|
|
Publications
The
Acquisition, Care and Feeding of Security Consultants
David G. Aggleton, CPP
(The primary
requirement for any consultant is that he or she is knowledgeable in the
field and has no vested interest in products or services.)
Since this
article kicks off "Consultant's Corner," it seems logical to
dedicate it to some thoughts on the subject of consulting. Lightheartedly,
a consultant is the person who, when you ask for the time, borrows your
watch, tells you the time and then pockets your watch!
Webster's
defines a consultant as "an expert who is called on for professional
or technical advice or opinions," broad enough to cover half the
working population! In the security industry, as in other industries,
the term is used extensively as an euphemism for salespersons, but, for
a purer definition, it would be useful to look at some of the requirements
for membership in the International Association of Professional Security
Consultants (IAPSC):
- Most
of the consultant's time must be spent in the security practice.
- The consultant
may not be associated, financially or otherwise, with any product or
service other than the provision of consulting, e.g., cannot be a system
or manpower salesperson, cannot accept any compensation from a sales
company, cannot have any equity holdings in an equipment company and
cannot pay or accept any referral fee.
The primary
focus of these requirements is to ensure that the consultant is knowledgeable
and has no vested interest in any product or service being recommended.
The consultant should be impartial and owe allegiance only to the client
who is paying the fees.
It is interesting
to browse through the IAPSC membership directory to see just how many
different areas of expertise are covered by professional security consultants:
- By Industry:
Retail, warehousing, financial, insurance, cultural, hospitality, education,
utilities, medical, resorts, entertainment and sports, residential,
high-rise offices, gaining, parking, computing/telecommunications, transportation,
pharmaceutical, criminal justice, manufacturing.
- By Services:
Condition surveys, risk/vulnerability analysis, systems design, protect
management, manpower planning, training, classified material programs
and management, executive protection, hostage negotiation, forensic,
expert witness testimony, loss prevention, policy/Procedures development,
crisis management, disaster control/recovery planning, crime statistics,
counterespionage, terrorism
counter measures.
- By Assets:
Executive/VIPs and their families, intellectual property, trade secrets,
financial data, negotiables, sporting and special events, objects d'art,
power and communication grids, pipelines, construction sites.
In the interests
of brevity, we will focus on the target of this publication, security
technology and design. The consultant in this area can help you, from
conception through operation, in the implementation of access control,
alarm monitoring, CCTV and associated systems. Let's ask the why, when,
what, how and how much questions.
Why use
a consultant? If the project is of a size that, even if you have expertise,
your regular duties do not allow you adequate time to ensure a quality
outcome, you should consider hiring a consultant. The consultant is on
board for only the duration of the project and does not need the overhead
of office space or the hiring/termination process of additional employees.
Another positive benefit is the objective and different perspective that
an outsider brings. Additionally, the consultant brings a wealth of experience
from the multitude of projects on which he or she has worked. This experience
is invaluable in knowing what will, and will not, work in your environment.
When should
you hire the consultant? For the consultant to be most effective, as early
as possible in the project. Don't fall into the trap of trying to save
money by waiting until the last possible moment or until the project has
fallen behind schedule. Remember the consultant may perform miracles every
day, but the impossible is usually outside his/her scope of work!
What can
the consultant do for you? A consultant will often have a wide variety
of services to offer; following are those that are most applicable to
a security system design and implementation project. Some tasks you may
wish to do yourself or with your staff; if this is part of a large construction
project, part of the work may be done by other members of the design/construction
team.
- Needs
Analysis: A study of your facility and operations to determine what
assets are important to the success of the business, what the threats
and risks are, or likelihood of those threats occurring, and what intrinsic
vulnerabilities need to be considered.
- Condition
Survey: An evaluation of current security programs (manpower, procedures
and systems).
- Operations
Survey: Identification of how the facility operates, including hours
of operations, traffic flow into and out of the facility and between
departments. Should include an analysis of corporate culture and managerial
support for a security program.
- Recommendations
Report: A description of the analysis of findings from the prior tasks,
and recommendations for systems solutions to the vulnerabilities discovered.
A comprehensive report should cover recommendations on other security-related
program elements, such as manpower and procectu s, may include a preliminary
implementation plan and should provide a first-cut budgetary estimate
of capital and recurring costs.
- Report
Presentation: A meeting at which the consultant presents the findings
and recommended solutions, and is available to discuss alternative approaches
and associated costs.
- Systems
Design and Documentation: Whether you are planning to procure the systems
sole source (a favorite contractor) or by competitive bid, the conceptual
recommendations need to be developed into detailed plans, riser diagrams,
installation drawings, equipment schedules and specifications. The more
detail and accuracy, the lower the contractor's price, since "fudge
factors" need not be added to cover the
unknown. If this is a new construction project, the consultant will
need to coordinate with other design team members ñ with the
architect for electrical door hardware, the finish of exposed security
devices and space in closets for multiplexers and power supplies; with
the electrical engineer for main power requirements, security lighting,
backboxes, conduit and life safety interfaces; and possibly with a landscape
architect for perimeter barriers. The consultant will represent your
security needs at design team meetings.
The consultant
may have standard detail drawings for the mounting of most common equipment
and will probably start with a "master" specification which
has been tuned to include the lessons learned from previous projects.
