Twente Municipalities Secure Security Guards for Ukrainian Shelter Sites Through 2027, With a Local Firm Winning Both Contracts

Standfirst

The municipalities of Enschede and Losser have jointly awarded physical security contracts for their Ukrainian refugee shelter locations to Bravo Beveiliging B.V., a security firm based in nearby Hengelo, worth a combined estimated EUR 11 015 000 and capped at EUR 15 000 000. The contracts, tied directly to the EU's Temporary Protection Directive, can run through mid-2030 if fully extended.

Introduction

Behind every reception centre housing people who fled the war in Ukraine sits a quieter layer of logistics: security staff who keep the site safe and orderly around the clock. Two municipalities in the Dutch region of Twente, Enschede and Losser, have just secured who will provide that presence for their shelter locations going forward.

Bravo Beveiliging B.V., a locally based security company, won both contracts, beating out several competitors across a combined ten bids. The award sits squarely inside the Netherlands' ongoing legal and policy response to displacement from Ukraine, a response the tender documents describe as still evolving and genuinely uncertain in its duration.

Why This Contract Matters

Enschede and Losser explain their legal obligation plainly in the tender: both municipalities are responsible under the EU's Temporary Protection Directive for housing Ukrainians within their areas and physical, manned security has already been deployed at the various shelter locations involved. The directive itself was extended in June 2025 through 4 March 2027 and the Dutch government is separately preparing both a voluntary return programme for those who wish to go back and a longer term plan covering residency and return after the directive eventually lapses.

That context shapes the contract's own structure. Rather than committing to a long, fixed term, both municipalities built in short initial periods with multiple short renewal options, giving them flexibility to scale security provision up or down as the shelter population and the underlying legal framework governing it, continues to change.

Contract Timeline

• Lot 1, Enschede, start date: 1 August 2026
• Contracts concluded, both lots: 29 July 2026
• Lot 2, Losser, start date: 1 December 2026
• Notice dispatched to the Publications Office: 20 August 2026
• Published in the Official Journal, OJ S 161/2026: 21 August 2026
• Both lots' initial terms end: 31 July 2027, with up to three further 1-year renewal options each

Contract Overview

Enschede and Losser ran a joint open procedure under Directive 2014/24/EU for physical manned security services at Ukrainian shelter locations, split into two lots by municipality. Lot 1, covering Enschede, drew four tenders; Lot 2, covering Losser, drew six. Bravo Beveiliging B.V. was awarded both, with contracts concluded on the same day, structured as framework agreements without reopening of competition, meaning Bravo holds each contract exclusively rather than sharing the work with other suppliers.

Lot 1 carries an estimated value of EUR 8 047 600 and a maximum framework ceiling of EUR 11 000 000; Lot 2 carries an estimated value of EUR 2 967 400 and a maximum of EUR 4 000 000. Both sets of figures are fully consistent between the procedure level totals and each lot's individual result, with no discrepancy in the notice.

Key Contract Details

Project Scope

Both contracts cover physical, manned security at reception locations housing Ukrainian refugees, one set of sites in Enschede and a separate set in Losser. The award criteria give a clear sense of what the municipalities prioritised: the largest single criterion, worth 35 of a possible points total, specifically concerns maintaining a safe and liveable shelter environment for displaced Ukrainians, going beyond conventional site security to focus on the wellbeing of the people living there. A further 20 points reward capability in handling emergencies and urgent situations and 15 points reward reliable check-in, check-out and presence registration systems, essential for a shelter operator to know who is on site at any given time.

About the Contracting Authorities

Gemeente Enschede is a regional authority in the Twente region of the eastern Netherlands, acting as the lead buyer in this joint procurement alongside Gemeente Losser, a neighbouring municipality. Both are responsible under the EU's Temporary Protection Directive for housing Ukrainian nationals displaced by the war within their jurisdictions.

About the Organisations Involved

Gemeente Enschede

As covered above, Enschede is the lead buyer for this joint procurement, running the tender on behalf of both participating municipalities and providing further information on review procedures.

Rechtbank Overijssel, locatie Almelo

The Almelo location of the District Court of Overijssel is named as the review organisation for both lots, with a 20-day objection period specified in the notice.

Bravo Beveiliging B.V.

Bravo Beveiliging B.V., based in Hengelo, in the same Twente region as both contracting municipalities, is classified as a micro, small or medium enterprise and won both lots. Its regional base places it close to the shelter locations it will now be securing across Enschede and Losser.

Procurement Analysis

Both lots ran as open procedures with award criteria weighted almost entirely toward quality of service rather than a straightforward lowest-price contest, with the disclosed criteria totalling 70 points focused specifically on shelter environment safety, emergency response and presence tracking. That weighting reflects the sensitive, human-centred nature of the service: this is not conventional commercial site security, but security embedded within a humanitarian shelter context where resident wellbeing is an explicit evaluation factor.

The renewal structure, a short initial term followed by up to three separate one-year extension options on each lot, gives both municipalities the flexibility to wind the arrangement down relatively quickly should the underlying need diminish, consistent with the genuine uncertainty the tender documents themselves describe around how long the war and the associated need for shelter, will continue.

