Feral Jundi

Tuesday, March 13, 2012

Law Enforcement: Dozens Of Firms Register Interest In £1.5bn UK Police Support Contracts

Filed under: Industry Talk,Law Enforcement,United Kingdom — Tags: , , , , — Matt @ 2:40 PM

Chris Sims, the West Midlands chief constable, said: “This is not about taking away the core responsibility for policing away from officers. I want to be clear that where a police power is needed a police officer will carry out that duty.
“The backbone of the service will remain unchanged but we are committed to finding a long-term transformational solution that is more cost-effective and improves the service we deliver,” said Sims.
“Our values remain at the heart of the service and our priority is to put the public first in everything we do.”

I will have to warn you that this is a Guardian article. lol But if you can look beyond that, this is interesting news. There is much debate going on about this, and it is a classic public versus private debate. You can also see that the unions are rallying around how dangerous of an idea this is and really pushing the narrative of that.

Personally, I think it is a great idea. Because this looks more like a public private partnership than a complete privatization of police work in the UK. The duties these companies will be performing are totally in line with what private industry can accomplish and accel at. Just look at what Bruce Power SWAT accomplished?  Look at how massively large and successful G4S is?  In both cases, private security and related administrative duties can definitely provide value to the client.

Best of all, these police departments can fire a company if it is a poor performer or if they violated the contract. A private company has incentive to do well in that kind of environment and they will fight to do it better/faster/cheaper than the next guy. That versus a government force who has no ‘real’ incentive to perform well–because there is no one that competes with them. Check it out.

My one bit of advice for these police departments is to ensure they have a strong contracting officer corps that can monitor and manage these contracts to the fullest extent. A contracting corps armed with a contract and policy that answers as many of the issues of principal agent problem as possible. That means having folks dedicated to holding these private companies accountable and ensuring the tax payer and local community does in fact get a good value for their pound sterling. –Matt

 

Police privatisation: dozens of firms register interest in £1.5bn contract
Surrey and West Midlands forces invite bids for services including investigating crimes and detaining suspects
By Alan Travis
Tuesday 13 March 2012
Delegates from private security companies were attending a “bidders’ conference” on Tuesday for a £1.5bn contract to run a wide range of policing services in the West Midlands and Surrey.
The contract notice drawn up for the groundbreaking contract invites bids from the private sector for services that include investigating crimes, detaining suspects and managing high-risk offenders.
The widely drawn West Midlands/Surrey contract notice says that all those services that can “be legally delegated to the private sector” have been put on the table while “preserving the integrity of the office of constable”.
The West Midlands police authority says there are “many household names” among the 64 firms but has declined to name any of them. Potential bidders will hear both chief constables and the outgoing chairmen of the West Midlands and Surrey police authorities detail the procurement process and outline what they hope to achieve from the “business partnership programme”.

(more…)

Monday, March 12, 2012

Industry Talk: East Africa Hits It Big In Oil, Gas Boom

Filed under: Africa,Industry Talk — Tags: , , , , — Matt @ 3:59 PM

Lately I have been on an energy security kick. There is a lot of money in oil and gas, and the demand is only going higher. Not to mention that things are not very stable in the middle east, so a diversification of sources is in high demand. So how does this impact our industry?

Well for one, security of these wild cat companies that are searching and drilling on land and sea for oil/gas need security partners. These companies are willing to take the risks because the money is there, and capable private security companies are there to help them get there. That last part is important to note, just because thanks to ten plus years of war, we now have companies in this industry who know how to protect people and things in war zones. And especially in war zones that are populated with jihadists….a particularly wicked type of adversary.

These jihadists are also targeting anything to do with the west, to include oil and gas exploration. I wrote about this in my prior post about oil companies being targeted by jihadists in Somalia. Today’s war veterans and contractor veterans know this enemy very well, and they also know how to set up the security of a site to deal with this type of threat.

I also wanted to bring up this quote as a clue to the potential in this industry.

Still, major oil companies are falling over themselves to grab a stake in East Africa, largely by buying out smaller wildcat outfits which made major strikes.
One of these is Cove Energy, a London-listed company. It put itself up for sale in January after reporting one of the world’s largest natural gas strikes in a decade, a field off Mozambique containing an estimated 15 trillion-30 trillion cubic feet of gas, more than Norway’s entire reserves.
On Feb. 22, Royal Dutch Shell offered $1.6 billion for Cove’s 8.5 percent stake in the highly promising Block 4. Four days later Thailand’s state-owned energy company PTT Exploration and Production stepped in with a $1.7 billion bid. On Sunday, India’s state-run Oil and Natural Gas Corp. offered $2 billion.