These tools increase the professionalism and completeness of the design
documentation (construction documents) and reduce the time and cost to
prepare a good design. However, they should not replace the need to develop
systems solutions that address the specific needs of your project; no
two projects are ever the same and you should not accept a "cookie
cutter" approach based on someone else's facility.
- Procurement
Support: Holding a site walk-through meeting with bidders and resolving
technical questions, analyzing bids received and preparing an award
recommendations report, interviewing candidate contractors and assisting
in final negotiations. A good consultant will save you the cost of his
services in this task alone.
- Construction
Services: The best design will serve little purpose if it is implemented
poorly. In this phase there are many tasks that the consultant can perform
to help keep the project on track and on schedule. Reviewing shop drawing
submittals; site visits to observe installation progress and quality,
and to meet with the contractor to resolve any problems; witnessing
acceptance testing and developing a punch list of defects; checking,
or performing, operator training; reviewing final as-built documentation.
How do you
select a consultant? Start by determining the scope of work that you would
like the consultant to perform. You may add or delete tasks when you interview
candidates, but it is useful to have a general idea beforehand. Network
your peers for recommendations. Check in directories, such as Robert McCrie's
Security Letter Source Book' and call the IAPSC headquarters; they can
match the type of services you require with two or three suitable consultants
in your geographic area and send you biographies on each.
Prepare
a Request For Proposal (RFP) to issue to the candidates that describes
the project and the services you need. The more definitive you can be
concerning the scope of services, the easier will be your judging task.
A face to face interview is very important; between the consultant's proposal
and the interview look for:
- Chemistry:
Is this person on the same wavelength? Did he/she fully understand your
RFP?
- Manner
and appearance: Will they be acceptable to the corporate managers who
the consultant will need to meet?
- Approach:
Does the consultant discuss how to identify your specific needs or does
he/she jump to recommending solutions? What meetings does he/she plan
to attend?
- Experience:
Has the consultant worked in the same or similar industries, and with
a similar corporate culture?
- Work
Capacity: What other projects is the consultant working on and will
there be time to give your project the necessary priority? Note that
it is not unusual for a consultant to be engaged in many projects at
any given time.
- Communications
Ability: Both verbal (at the interview) and written (ask to see a report
that the consultant has prepared). The consultant must be able to present
ideas logically and non-technically.
- Allegiance:
Is the consultant independent of equipment manufacturers and sellers?
if not, how will this taint recommendations?
- Reputations
and references: Try to develop references other than those offered in
proposals. Ask about the consultant's worst projects, what the difficulties
were and how they were overcome; then check those references.
If you have
time, modify your RFP based on proposal and interview responses and reissue
it to your short list of candidates for final proposals.
How much
will a consultant cost? The story is told of the retired plant engineer
who was asked to return to work to help resolve a problem with a piece
of equipment that had brought the production line to a halt. The ìconsultant"
listened to the piece of equipment, took out a piece of chalk and marked
an "X" to show what needed fixing. The company questioned his
$10,000 bill and asked the "consultant" to justify the high
cost for 10 minutes of his time. The reply was that $ 1 0 was for the
time spent and for the cost of the chalk, and $9,990 was for the expertise
of knowing where to place the "X". The bill was paid.
Although
not many security consultants calculate their fees this way, it does explain
why rates vary from $50 to $300 per hour (and more), and why the higher
rates may not be the most expensive. A more experienced consultant may
charge more, but use less time and develop better and less expensive solutions
than a cheaper one.
There are
a number of ways that you can ask prospective consultants to present their
fees:
- Lump
Sum (firm fixed price)
- Hourly
rates to a maximum ("upset") fee
- Cost
plus, to a maximum. "Cost plus" refers to actual salary for
the consultant and technical staff plus a multiplier to cover benefits,
support staff, administration, overhead and profit.
In addition,
except with a lump sum fee, the consultant will charge for project-related
expenses such as travel, printing and plotting, mail, telephone and fax.
These costs may be billed at cost or with a small mark-up (10%) to cover
administration. Request a maximum so that you will be able to compare
total fees.
To estimate
roughly what a consultant will cost on a typical systems implementation
project you need to estimate an order of magnitude of what the security
systems installation cost will be. For very small projects (less than
$10,000), fees may be equal to, or more than, the installation cost. As
the project becomes larger, the percentage of the construction cost will
reduce to about 10% for a $250,000 to $500,000 project and 6-8% when greater
than $1 million. The fee will also vary depending on number of meetings
that the consultant is required to attend and the level of effort during
the construction phase.
Typically,
the consultant will calculate fees based on an estimate of the actual
number of hours required (level of effort) to perform all the tasks.
How do you
make the consulting experience work to the benefit of both you and the
consultant? The "chemistry" mentioned in the selection process
is very important, bur equally important is a clear understanding by both
you and the consultant of what deliverables (reports, documents, meeting
minutes) are expected and how many copies, what the target dates are (schedule),
what the review process is, when the consultant can submit fee and expense
invoices, any special format or information required on invoices and when
the consultant should expect payment.
With this
information up front, the consultant can concentrate on serving the interests
of you and your company to the best of his or her ability.
- Security
Letter Source Book. Edited by Robert D. McCrie, CPP, and distributed
by Butterworth-Heinemann, (800) 544-1013.
- International
Association of Professional Security Consultants (IAPSC)
©David
Aggleton
|
