Call for Expression of Interest : Private Security Company
- Background of the situation
GIZ Lebanon’s staff members work in several distinct projects (plus a country office) and implement a wide range of development cooperation activities throughout Lebanon in the water, education, civil society promotion, urban development and employment promotion and technical vocational training sectors. GIZ Lebanon implements alongside Lebanese governmental, civil society and non-governmental partners, with work and travel concentrated in Greater Beirut, but occurring in all of Lebanon’s governorates.
Lebanon’s overall security situation is fragile and prone to sudden, nation-wide crises and emergencies. In 2006, the country experienced a month-long war with Israel, which led to the evacuation of tens of thousands of foreigners from the country (including the expatriate GIZ staff then working in the country), and, in 2008, Lebanon saw weeks-long sectarian conflict, which paralyzed Beirut and temporarily stopped GIZ’s work in the capital. The factors that caused these crises remain present in Lebanon and can be triggered again to generate new emergencies, both acute and short-term or country-wide and prolonged. GIZ Lebanon works in this context and in 2017-2018 grew in its number of foreign and national staff and office locations. This growth is expected to continue in 2021-2022. However, GIZ Lebanon has limited capacity to respond to a major crisis. Given the elevated risk of a nation-wide crisis occurring in Lebanon (relative to other countries where GIZ works), as well as the changing nature of GIZ Lebanon’s disposition and composition, the GIZ Lebanon security risk management advisors (SRMAs) assessed it to be necessary to procure the services of a private security company to fill primarily logistical capacity gaps and provide expertise in crisis response.
- Summary of need for services
GIZ Lebanon has a thoroughly developed system of staff accountability and maintains up-to-date staff lists with contact information for all GIZ Lebanon employees (national and expatriate). This information includes precise residential address and location information (longitude and latitude). GIZ Lebanon has already implemented an emergency communications plan and is in regular contact with the German Embassy in Lebanon. GIZ Lebanon’s SRMAs furthermore regularly monitor the overall security situation in Lebanon and the broader Levantine Middle East for the purposes of predictive analysis and assessment of the likelihood of a particular crisis occurring. Initial crisis response planning has been conducted and initial plans have been drafted, to include identified assembly points, as well as thresholds for colleagues sheltering in place or hibernating at their residences. Field safe havens have also been identified to support colleagues during field visits.
What is missing from GIZ Lebanon’s crisis response planning is the logistical capacity to implement any planned or hasty relocation or evacuation. This primarily comes down to vehicles, drivers and equipment to communicate between vehicles (to coordinate movement). This gap in GIZ’s capacity to implement crisis response planning is why the services of a private security company are assessed as necessary. GIZ Lebanon therefore seeks the below general services to provide support in crisis response, prioritized in four broad categories as:
- Logistical support: well-maintained and serviced vehicles, trained drivers and navigators
- Communications and emergency first aid support: ability to communicate between vehicles and with GIZ Lebanon SRMAs independent of the GSM network and personnel trained in providing first aid, as well as first aid/trauma kits available in vehicles
- Planning and monitoring support: technical and firsthand knowledge of crisis response planning to assist GIZ Lebanon in the completion, monitoring and updating of relocation and evacuation plans
- Liaison support with Lebanese authorities: in the event of a crisis, assistance with communicating with key Lebanese authorities to not interfere with (actively or inadvertently) a relocation
The services provided by the private security company do not include the actual evacuation of expatriate staff members from Lebanese territory (whether by land, sea or air). The German Embassy (and the embassies of non-German expatriate staff members) is the institution responsible for the evacuation of GIZ Lebanon expatriate employees and their family members. The private security company will primarily assist GIZ Lebanon in the movement of colleagues between offices and residences to an assembly point(s) and, as a final step, from the assembly point(s) to the embassies’ (or GIZ’s) evacuation points.
GIZ Lebanon does not require other services commonly provided by private security companies, such as guarding or security incident reporting.
- Specific tasks and deliverables
The requirements for a private security company to provide in extremis support to GIZ Lebanon are divided below into specific contractual commitments, tasks or actions taken and specific deliverables provided to GIZ Lebanon.
- Commitment to relocate foreign staff and their resident family members from homes/offices to assembly point(s) in the event of a crisis, such as war, civil strife, natural disaster, etc., whether the environment is permissive or not.
- Commitment to relocate foreign staff and their resident family members from assembly point(s) to evacuee collection points in the event of a crisis, such as war, civil strife, natural disaster, etc., whether the environment is permissive or not.
- Commitment to relocate national staff in specific instances as defined by GIZ Lebanon. For instance, a national colleague is not in their location of recruitment during the order to relocate (for instance, in Akkar for work but based in Beirut) or is assessed to be in imminent danger during a crisis, such as war, civil strife, natural disaster, etc., whether the environment is permissive or not.
- Commitment to relocate national or expatriate staff members on an ad hoc, individual basis if they are involved in a serious but acute (not nation-wide) crisis, usually from the site of the crisis or emergency to home, nearest medical facility or an identified and agreed upon safe location, depending on the situation and the permissiveness of the environment.