If you are a private security company that specializes in Africa, then partnering with one of these ‘smaller wild cat’ oil exploration companies could be quite profitable. Any contract with such a company should include a percentage of the profits for the operation, or when the company is sold to a larger oil company. More risk should equal more reward, and hopefully PSC’s are fully realizing the potential in these contracts.(and why not do a profit share with your security contractors doing the work and taking the risk out in the field as well? hint hint)

The other industry angle with this oil and gas boom in East Africa (and West Africa) is that piracy will be increasing as interest in Africa oil increases. There is just too much money floating around on the high seas for pirates or even jihadists to ignore. Hostage taking on land and sea will increase as well, and especially if it is oil executives or engineers crucial to the operation of these sites.

One tangent I would like to quickly expand upon is rare earth minerals. I have to imagine that Africa has sources of minerals not yet discovered, that will be vital for these growing and hungry economies of the west and east. All the stuff that goes into computers or phones, the magnets used in electric/hybrid vehicle motors or in weapons like guided missiles, or gold and silver, are all much needed by all of the industrialized nations of the world. The protection of these mining operations and the protection of the transport of this stuff, are all areas that this industry handles. Especially with mineral finds that pop up in war zones.

Interesting stuff and it is definitely an area of this industry that we should all be paying attention too. Keep your eyes peeled for energy security related work and for new discoveries. –Matt

 

East Africa hits it big in oil, gas boom
Feb. 29, 2012
East Africa is emerging as the new hot zone for oil and natural gas exploration, with major discoveries by Anadarko of the United States and Italy’s Eni in the Indian Ocean off Mozambique and by Norway’s Statoil off neighboring Tanzania.
Even war-wracked Somalia, further north in the Horn of Africa, is part of the drive for energy resources in the region, with a Canadian company, Africa Oil, expecting to start producing within the next couple of months in the northern autonomous enclave of Puntland.
But the big prize there is the offshore oil and gas fields that Somali officials say contain more than 100 billion barrels of oil, more than Kuwait. If that’s the case, Somalia, torn by war since 1991, would become the seventh largest oil nation.

(more…)

Saturday, March 10, 2012

Kenya: Private Security Grows In Response To Pirates

Filed under: Industry Talk,Kenya — Tags: , , , , , — Matt @ 12:46 PM

This is a great little clip of some hard charging Kenyan security professionals. Although it is obvious that the guys in the background are doing drills like that to perform as background for the interview– or dog and pony shows to promote the company. lol

If you are interested in further investigations into the Kenyan security market, here is a link to the KSIA mentioned in the beginning. –Matt

 

Friday, March 9, 2012

Industry Talk: The EU’s EEAS To Spend €15mn On Private Security Firms This Year

Filed under: Industry Talk,Libya — Tags: , , , , , , , , , , , — Matt @ 11:04 AM

Ashton’s €15-million-a-year special security budget is tiny compared to what member states shell out. According to foreign office figures provided to EUobserver, the UK between mid-2006 and mid-2010 spent €196 million on private security in Iraq alone.

Excellent news for the guys across the pond. In this article they list a bunch of the PSC’s that the EU uses in it’s foreign missions. It also lists the countries that they are using private security in.

The list of companies and the countries goes as follows:

Page Group: Afghanistan

Argus: Haiti, Lebanon, Libya, Yemen and Saudi Arabia.

Control Risks: Israel. 

Saladin: Pakistan.

*The EU foreign corps last year put Argus and Page, as well as French company Geos, Canadian firm GardaWorld and British company G4S on a special shortlist. The listing means that if a new job comes up, the EEAS can hire one of them in a decision which takes just two weeks, instead of a year-or-so, as with a normal EU tender.(from article below)

Very cool and I didn’t know that Argus was such a player in this game?  Here is a clip from their bio page:

Over time the company has specialized in protection, risk assessment and crisis management for international corporations and their foreign branches, but also for international organizations and diplomatic entities located in volatile countries.
Shortly before the end of the conflict in Bosnia and Herzegovina, the company established its business in Budapest, Hungary for strategic and geographic reasons. However, 97% of its activities are currently conducted outside of the European Union.
Argus Security Projects Ltd. currently has 600 staff members permanently deployed worldwide.

What I also like about this list of companies, to include the short list, is that you get an idea as to what the EU thinks is an acceptable company to work with. Both in cost, reputation, experience and capability. Although I will save my judgement on these companies, just because they could have been chosen because they are the cheapest?… It also shows what countries the EU has interest in and that they are compelled to hire private security to accomplish that mission.

