Visa and Citizenship Application Services

The Secretary of State for the Home Department, acting through UK Visas and Immigration (UKVI), is the Authority seeking to procure a global network of Visa and Citizenship Application Service (VCAS) Centres, in support of Home Office activity. (Please note that this procurement was formerly referred to as Future Supplier Services.)

UKVI is responsible for making millions of decisions every year about who has the right to visit or stay in the country, with a firm emphasis on national security and a culture of Customer satisfaction for people who come here legally.

UKVI's vision is to be a world-leading immigration service working for a safe and prosperous UK. To that end, two of our key missions are to deliver world-class customer service and to control migration. UKVI's challenge is to transform services in a way that enhances customer experience and controls outcomes.

To achieve this, the VCAS requirements will cover the following activities:

• Provision of VCAS Centres (infrastructure and people)
• Appointment booking
• Priority / added-value services
• Fees
• Identity check and document verification
• Document upload
• Biometric capture
• Digital interviewing
• Vignette services
• HMPO specific requirements
• Complaints and customer insight

The procurement has been divided into 5 geographical lots:

1. Africa and Middle East
2. Americas, Canada, Australasia and Europe
3. China and Taiwan
4. Asia and Asia Pacific
5. The UK

Tenders may be submitted for all lots. Where a bidder is successful in multiple lots, HO reserves the right to award and aggregate any combination of lots 1-5 into a single contract.

Through this procurement, VCAS is seeking solutions that will provide continuity of services for customers, global consistency for HO and suppliers, and a foundation to support future transformation delivered by other HO Programmes

Additional information: The procurement will be managed electronically using the Jaggaer eSourcing Portal. The eSourcing Portal is an online application that allows suppliers to create and submit their Standard Selection Questionnaire (SQ) and any further responses to requests for information, requests for quotes, or requests for proposals via the internet rather than in paper form.In order to participate in this procurement, please follow the steps set out below.For the avoidance of doubt, please note that respondents are required to express an interest separately for this competition regardless of their involvement in previous Market Engagement activities for this project. Any such involvement does not constitute an expression of interest for the competition advertised in this notice.To participate in this procurement, participants must first be registered on the eSourcing Suite. If you have not yet registered this can be done online at https://homeoffice.app.jaggaer.com/web/login.html by following the link to Register.Once registered, all interested suppliers should then submit their details (company name, lead contact name, lead contact email address and telephone number), in the first instance, to the following address in order to express interest: futuresupplierservices@homeoffice.gov.ukThe Authority requires new participants to sign a Non-Disclosure Agreement (NDA) in order to be invited to participate in the competition for this project. On receipt of an email detailed above, the Authority will either confirm prior receipt of an NDA as part of market engagement, or provide the NDA document for signature to be returned via email.Once a correctly signed NDA is received by the Authority, Participants will be invited to the Standard Selection Questionnaire (SQ) Event through the portal and will be able to access all of the project documentation.Participants are requested to register on the portal, and then to express interest via email by Wednesday 5th January 2022 at the latest, to allow sufficient time for the tender administrative process and submission of responses. SQ clarification requests must be submitted no later than 12:00pm (GMT) on Wednesday 22nd December 2021.The closing date for SQ submissions will be 11:00am (GMT) on Monday 10th January 2022. We reserve the right to delay or adjust our timetables or such other aspects of the procurement as we consider appropriate. We will therefore keep the situation under constant review and will notify all bidders of any changes as and when these are required.