Both lots drew a reasonable competitive field, four bidders for Enschede and six for Losser and Bravo Beveiliging's win across both suggests either particularly strong proposals or an especially good fit with the specific, quality focused criteria both municipalities applied.

Additional Procurement Facts

• Neither lot is covered by the Government Procurement Agreement and neither is financed with EU funds.
• No subcontracting is involved in either winning tender.
• Lot 2's shorter initial term, eight months compared with Lot 1's full year, reflects its later December 2026 start date, with both lots converging on the same 31 July 2027 initial end date.

Market and Industry Perspective

Security provision for asylum and refugee shelter locations has become a recurring, specialised category of Dutch municipal procurement since Russia's invasion of Ukraine triggered mass displacement across Europe. Contracts of this kind demand a different skill set from conventional commercial security work, requiring staff trained to operate sensitively within a shelter environment housing people who have experienced significant upheaval, a distinction the award criteria in this tender make explicit.

Economic Significance

At a combined estimated EUR 11 015 000, rising to a possible EUR 15 000 000 if all renewal options across both lots are exercised, this is a meaningful, multi-year revenue base for Bravo Beveiliging and a significant operational cost for both municipalities tied directly to their legal obligations under EU displacement policy.

Future Procurement Opportunities

Because both lots' renewal structures are tied to short, staged extensions rather than long fixed terms, the practical future of this contract depends heavily on how the Netherlands' broader Ukrainian shelter and return policy develops through and beyond March 2027, when the current EU Temporary Protection Directive extension is set to expire.

Opportunities for Suppliers

Security companies serving Dutch municipalities with asylum and refugee shelter obligations should note the quality focused, resident wellbeing centred evaluation approach both Enschede and Losser applied here. Firms able to demonstrate genuine capability in emergency response and presence management, alongside a track record suited to humanitarian shelter contexts, are well positioned for comparable municipal tenders elsewhere in the Netherlands.

What Businesses Should Watch

• How Dutch national policy on Ukrainian refugee return and residency develops ahead of the EU Temporary Protection Directive's current March 2027 expiry.
• Whether Enschede and Losser exercise their renewal options as each lot's initial term concludes in July 2027.
• Broader municipal security tenders tied to Ukrainian and other refugee shelter provision across the Netherlands.

NetherlandsTenders.com Procurement Intelligence

This contract is a clear example of how a single piece of EU policy, the Temporary Protection Directive, continues to generate real, recurring procurement activity at the municipal level years after Russia's invasion of Ukraine began. The deliberately short, staged contract structure here reflects genuine institutional uncertainty about how long that need will persist, a planning challenge municipal buyers across the EU continue to navigate as the underlying humanitarian situation evolves.

For security providers, the quality weighted evaluation criteria offer a useful template: contracts tied to humanitarian shelter contexts increasingly reward demonstrated sensitivity to resident wellbeing, not just conventional guarding competence and firms bidding into this space should tailor their proposals accordingly rather than treating it as standard commercial site security.

More broadly, this notice is worth reading alongside the wider set of Dutch and European municipal contracts tied to Ukrainian displacement as a single, evolving procurement category, one where contract structures, terms and evaluation criteria will likely keep shifting in step with the underlying policy and security situation in Ukraine itself.

Supplier Takeaways

• Both lots weighted quality criteria heavily, with the largest single factor specifically concerning shelter environment safety and liveability for displaced residents.
• Bravo Beveiliging won both contracts against a combined field of ten competing bids across the two lots.
• Contract terms are deliberately short and staged, reflecting genuine uncertainty about how long the underlying shelter need will persist.
• This category of security work demands specific sensitivity to humanitarian shelter contexts, distinct from conventional commercial site security.
• Future opportunities in this space will likely track closely with evolving Dutch and EU policy on Ukrainian displacement and return.

Key Takeaways

• Enschede and Losser jointly awarded physical security contracts for Ukrainian shelter locations, worth a combined estimated EUR 11 015 000 and capped at EUR 15 000 000, to Bravo Beveiliging B.V.
• Bravo Beveiliging won both lots, beating four competitors for Enschede and five for Losser.
• Award criteria weighted quality heavily, prioritising a safe and liveable shelter environment, emergency response capability and presence registration.
• Both contracts carry short initial terms with up to three 1-year renewal options each, reflecting uncertainty about how long the underlying need will last.
• The contracts are tied directly to the EU's Temporary Protection Directive, currently extended through 4 March 2027.
• Neither contract is financed with EU funds or covered by the Government Procurement Agreement.

Conclusion

This is a modest sized municipal contract with an outsized human context: it exists because two Dutch towns are still, years into the war, responsible for keeping Ukrainian families safe in shelter. Bravo Beveiliging now carries that responsibility for both Enschede and Losser, under a contract structure that, like the policy framework it serves, is built to adapt as the underlying need continues to evolve.

Source: Tenders Electronic Daily (TED), Contract Award Notice 580423-2026, Official Journal of the European Union, OJ S 161/2026, published on 21 August 2026.