery of services at the types of commercial property under council ownership, this includes:
The Meads Shopping Centre
The cleaning and security contracts are currently undertaken by Kingdom Facilities Management. The cleaning contract includes the common parts of the shopping centre and toilets, offices, multi-story car park, loading bays, street cleaning, gritting and light landscaping. This diverse cleaning and security contract includes the importance of a high-quality output, whilst also interacting with members of the public and tenants during the shopping centre opening hours. Whilst also keeping it secure at closing times. The security team will be responsible for 24-hour CCTV control room monitoring, security patrols, customer service and assist with meeting H&S requirements, attending to intruder alarms and fire alarms with the possibility of leading evacuations and calling relevant services. The centre is manned 24/7 with opening hours between 07:00 - 01:00 seven days a week, with the exception of Christmas Day. Full TUPE information will be available at the tendering stage upon completion of the Non-disclosure Agreement.
Union Yard
The current contract is undertaken by Gurkha security. Union Yard is a newly developed shopping area in Aldershot Town Centre. The Cleaning and security requirements include all outdoor common areas within the scheme. This includes courtyards and garden area, pedestrianised streets, public realm within close proximity, landscaping, street furniture, toilet block, and underground car park. Requirements include winter gritting, litter picking and cleaning a small toilet block facility which is used by tenants only who do not have toilet facilities in their small units. There is an emphasis of this being a porter style role rather than traditional security and cleaning with regular tenant and customer interaction. The hours may be subject to change but are currently Monday - Friday 07:00 - 17:00. As commercial expectations rise, we may need to change this to include the weekends. Currently the duties are carried out by one full-time site porter whose time is split approximately as 75% cleaning and 25% security.
Ashbourne House
The cleaning contract is currently undertaken by Churchill Cleaning Solutions. Ashbourne house is a multi-tenanted office block. It includes cleaning the internal common parts, such as reception, stairways, lifts and common WCs. Also includes periodic cleans of hard floors and carpeted areas within the common parts and regular external cleans. The contract is based on two cleaners attending daily. Security guarding for this site is only on an ad-hoc basis, such traveller encampments into the adjoining park and ride car park. There is response security (off site).
Frimley 4.4:
The contract is undertaken by Mobius security and Protective Services. This is a large business unit on a multi-let estate and includes cleaning of common-part and retained areas including reception, stairways and common WCs. There is manned security and associated costs for staff specifically employed to undertake security duties onsite. Security contract includes additional items such as radio equipment and uniforms.
Procurement Process and Programme
Following completion of the Preliminary Market Engagement process, the Council is targeting to commence a formal procurement process following the Open Procedure via issue of a Tender Notice on 9th March 2026 with contract award to the successful Operator targeted for 16th May 2026.
The contract is targeted for commencement on 1st September 2026. The Council will give the successful services providers a minimum of 3-month mobilisation period to ensure seamless service is maintained. The Council is seeking feedback from the market in relation to the proposed mobilisation period as part of this preliminary procurement engagement process.
The current indicative procurement programme is set out below:
Tender Notice Issued 9th March 2026
Tender Pack Issued on ProContract - 9th March 2026
Mandatory Site Tour and Bidders Briefing - 18th March 2026
Deadline for Requests for Clarification - 1st April 2026 @23:59
Tender return deadline - 10th April 2026 @12:00
Award Decision & Assessment Summaries Issued 5th May 2026
Contract Award Notice Issued 5th May 2026
Standstill Period Starts 6th May 2026
Standstill Period Ends 15th May 2026 @23:59
Contract Award - 16th May 2026
Mobilisation - 16th May - 31st August 2026
Contract Commencement - 1st September 2026
The full preliminary market engagement documentation pack can be accessed using the following link: https://procontract.due-north.com/Login