---
title: "Museum Security Consortium"
ocid: "ocds-h6vhtk-04cc6b"
canonical_url: "https://d3tenders.com/contract/?ocid=ocds-h6vhtk-04cc6b"
markdown_url: "https://d3tenders.com/contract/ocds-h6vhtk-04cc6b.md"
json_url: "https://d3tenders.com/contract/ocds-h6vhtk-04cc6b.json"
source: "Find A Tender Service"
current_stage: "Award"
buyer: "THE BOARD AND TRUSTEES OF THE NATURAL HISTORY MUSEUM"
published: "2024-12-20"
---

# Museum Security Consortium

Buyer: THE BOARD AND TRUSTEES OF THE NATURAL HISTORY MUSEUM  
Current stage: Award  
OCID: ocds-h6vhtk-04cc6b

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## Summary

The procurement process for the "Museum Security Consortium" has been completed by The Board and Trustees of the Natural History Museum, alongside the Victoria and Albert Museum and the Science Museum. This tender falls within the "Security Services" industry category and focuses on providing comprehensive security operations across multiple museum sites in Inner London – West. The contract, awarded to Wilson James Ltd, extends the existing agreement set to expire on 31/03/2026 by a further year until 31/03/2027, with an increased value of £12,150,514. The decision was made due to the necessity for additional security services related to ongoing projects and regulatory obligations, with the award notice dated 2024-12-19.

This tender presents significant opportunities for businesses experienced in professional security services, particularly in sectors requiring coordination across multiple sites. Companies proficient in managing complex security infrastructures, emergency response, and specialised event security can benefit from participating. This contract helps ensure operational continuity and the safeguarding of valuable collections during key periods of change and development, making it a substantial growth opportunity for businesses with the relevant expertise and resources to deliver consistent, high-quality security services.

## Notice

The 3 museum partners (The Natural History Museum, the Science Museum and the Victoria and Albert Museum) commission Wilson James Limited to provide security services across the numerous sites of the 3 museum partners, including control rooms, perimeter security and internal patrols, emergency response and first aid, management of electronic security systems, event and exhibition security officers, staff entrance security, traffic control, loading bay, bag search and door security across the various sites, providing world-class, co-ordinated, professional security services.

### Lot Information

Lot 1

The 3 museum partners are placing this transparency notice to alert economic operators of their intention to extend their contact with Wilson James Limited currently due to expire on 31/03/2026 by a further year until 31/03/2027 in accordance with Regulation 72(1)(b) of the Public Contacts Regulations 2015 with an estimated increased value for that further year of PS12,150,514 due to the need for additional works, services or supplies and the grounds identified in Regulation 72(1)(b) of the Public Contract Regulations 2015 apply. See Annex D for more details. Original contract details - The 3 museum partners originally signed an agreement for security services with Wilson James Limited across their multiple sites (notice 2018/S 085 - 191827 estimated value PS63.487,185) which was extended by a further year in 2022 (notice 2018/S 085 - 191827 estimated value PS11.979,731.) to expire on 31/03/2026. Additional information: For context: the supplier standardises uniforms, procedures, and pay across the 3 museums, allowing absences or variances in requirements to easily be managed e.g. allowing a staff member finishing a shift at one museum to start at another. Were a museum to leave the consortium and contract alone it would cause significant inconvenience/duplication of costs due to the loss of these benefits.

