A contract to provide security solutions to Bank of America Merrill Lynch operations in the UK has gone to G4S.
From December 2013, the three year contract will see more than 200 officers from G4S Secure Solutions (UK) secure six key sites for the Bank. It will form one of the company’s largest commercial UK contracts. The contract firm will provide reception security; access control; patrolling; administration; CCTV operation and systems, intelligence and risk management at the six sites across the UK and Ireland, including its headquarters at King Edward Street, London.
G4S reports that it provides security to over 3,000 Bank of America branches across the United States and sites across the world.
The deal will also see the security contractor provide technology-based security to the Bank, including handheld devices for the security officers, providing intelligence, reporting and monitoring. What the contractor describes as technology-enabled operations will include reporting procedures harmonised between the UK and the US leading to a single global standard for the Bank.
Doug Hewitson, Group Managing Director at G4S Secure Solutions, said: “This is a key strategic contract win for G4S in the UK and Ireland and our officers will hit the ground running with the provision of industry-leading security solutions to Bank of America. Building on our ethos of partnership working, we look forward to commencing the contract later this year which includes the delivery of technology-enabled officers as part of our complex security offering.”
G4S meanwhile has been awarded a two year extension to its contract to provide aviation security at Baghdad International Airport (BIAP). The $22.5 million a year contract, which was awarded by the Iraq Ministry of Transport (MoT) to G4S Risk Management will bring the full contract period to a five-year term.
G4S at the BIAP has worked with the Iraqi Civil Aviation Authority and the Iraqi Government since January 2010 to develop the Iraqi Civil Aviation’s capability and international credibility. Baghdad airport now welcomes close to one million visitors a year and most of the region’s leading airlines including Air Arabia, EgyptAir, Emirates, Etihad, FlyDubai, Gulf Air, Qatar Airways, Royal Jordanian and Turkish Airlines.
G4S has more than 840 employees working at Baghdad International Airport (BIAP), more than 700 of whom are Iraqis, and the aim is to continue increasing the proportion of local staff and local expertise. G4S has sponsored a number of its Iraqi managers through the UK Department of Transport’s aviation security manager’s courses, in the UK or in Iraq.
The security firm provides all aspects of the airport’s security including project management; operational, logistical and administrative support; physical security for Checkpoint 1, the main gateway to the airport; as well as a Quick Reaction Force (QRF). G4S also provides 24-hour security services to the Nineveh and Babylon terminals.
Martin Aggar, aviation director for G4S Risk Management, said: “We are delighted to have been awarded the contract extension to protect BIAP and look forward to continue working with the ICAA and Iraqi authorities to develop it further as Iraq’s premier international aviation hub.
“We have worked hard to help the team at the airport ensure that it looks and feels like any other airport elsewhere in the world and believe that G4S’s experience and track record of providing security at airports worldwide helps to convey that impression of normality.”
