Licensing, staffing models and what a guarding contract really costs
Manned guarding is a regulated activity in most jurisdictions, and the licence is the first gate. Individual officers hold a licence for the activity they perform -- static guarding, door supervision, cash in transit, close protection -- and the company holds an approval of its own, with screening of employment history over a stated number of years before an officer is deployed. Buyers verify the licences rather than the assertion, and a bid based on a workforce that does not yet hold them is a delivery risk the evaluation is designed to find.
The price is a wage plus an on-cost, and the room for manoeuvre is narrow. Applicable wage floors, holiday and sickness cover, training time, and the relief factor needed to keep a post covered around the clock are close to fixed, so an unusually low bid is usually a signal about one of them. Where a contract is transferring from an incumbent, employment protection rules commonly move the existing officers across on existing terms, which fixes most of the cost before the bidder starts and makes the transferring staff information supplied at tender the most important document in the pack.
Specifications increasingly describe outcomes and the technology that supports them rather than hours on a gate. Assignment instructions, incident reporting, patrol verification, control room monitoring, response times to alarms and integration with electronic access and surveillance systems are all defined and measured. For sites with public access or vulnerable users, conflict management and safeguarding training are specified, and the buyer usually retains the right to require removal of an individual officer without cause, which the bidder has to be able to absorb.
This section describes how this category is bought generally, across the public buyers that publish it. The figures elsewhere on this page are measured for this market alone.
Who buys security services in Belgium?
GlobalGov holds 274 security services records from 166 distinct buying organisations in Belgium. The most frequent publishers are Agentschap Facilitair Bedrijf (9 records); Vlaamse Overheid (9 records); Alliance Nationale des Mutualités Chrétiennes (8 records); Smals (8 records); Agentschap Overheidspersoneel (5 records); Antwerpen (5 records). Between them the 6 largest account for 16% of everything published, so buying here is spread across many separate authorities.
| Buying organisation | Records | Share |
|---|---|---|
| Agentschap Facilitair Bedrijf | 9 | 3.3% |
| Vlaamse Overheid | 9 | 3.3% |
| Alliance Nationale des Mutualités Chrétiennes | 8 | 2.9% |
| Smals | 8 | 2.9% |
| Agentschap Overheidspersoneel | 5 | 1.8% |
| Antwerpen | 5 | 1.8% |
What are security services contracts worth in Belgium?
70 of the 274 records publish a contract value. The median is $1.9M and the largest single published value is $194.4M. By size, 25 between $100k and $1M, 31 between $1M and $10M, 14 above $10M. The remaining 204 publish no value at all, so every figure here describes the priced subset only, and values are as stated by the buyer rather than as finally awarded.
| Contract size | Records | Share of priced |
|---|---|---|
| under $100k | 0 | 0.0% |
| between $100k and $1M | 25 | 36% |
| between $1M and $10M | 31 | 44% |
| above $10M | 14 | 20% |
How long do bidders get to respond to security services tenders in Belgium?
Across the 84 Belgium security services notices that publish both a publication date and a closing date, the median response window is 39 days. A quarter of them allowed 33 days or fewer and a quarter stayed open for more than 47. Not one of them closed within a fortnight of being published, so the window on this market is consistently workable.
How often are security services tenders published in Belgium?
Belgium published 19 notices in this category in the last twelve months. That is 60% fewer than the 47 published in the twelve months before that. Over the last three years there were 124, spread across 56 separate months of activity since 11 June 2021. December is historically the busiest month. No new notice has been published in this category since 26 May 2026, 128 days ago, so treat the figures above as a record of the market rather than as this week's pipeline.
How does Belgium compare with other security services markets?
Among the 29 countries where GlobalGov holds a comparable security services market, Belgium ranks 6th by number of records. The largest is Netherlands (1,431 records against 274 here). Within Belgium itself, security services is the 33rd largest of the 65 procurement categories tracked here.
Where do the Belgium security services records on this page come from?
These 274 records are collected from 1 official source: TED (274). GlobalGov is an independent aggregator and is not affiliated with any of them; each record links back to the notice on its issuing portal. The set is rebuilt nightly, and the counts on this page were taken on 2026-10-01.
Most recent Security Services tenders in Belgium
None of these are open for bids now — they are the most recent records GlobalGov holds for this market, kept here so the shape of a typical security services notice in Belgium is visible. Set an alert to be told when the next one opens.
Belgium – Security services – Accord-cadre de gardiennage national pour l'ensemble d'Infrabel.
Belgium – Guard services – SERVICES DE GARDIENNAGE
Belgium – Guard services – RO bewaking
Belgium – Placement services of personnel – Services de prestations de stewards (m/f) pour les éditions 2026 à 2029 du Solidaris Day organisé par le territoire de Liège
Belgium – Administration, defence and social security services – Meerjarige overeenkomst ( 48 maanden) tegen prijslijst voor de wettelijke controles van hijswerkruigen voor eenheden van Defensie opgesteld
Belgium – Security services – Gardiennage
Belgium – Supply services of personnel including temporary staff – Managed service provider (MSP)
Belgium – Recruitment services – Contrat pluriannuel (48 mois) par une entreprise spécialisée pour la mise en oeuvre du marketing de recrutement pour le compte du ministère de la Défense
Belgium – Supply services of nursing personnel – Uitzendarbeid zorgprofielen
Other procurement categories in Belgium
Civil ConstructionMedical EquipmentArchitecture and EngineeringWaste ManagementSoftware DevelopmentManagement ConsultingVehicles and FleetVehicle MaintenanceFinancial AdvisoryOffice FurnitureHospital ConstructionFood Aid and NutritionIT ConsultingIct EquipmentLaboratory EquipmentBuilding ConstructionAgricultural EquipmentScientific ResearchRoads and Highways InfrastructureBuilding MaterialsUniforms ClothingStaffing AugmentationTraining and Capacity BuildingCommunications PrTelecommunicationsFuel SupplyPharmaceuticalsGround TransportCatering ServicesCommunity DevelopmentPrinting PublishingFacilities and CleaningAudit and AccountingMaintenance & RepairOil Gas UpstreamFreight and LogisticsMilitary LogisticsMail CourierEvent ManagementSite PreparationRenovation RehabilitationWeapons SystemsResearch & DevelopmentHelpdesk SupportEnergyResearch and StudiesWater Supply ProjectsRoad & InfrastructureDatabase ManagementConsultingCybersecurityElectrical InstallationTraining & EducationEnvironmental ServicesFinancial ServicesPower TransmissionTransportationHealthcare ServicesLegal ServicesSurvey & MappingNetwork InfrastructureSchools and UniversitiesSanitation SewerageWarehousing
Security Services procurement in other markets
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