The Saudi Arabia mission is obvious for it’s oil. Places like Libya have oil too, and Europe needs that oil bad. So getting into that country and securing their folks while they do their thing is a priority–all so they can influence and get a place at the ‘trough’ there. Before the revolution in Libya, Europe had a high amount of oil imports from Libya, and I imagine that they would like to get that back. Not only that, but get that source back to the level of ‘secure and dependable’. That is not easy and it takes some work in the diplomacy department to get that done. Interesting stuff. –Matt

 

Ashton to spend €15mn on private security firms
March 9, 2012
By Andrew Rettman
Catherine Ashton’s External Action Service (EEAS) is to spend €15 million on private security firms this year as part of broader efforts to protect diplomats overseas.
The money is to cover “fully integrated security services” at its outposts in Beirut, Benghazi, Islamabad, Jerusalem, Kabul, Port-au-Prince, Ryiadh, Saleh and Tripoli.
It will spend another €35 million on hiring day-to-day security staff for the rest of its 136 foreign delegations. Some other places are also considered risky (diplomats are asked not to take families to Baghdad and Monrovia), but do not qualify for the “fully integrated” treatment.
The Afghanistan mission is currently protected by armed, company-logo-wearing ex-military types, including former Nepalese Gurkhas, supplied by London-based firm Page Group. When the EU ambassador leaves his compound, he travels in a convoy of three cars with seven bodyguards. Last year, someone took a pot-shot at his office window while he was briefing staff. In 2010, he was nearly hit by a rocket at a tribal congress.

(more…)

Monday, March 5, 2012

Somalia: Vancouver-based Africa Oil Defies Al Shabab And Drills….With Pathfinder Corporation Protecting

Filed under: Africa,Al Qaeda,Canada,Somalia — Tags: , , , , , , — Matt @ 6:46 PM

In Somalia, Vancouver-based Africa Oil and partners Red Emperor Resources NL and Range Resources Ltd. hired South African security consultant Pathfinder Corp. to help protect their site. Local patrols are in place, and the regional government is providing added military strength, Hill said. Defenses include heaping dirt in a perimeter, or berm, around the site, to keep intruders out.

In the past I mentioned East Africa and the west’s positioning there in order to tap into oil sources. What is interesting is that more and more companies are willing to risk much in order to get at that oil, and PSC’s are getting some use.

This article in particular talks about a Canadian company trying to do just that in Somalia. From the sounds of it, they have a small private army and built up defenses to protect it. The PSC mentioned that is front and center for the defense of these wells is called Pathfinder Corporation.

I have never heard of Pathfinder Corporation and they are a South African company. They were registered in 1998 and the CEO is Marius Roos. Here is his bio:

Pathfinder is led by Marius Roos (Managing Director) who has a strong military background and currently holds the rank of Colonel in the SA Army Reserve Force. Apart from a distinguished career in the military, he has also qualified himself in various disciplines of security, which he utilised with good effect whilst employed in the private sector. Until recently he held the position of Risk Intelligence Specialist at one of the largest Parastatals in South Africa. In addition to numerous career-enhancing courses, Marius also successfully completed the Senior Managment Program with the University of Pretoria.

The thing about this story is that Al Shabab/Al Qaeda have joined forces recently and have declared that this oil drilling site is a ‘no-go’.

Al-Shabaab, which claimed responsibility for a suicide attack on a Mogadishu hotel that killed at least 15 last month, rejects the award of oil licenses to Western companies, Reuters said on Feb. 25, citing the group’s Twitter account.
“Western companies must be fully aware that all exploration rights and drilling contracts in N. Eastern Somalia are now permanently nullified,” a Twitter post claiming to be from Harakat Al-Shabaab Al Mujahideen’s press office said that day. Africa Oil’s contracts are “non-binding,” it said.

So does this mean that Al Shabab (who recently officially teamed up with Al Qaeda) plan on attacking Africa Oil’s operation?  Who knows, and this could get very interesting for the guys working there. If any Pathfinder Corp. contractors would like to come up and speak about this deal, I would love to hear what you got. Good luck over there. –Matt

 

Vancouver-based Africa Oil defies Al-Qaeda in billion-barrel Somali well drill
By Eduard Gismatullin
March 5, 2012
In a Somali desert that’s home to al-Qaeda-linked militia, Africa Oil Corp. drills inside a fortress of excavated earth dotted with lookout towers and armed guards to satisfy a world thirstier than ever for crude.
The Canadian company is poised to complete the nation’s first oil well in at least 20 years. The prize is the more than 1 billion barrels of oil resources Africa Oil estimates is in the Dharoor Block in Puntland, a semi-autonomous northern region where the central government is battling Islamic extremists.
“Security costs are significant,” Chief Executive Officer Keith Hill said in an interview. Still, there aren’t “many places on Earth we can go onshore with contractors and try to find a possibility for a billion-barrel oil field.”
Oil prices that almost doubled in the past three years have spurred exploration in locations once considered too risky, with Genel Energy Plc, set up by U.K. financier Nathaniel Rothschild and former BP Plc CEO Tony Hayward, acquiring stakes in the Kurdistan region of Iraq. Royal Dutch Shell Plc and BP are returning to Libya after leader Muammar Qaddafi was deposed.

(more…)

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