Security Guard Services

The County of Santa Cruz invites sealed proposals from fully licensed, insured, bonded, and certified CONTRACTORS to furnish all labor, tools, equipment, and incidentals required to provide Security Guard Services.

Established in 1850 as one of the state’s original 27 counties, the County of Santa Cruz was originally called Branciforte. The name was later changed to Santa Cruz, which is “holy cross” in Spanish. The County of Santa Cruz geographically is the second smallest county within the State of California yet it has one of the largest unincorporated area populations. The 2020 estimated population for the County of Santa Cruz by the U.S. Census Bureau was 270,861. The County encompasses an urban service area of 440 square miles.

It is the intent of the County to award all services specified herein to a single contractor.

If your firm is capable of providing most services, but for some reason not all, you should bid on as many services as possible and indicate why you cannot provide the other services.

The contractor shall provide uniforms to security guard personnel. Uniform color and design shall be approved by the County.

All patrol vehicles and personnel shall be equipped with fixed, mobile and hand-held two-way radios. [...] The Dispatch Center must provide for twenty-four (24) hour communications to security staff and provide twenty-four (24) hour access to County departments.

All security guards shall meet the following requirements per the State of California Bureau of Security and Investigative Services:

• Be at least 18 years of age.
• Undergo a criminal history background check through the California Department of Justice (DOJ) and the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI).
• Complete Power to Arrest Training.
• Complete at least thirty-two (32) hours of training in security officer skills within the first six (6) months of a new security guard’s licensure.
• All security guards must receive eight (8) hours of continued training, annually, by either their employer or by a Bureau-approved course provider.

The contractor’s patrol vehicles shall consist of clearly marked, regularly serviced vehicles in good working order.

Proposals must be submitted electronically through the County's OpenGov Procurement portal. No oral, telegraph, telephone, facsimile, emailed responses or photocopies will be accepted.

The deadline to submit proposals is on Friday, December 4, 2026 before 5:00 pm. No late submittals or alternative forms of submittal will be accepted.

Evaluation Criteria

| Criteria | Points |
| --- | --- |
| Proposal Content | 20 |
| Quality of Response | 10 |
| Staffing Patterns | 20 |
| Experience | 10 |
| Corporate/Organizational Stability | 10 |
| References | 10 |
| Cost | 20 |
| Locally Operated Business | 5 |

County of Santa Cruz will give a local business a local vendor preference of five (5) points toward a 105 point criteria scale.

Award of contract is contingent upon approval from the Santa Cruz County Board of Supervisors as applicable and funding availability.

Contract Start: July 1, 2027.