Prisoner Escort and Custody Services In England and Wales (Generation 4)

This notice launches the competition for the provision of the 4th generation of the Prisoner Escort and Custody Services contracts (PECS) in England and Wales. PECS provides a critical function to a range of Criminal Justice System (CJS) stakeholders including the Police, Courts, Prisons and Youth Custody Services. The contract will be split into 2 lots, Lot N: North East, North West, Midlands and Yorkshire and Humberside and Wales, Lot S: East of England, London, South East and South West.

PECS4 contractors will continue to physically transport prisoners between locations but increasingly the requirement will be to enable and support changes to the core operating model for courts, prisons and the police

resulting from the implementation of MoJ reform programmes, including an increased proportion of business being delivered in a virtual environment with greater emphasis on the use of video technology. PECS contractors will be responsible for the movement of adult males and females from prisons and police stations to courts as well as, inter-prison transfers, the movement of children and young people from Young Offender Institutions (YOIs), Secure Training Centres (STCs) and Secure Children's Homes (SCHs) as well as care and security whilst in the court custody area and in the dock, and transfers from courts to prisons and other nominated locations at the conclusion of court business.

The services will include:

• Escorting of adults and children and young people,
• At Court Care and Security,
• Inter Prison Transfers,
• Bedwatches for Children and Young People,
• Prisoner Welfare,
• Tornado and Mutual Aid,
• Incident Management,
• Audit and Quality Assurance.

Each service component (adult and children and young people) will be separately specified, funded and managed.

The anticipated quantity or scope is an estimate of the potential value of the contracts and does not in any way

guarantee any level of expenditure. The estimated cost range is real in 2018, does not account for inflation and

includes any possible future changes to the requirement for services as listed in additional information of this PIN. All values should be considered as indicative only.

The award criteria will be based on the most economically advantageous tender. Potential providers will be able to bid for both lots but will only be allowed to win 1 of the lots, unless there is only one bidder across both lots, in which case both lots could be awarded to 1 bidder. Potential providers will be required to state within their response to the Selection Questionnaire (SQ) the lots they want to bid for. If potential providers bid for both lots, they must be prepared to be awarded a contract for either lot, and must not state a preference. Variant bids will not be permitted.

Additional information:

1)Type of procedure:

The services being awarded are listed within Schedule 3 of the Public Contracts Regulations 2015 (PCR) and so pursuant to regulation 74 will be subject to the light regime under which the Authority is not obliged to comply with the full requirements of the PCR. The Authority will conduct a process similar to the competitive procedure with negotiation and will comply with its obligations of equal treatment, transparency, non-discrimination and proportionality at all times during the procurement.

2. Objective criteria for choosing the number of candidates:

Maximum of 5 bidders for each lot will be invited to participate in the negotiation phase of the procurement process following assessment of initial bids. Details of the objective criteria for selecting shortlisted bidders will be set out in the procurement documents. Where the top 5 ranked bidders cannot be identified due to 2 or more bidders being ranked in 5th place, the Authority will take through all equally ranked bidders at this rank. If all potential providers elect to bid for both lots, the maximum number of bidders to be shortlisted will be 5. Where the top 5 ranked bidders cannot be identified due to 2 or more bidders being ranked in 5th place, the Authority will take through all equally ranked bidders at this rank.

3. Economic and financial assessment

Economic and Financial assessment will form part of the Selection Questionnaire on a Pass / Fail basis.

The Authority will be requesting updates to the information throughout the negotiation phase and should the criteria set out in the 6.1.4.2 of the SQ Information and Background, not be met, the Authority will exclude Potential Providers from the process. Further details of the Authority's approach are set out in the Selection Questionnaire.

4. Registration:

The Authority will be performing events through its e-Sourcing Portal known as Bravo.

Bidders Instructions to express an interest in this tender.

• a)Login to the Portal with the username / password;
• b)Click the 'PQQs / ITTs Open To All Suppliers' link.
• c)Click on the relevant SQ/ ITT to access the content using the following: SQ Code - PQQ_115 Project Code - prj_1126;
• d)Click the 'Express Interest' button at the top of the page. This will move the SQ /ITT into your 'My PQQs/ My ITTs' page. (This is a secure area reserved for your projects only);
• e)You can now access any attachments by clicking 'Buyer Attachments' in the 'PQQ/ITT Details' box
• 5)Additional services:

During the life of the Contract, the Authority may commission none, some or all of the additional services described below:

• Adult hospital escorts and bedwatches,
• Operation of video links in public sector prisons,
• Operation of video links in police custody suites or remand hearing centres,
• Operation of Mobile Video Services for court hearings,
• Removal of Foreign National Offenders and repatriation of British National Offenders