History
GSA Global began with the establishment of Bluelight Global Solutions Ltd (BGS) in London in 2010. The company quickly established a reputation for investigative expertise delivering investigative support to law firms in the USA, UK and Europe. The company provided expert security advisor services to private and corporate clients as well as specialist training to police forces and other security organisations in friendly countries across the world.
In 2013 BGS was appointed to support lawyers in the US and UK in a major international arbitration case where corruption allegations were at the centre of the case. BGS undertook a major investigative review of the case and reported to the Permanent Court of Arbitration at the Hague and gave live evidence there in 2015. The case was won by BGS’s client and further evidence was given at the World Bank in Washington in 2018 during a counter claim under the ICSID procedures for the settlement of international investment disputes.
In 2018 BGS launched Global Secure Accreditation Ltd (GSA), a company developed to introduce new standards and services to the travel risk management sector. GSA developed the world’s first fully independent security accreditation for hotel safety and security. GSA’s founder, Bob Quick was coopted on to the UK ISO 31030 policy group developing a new international standard for managing travel related risks. The new ISO was published in 2021 and is now being embraced by the travel industry and corporate travel risk practitioners. GSA has been working with the corporate community to align current practices with the new ISO standard and helping to disseminate good practice across the travel industry.
In recent years GSA has diversified. In 2023 it acquired BGS to create a comprehensive Security and Risk division offering investigation, due diligence services, and a wide range of protective services including close protection, residential security and security infrastructure.
Also, between 2020 and 2023 GSA built a substantial workforce as part of its resourcing division with over 400 former police and military specialists who can be mobilised and deployed at short notice to support government departments or other organisations respond to unplanned for demands. These staff are experienced and highly skilled and are able to undertake complex work involving initiative, problem solving, people management, stakeholder management and leadership. They were deployed very effectively in managing quarantine hotels during the Covid 19 pandemic, during operation Pitting (emergency evacuation from Afghanistan) and during the outbreak of the Ukraine war helping processing refugee visas. More recently GSA has been supporting the Home Office Immigration Department deal with asylum applicants arriving on UK shores.
Also, in 2023 GSA launched a new cyber security division to enable the company to offer security advice and services which can address vulnerability across all domains including physical, organisational, human (insider threats) and cyber security. This enables GSA to offer a complete service to our clients and ensure solutions are coherent and effective.
In January 2024, GSA acquired MHG Corporate Risks. MHG offer employee vetting services and will strengthen our business within insider risk management.
In March 2024, GSA Global was launched with the merger of Global Secure Accreditation, GSA Security & Risk (formerly BGS Ltd), GSA Cyber Secure, GSA Resourcing and newly acquired MHG Corporate Risks. This reflects our truly global reach and the breadth and depth of our services. Our top team have each had decades of operational and strategic experience in policing, counter terrorism, military and government roles. We also have highly experienced commercial leadership who have decades of corporate experience.
What makes us unique is our heritage in leading major UK police forces or security organisations and our shared commitment to protecting people, organisations and assets.