-> Quality instead of the lowest price: Germany should follow the example of European neighbours such as Spain and make the best bidder principle a binding award criterion
Essen/Brussels (21.10.2020). As the 1st Vice President of the Confederation of European Security Services (CoESS) since 2014, Friedrich P. Kötter has also played a key role in shaping the cooperation and further development in the security industry at the European level. Now the CoESS members confirmed the board of directors of the KÖTTER Security Group and Vice President of the Federal Association of the Security Industry (BDSW) again to this office.
Vinz van Es was elected the new CoESS President at the General Assembly, which took place virtually for the first time. The President of the Dutch Security Association succeeds Marc Pissens, who did not run again after 18 years in office and was appointed Honorary President of CoESS by the members in recognition of his successful work. 2. The Vice President is now Eduardo Cobas, Secretary General of the Spanish Federation.
“I would like to thank the members very much for their trust and I look forward to working with Vinz van Es and Eduardo Cobas. Together we will continue to follow the course set by Marc Pissens and will do everything in our power to strengthen the best value principle at all levels,” said Friedrich P. Kötter, who is also President of the “Airport Security” working group at CoESS. “Because the constantly increasing challenges in the areas of economic protection, public security or currently in the containment of the effects of corona, e.g. through reliable access controls, underline the importance of quality. To a large extent, it is therefore up to the contracting authorities themselves to ensure safety, reliability and trustworthiness in the provision of services by not awarding contracts primarily on the basis of the cheapest price, as is still far too often the case in this country with public tenders. Germany should therefore follow the example of its European neighbours such as Spain and make the best bidder principle a binding award criterion.
For the practical implementation of this quality-oriented awarding of contracts, the clients can refer to the Best Value Manual, which was developed more than 20 years ago by CoESS and the European trade union federation UNI-Europa and updated in 2015 (http://www.securebestvalue.org/wp-content/uploads/2014/11/Best-Value-Manual_Final.pdf).
CoESS also highlights the importance of the security industry in the fight against pandemics in the new white paper “The New Normal 2.0: Private Security and COVID-19 in Europe. A Strategic Review and Foresight” (https://www.coess.org/newsroom.php?page=white-papers) auf. On this basis the CoESS formulates urgent recommendations to politicians, authorities and clients to ensure a sustainable recovery of the industry and further strengthen its role.
They are based on the best bidder principle and include the following aspects, among others:
- Fair order conditions: Purely price-oriented invitations to tender and inadequate procurement practices are in considerable contrast to the relevance of service providers of public security and the value chain of many industries. Such framework conditions encourage the circumvention of collective agreements, social standards and other regulations – to the detriment of the level of protection at the customer’s premises and the working conditions of security employees. Here, in addition to the clients, it is above all the authorities that have a duty to develop solutions together with the social partners for these growing challenges, especially in times of crisis.
- Prevention: The pandemic has highlighted the vulnerability of modern societies and especially critical infrastructures like never before. For this very reason, business and the public sector must continue to expand their investments in prevention. They should rely equally on qualified service providers and the latest technical and digital solutions.
- Training: In order to keep personnel recruitment stable even in times of crisis, online training should be promoted. This is intended, among other things, to prevent the cessation of face-to-face events, as was the case during the shutdown in this country last spring.
- System relevance: The security industry must be recognised without compromise as a system-relevant factor so that in crisis situations such as the pandemic, employees can carry out their work, which is important for the state, the economy and the citizens, without restriction and without personal disadvantages.
- Government support: The continuation of short-time work in the aviation sector is of particular relevance. After all, it is important that service providers are able to keep their employees on board with the help of this instrument, among other things, so that sufficient personnel capacities are available again at the start of the economic recovery. In view of the aforementioned importance of our industry, this factor thus makes a significant contribution to ensuring that airports can function properly.
Subscribe to our newsletter to keep up to date: www.koetter.de/newsletter