Public tenders for guarding services in Greece: how they work and what to watch

Law 4412/2016 transposes Directive 2014/24/EU and governs public works, supply and service contracts. For cleaning and/or guarding services, article 68 of Law 3863/2010 adds rules on what a bid must state, when a company is excluded for labour-law breaches, and what the contract must contain.

The two are linked: article 18 §5 of Law 4412/2016 says that in cleaning or guarding tenders, the cases in article 68 §2(γ) of Law 3863/2010 count as grave professional misconduct.

This guide describes only what the articles we checked say. For a specific tender, the tender documents and a legal adviser are the right source.

Under article 86 of Law 4412/2016, contracting authorities base the award on the most economically advantageous tender (§1). It is identified on the basis of price or cost and may include the best price-quality ratio, with criteria such as (§2):

• quality, including technical merit and social and innovative characteristics;
• the organisation, qualifications and experience of the staff assigned to the contract, where their quality can significantly affect performance;
• service and technical support.

The tender documents must state the weighting of each criterion, unless the award is on price alone (§10), and criteria must allow effective verification of what bidders claim (§9). In guarding the service is the people, and the staff criterion is where the law lets that count.

Article 68 §1 of Law 3863/2010 requires the contracting authority to ask guarding companies to state, among other things:

1. the number of workers to be employed;
2. the days and hours of work;
3. the collective agreement that covers them, if any;
4. the budgeted amount for all lawful pay;
5. the amount of social-security contributions.

These go in a separate chapter of the bid, on pain of exclusion. The bid must also allow a reasonable percentage for administrative cost, consumables, contractor profit and statutory deductions, and attach a copy of the collective agreement, if there is one.

The check starts with hours: a 24/7 post is 168 hours a week, while full-time work is 40 hours (art. 189, P.D. 62/2025), so roughly 4.2 full-time positions before leave and absence. The arithmetic is explained in how many security guards do I need.

Article 88 of Law 4412/2016 provides:

• §1: where bids appear abnormally low, contracting authorities require explanations of the price or cost within an exclusive 20-day deadline. With no reply, the bid is rejected as irregular and the bid guarantee is forfeited.
• §2: explanations may concern in particular how the service is delivered, favourable conditions, compliance with labour, social-security and environmental law (art. 18 §2) and subcontracting.
• §3: the authority assesses the explanations in consultation with the bidder and may reject only if they do not satisfactorily account for the low level. It must reject a bid that is abnormally low because it does not comply with article 18 §2.

To show compliance, the bidder provides the collective agreement that covers the workers and documents showing lawful pay and contributions (article 89 §2).

This is the legal form of a simple rule: a price that does not cover lawful pay for the hours of cover is missing something essential, and the bid is rejected. More in the guide on the cheapest security quote.

Under article 68 §2 of Law 3863/2010, right after the bid deadline the contracting authority requests a certificate from the Register of Offenders for cleaning and guarding companies, kept by the Labour Inspectorate. It is sent within 15 days.

• Mandatory exclusion: within 2 years before the deadline, 3 fines for “high” or “very high” severity breaches from 3 inspections, or 2 fines for undeclared work from 2 inspections.
• Discretionary exclusion: a company declared in default, or given a temporary suspension of operations, within the previous 3 years.
• For any period the Register does not cover, the company files a sworn statement by its legal representative that no such fines were imposed.

During performance, a second “high” or “very high” severity fine leads to mandatory termination of the contract and the contractor being declared in default (§7).

1. Company licence: valid, non-transferable, five years (Law 2518/1997, art. 2 §3); the company name includes the statutory phrase for a private security services company and documents show the licence number (art. 4 §1(α)). See the security company licence check.
2. Staff: every guard holds a category A or B work licence (art. 3 §1), and a monthly staff list goes to the police (art. 4).
3. Staffing and pay chapter: every item in article 68 §1 is there and matches the hours of cover the tender asks for.
4. Pay: the amount covers lawful pay for every hour, including the 25% premium for work between 22:00 and 06:00 (art. 150, P.D. 62/2025) and 75% for Sundays and public holidays (art. 219). See security guard salary 2026.
5. Contract: includes the article 68 §1 items and a specific clause on labour, social-security and health-and-safety law; otherwise it is void and payment is refused (§3).
6. Subcontracting: the contractor informs the client in writing, and contractor and subcontractor are jointly and severally liable for pay and contributions (§4).

OVIT’s proposals state the hours of cover, staffing and supervision in writing, and delivery is visible in Guardly. See our guarding services.