There are over 200 private security agencies registered in West Bengal alone, and probably as many unregistered ones operating informally. Most of them will quote you a competitive price. A few of them will actually deliver what they promise. Here's the checklist we use ourselves when we evaluate sub-vendors for areas outside our direct deployment — and which we'd recommend to any procurement team in North Bengal.
1. Licensing — non-negotiable
Ask for the licence number. Verify it on the state Home Department portal. The licence must be current (not expired, not in renewal limbo) and issued for the state where the deployment is happening. A West Bengal licence does not authorise deployment in Sikkim — that's a separate Sikkim licence.
2. GST and statutory registrations
The agency should have:
- GSTIN (verifiable on the GST portal)
- PAN
- EPF establishment code
- ESI establishment code
- Labour Licence (Contract Labour Act, where applicable)
- Professional Tax registration
If any of these are missing or "in process", walk away. They exist precisely to protect you, the principal employer.
3. Sample compliance challan
Ask for an anonymised EPF / ESI challan from the previous month. A legitimate agency will produce it. An agency that's been paying cash-in-hand to guards cannot.
4. Insurance certificates
Workmen's compensation policy and public liability insurance — both should be in force and the certificates should name the agency, not the agency's owner personally. Ask for the policy number and the renewal date.
5. Training records
How long is induction training? What does it cover? A real training programme has a syllabus, an instructor name, a duration (the regulated minimum is 21 days), and a certification issued at the end. Ours has all four. Ask to see a sample certificate.
6. Police verification, before deployment
Every guard deployed at your site should have a police verification certificate from the district they live in. Before, not "we'll do it next month". If you employ an unverified person and an incident happens, the liability is yours.
7. Supervisor model
How many guards does each supervisor oversee? In our model it's 1 supervisor per 10–15 guards, with the supervisor physically visiting each site at least twice a week. A 1-to-50 ratio is common but means the supervisor is a paper title, not a real presence. Ask explicitly.
8. Replacement guarantee
If a guard doesn't show up, what's the SLA for a replacement? Get it in writing in the contract. Ours is 4 hours within Siliguri municipality, 8 hours outside. Without a written SLA, "we'll send someone soon" can mean Tuesday.
9. Escalation chain
Whose phone number do you call at 11 PM when there's a problem? The supervisor? The director? Get names, get numbers, get them in writing in the contract. Avoid agencies whose only contact is a generic landline.
10. Sample SLA / agreement
Ask for a draft contract before signing. Read it. Look for: scope, deliverables, SLA, payment terms, termination clause, statutory compliance representation, indemnity, governing law. If the contract is one page of boilerplate with no SLA, that's the level of accountability you'll get on operations too.
11. Existing clients, in the same sector
"Tell me about three of your current clients in the same sector as us." A real agency will name them (perhaps subject to NDA). An agency that's vague is either new or making it up. Sector matters: a great industrial-security agency may be terrible at hospital security, because the skills don't transfer.
12. The site visit test
Ask for a free site visit before contracting. Watch how the agency representative carries themselves: do they walk the perimeter, ask about specific risks, take notes? Or do they hand you a brochure and a generic quote? Behaviour at the site visit predicts behaviour during the contract.
What to do next
If you'd like to apply this checklist to us, request a free site visit. We'll bring our licence certificate, a sample challan, an insurance copy and a draft SLA — to your office, not ours.