### Procurement Information

The 3 museums place this transparency notice to alert economic operators of their intention to extend their contact with Wilson James by one further year until 31/03/2027 with an estimated increased value of PS12,150,514. This is because additional works, services or supplies have become necessary, the increase in price does not exceed 50% of the value of the original contract, and the grounds identified in r72(1)(b) of the Public Contract Regulations 2015 apply as set out below. a.V&A is opening new buildings and for technical reasons needs one security provider across its entire estate. Without the proposed extension V&A will not be able to persuade the current supplier to invest in providing security to the new building creating a significant operational risk, leading to technical and economic inconvenience. b.NHM is undergoing significant changes to the collections stored at both its South Kensington and Tring sites, as a result of the potential movement of certain collections to Thames Valley Science Park (subject to approval). A change in supplier at this key time, to a supplier that is unfamiliar with the site, would result in greater security risks to its rare, unique and delicate collections during the move process, and would require the expertise of the current supplier in relation to NHM's sites and systems and equipment to reduce risk and avoid significant inconvenience if the supplier were to be changed now. c.There are currently significant site developments going on at all of the Science Museum Group's sites - including major construction works as part of an ongoing Masterplan programme. A potential change in contractor within the next two years would have significant impact on the day-to-day operation of the sites. SMG and the onsite security teams are working together to support all these projects and are all well versed in the approaches to take to keep visitors, colleagues and the various sites safe and secure and a change to this structure at a critical point in delivery could have significant effects. d.In common with other museums in the UK and across Europe SMG and V&A are experiencing an increased security risk, and consequently SMG and potentially V&A will require a security assessment to take place during this key period, that will require the expertise of the current supplier in relation to SMG's and V&A's systems and equipment to reduce risk and avoid significant inconvenience if the supplier were to be changed now and replaced with a new provider that was less used to managing SMG's and V&A's sites e.At the date of this notice the Terrorism (Protection of Premises) Bill is at the Report stage. Once it is passed, this legislation will require the 3 museums to take prescribed steps to reduce the vulnerability of their premises to, and the risk of physical harm to individuals arising from, acts of terrorism. At this stage when the full scope of these obligations is not known it would be premature to engage a new supplier to provide services which could soon be out-of-date.

## Key Details

| Field | Value |
| --- | --- |
| Publication source | Find A Tender Service |
| Latest notice | https://www.find-tender.service.gov.uk/Notice/041316-2024 |
| Notice type | Award Notice |
| Procurement type | Standard |
| Procurement category | Services |
| Procurement method | Limited |
| Procurement method details | Award procedure without prior publication of a call for competition |
| Tender suitability | Not specified |
| Awardee scale | Large |
| All stages | Award |

## Dates

| Field | Value |
| --- | --- |
| Publication date | 20 Dec 2024 |
| Submission deadline | Not specified |
| Future notice date | Not specified |
| Award date | 19 Dec 2024 |
| Contract period | Not specified |
| Recurrence | Not specified |

## Values

| Field | Value |
| --- | --- |
| Tender value | Not specified |
| Lots value | Not specified |
| Awards value | Not specified |
| Contracts value | £12,150,514 |

## Status

| Field | Value |
| --- | --- |
| Tender status | Complete |
| Lots status | Not specified |
| Awards status | Active |
| Contracts status | Active |

## Buyer

| Field | Value |
| --- | --- |
| Main buyer | THE BOARD AND TRUSTEES OF THE NATURAL HISTORY MUSEUM |
| Locality | LONDON |
| Post town | South West London |
| Postcode | SW7 5BD |
| Country | England |
| ITL 1 | TLI London |
| ITL 2 | TLI3 Inner London - West |
| ITL 3 | TLI33 Kensington & Chelsea and Hammersmith & Fulham |
| Local authority | Kensington and Chelsea |
| Electoral ward | Brompton & Hans Town |
| Westminster constituency | Kensington and Bayswater |
| Delivery location | TLI3 Inner London - West |

## Supplier

| Field | Value |
| --- | --- |
| Number of suppliers | 1 |
| Supplier names | WILSON JAMES |

## CPV Codes

### Divisions

- 79 - Business services: law, marketing, consulting, recruitment, printing and security

### Codes

- 79710000 - Security services

## Release History

- 20 Dec 2024 at 19:05 - Award - Award Notice - https://www.find-tender.service.gov.uk/Notice/041316-2024

## Notice URLs

- http://www.nhm.ac.uk
- http://www.sciencemuseum.org.uk
- http://www.vam.ac.uk/
- https://ted.europa.eu/udl?uri=TED:NOTICE:191827-2018:TEXT:EN:HTML
- https://wilsonjames.co.uk/
- https://www.delta-esourcing.com/delta/viewNotice.html?noticeId=910386218
- https://www.nhm.ac.uk
- https://www.nhm.ac.uk/

## Provenance

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