- Provision of sufficient number and type of vehicles to move required number of staff and family members.
- Provision of sufficient number of trained and English speaking drivers to operate vehicles to move required number of staff and family members.
- Provision of sufficient number of non-GSM dependent communications devices in each vehicle to coordinate movement when GSM services are disrupted.
- Provision of emergency medical support (first aid kits and trained personnel) during relocation (in each vehicle).
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- Personnel should be trained in the provision of first aid to the level of ‘First Person on the Scene (FPOS)’ intermediate.
- Provision of basic equipment and tools for minor vehicle repairs (spare tire, jack, etc.).
- Provision of adequate drinking water in vehicles for consumption by relocated staff and family members.
- Provision of a dedicated ‘case manager’ or other responsible individual who handles GIZ as a client.
- Ability to provide either armored (at least VR7 level) or soft-skin vehicles, depending on the situation under which relocation occurs. Drivers operating armored vehicles must possess the required driving licenses and have at least two years of experience in driving armored vehicles.
- Provision of planning support for relocation of foreign staff and their resident family members (commitment of time and resources to working with GIZ Lebanon security risk management advisors to finalize and keep up-to-date all aspects of relocation planning)
- Developing primary and secondary routes to and from locations (homes, offices and assembly point(s)
- Developing schemes of maneuver to collect seconded staff and family members in the most efficient order to save time
- Developing emergency communications plans.
- Commitment to protect sensitive information on the locations of GIZ offices and residences.
- Commitment to update and reformulate crisis response planning based on changing needs of GIZ Lebanon (disposition of GIZ Lebanon is dynamic, with the number of staff growing and the locations at which they are based changing).
- Commitment to be reachable 24/7 by GIZ Lebanon SRMAs for consultation, updating of plan, etc.
- Commitment not to outsource any duties. It will be the responsibility of the provider to fulfill all aspects of the contract.
- Commitment to plan and participate in at least one crisis management exercise with the GIZ Lebanon SRMAs and Crisis Management Team (CMT) per year, to be scheduled in a mutually agreed upon manner.
- Provide emergency medical transport during a crisis / emergency event by providing transportation services and also staff who are trained as First Aid Responders. There role would be to transport GIZ staff require medical assistance to a hospital when normal emergency services are overwhelmed.
- Provide a security information service about various incidents occurring in Lebanon on a platform that provides a map and a short brief description of the incident that is occurring. This can be used to inform GIZ Lebanon about ongoing protests and potential armed clashes.
- Qualifications and experience requirements
All private security companies responding to these terms of reference must:
- Provide proof of their registration and licensing with the Lebanese state as legally operating entities in the private security sphere. Companies not appropriately registered and licensed or unwilling to provide documentation that they are will not be considered for this contract.
- Be fully licensed and registered to own and operate armored vehicles and radios, and be willing to provide such proof of licensing and registration.
- Operate in full compliance with all relevant Lebanese laws governing private security companies.
- Have prior experience supporting the relocation and evacuation of expatriate employees of a foreign company or organization in Lebanon.
- Assign a case manager to GIZ Lebanon who can fluently communicate in English and Arabic, both verbally and in written correspondence.
- Period of contract and expected timeline of commitment
The duration of this contract will be for two years from the date of signature, with a review of services conducted at the end of the first six months to assess GIZ Lebanon’s satisfaction with the service provider. Any renewal of the contract will be based upon the assessment of services provided over the duration of the initial contract.
For the duration of the contract, the private security company’s assigned GIZ case manager must be available to meet with the GIZ Lebanon SRMAs on a no less than monthly basis to review and update crisis response planning as required (and more frequently, depending on the situation). This schedule of meetings will be determined at a later time between the SRMAs and the private security company case manager. The case manager or an assigned and identified deputy must be reachable 24/7.
When new information that would alter the details of a relocation plan are gathered by the GIZ Lebanon SRMAs (such as the departure or arrival of new expatriate staff), this will be communicated immediately to the private security company’s assigned GIZ case manager and a meeting will be scheduled to update crisis response planning appropriately.
How to apply
The applicant shall submit the Expression of Interest (EoI) to [email protected] accompanied by copies of all the required information and documents listed below:
-Company name and contact details (Office adresses, emails, telephone ..)
-A copy of the company's registration, licenses and legal documents (including VAT registration)
-Company profile including the board members , years of experience in Lebanon, years of experience in similar context and overall employee count.
- A pdf presentation of all the armored vehicles available within the company (kindly include the quantity and specifications) Armored vehicles must be manufactured according to level VR7 as per VPAM-BRV-2009 (equivalent to VR6 BRV 1999).
-Names, contact details and CVs of evacuation officers that will be incharge of the evacution plan incase of an emergency
- Average anual turnover for the last 3 years
PLEASE note: The subject title of the email should be: GIZ/RMO - Security Company
Please note: Only applications containing the mentioned documents will be taken into consideration.
Deadline is, 1st of March 2021.
Type of Call: Call for Applications
Expired