Crown Court Means Testing Debt Collection and Enforcement Services

The Ministry of Justice (MoJ) is running a procurement exercise for the award of a single contract for the delivery of Crown Court Means Testing (CCMT) Debt Collection and Enforcement Services on behalf of the Legal Aid Agency (LAA). The LAA is an executive agency sponsored by the MoJ. The service requirement is for the collection and enforcement of Legal Aid contributions, which will require case management, collections and refund of monies from / to defendants. Additionally there is a requirement to reduce an aged debt profile. The services will be procured through open competition. The requirements fall under the Light Touch Regime (LTR) as per the 2015 Public Contracts Regulations but will follow a process similar to Open Procedure to ensure full transparency. Some indicative volumes are provided below. The Services requires work for pre-conviction (ICO); post-conviction (CCO); Credit and Equity Checks (K&E) and Appeals to the Crown Court.

Activity Indicative Monthly Volumes

Income Contribution Order 800

Capital Contribution Order 165

Capital and Equity Check 150

Appeals to Crown Court 5

Additional information:

In conducting this procurement the Authority will provide further information on the procurement process through the continuous PIN method in line with the requirement for social and specific services under the Regulations. The Authority reserves the right to hold negotiations with bidders submitting the best service - quality ratio. The contract to be awarded will be a Concession Contract, within the meaning of the Regulations. To register your interest for this contract opportunity, please send an e-mail to carl.hinton@justice.gsi.gov.uk Market Engagement Event:

We will be holding a market engagement event in early September 2017 in London. Organisations wishing to participate in the market engagement event should e-mail carl.hinton@justice.gsi.gov.uk by the 28th August 2017.

The aim of the proposed market engagement is to further assess the capability and capacity of the market to meet the service requirements. It will also enable us to further evaluate at an early stage whether our proposed procurement approach is feasible, is seen as an attractive opportunity and can be delivered by the market.

Furthermore, it will provide an early indication to the market of the service requirements and allow organisations the opportunity to consider how they will respond to an Invitation to Tender (ItT). Further information about the event will be issued to bidders via the e-sourcing portal in due course.

Award of the contract(s):

The Ministry of Justice reserves the right to reject all or any of the bids for the competition and not to award a contract to any potential provider, without any liability on its part. Nothing in the Prior Information Notice shall generate any contractual obligations prior to signature of a contract following a competition.

Transparency: HM Government requires that the tender documentation issued by the government departments for contracts exceeding 10,000 GBP over the life of the contract are published online (www.businesslink.gov.uk) for the general public. The resulting contract shall also be published. The MoJ may use its discretion to redact information to protect key commercial interest or on prescribed grounds. Therefore potential providers who wish information not to be published, if successful, should secure agreements with the Ministry of Justice prior to submission. These could cover key commercial interest, trade secrets and commercial interests which would be prejudiced by publication, all following the test in Section 43 of The Freedom of Information Act 2000 (http://www.justice.gov.uk/guidance/doc/foi-exemption-s43.pdf).

Only documentation related to the award will be published. The prescribed grounds for redaction are:

National Security; Personal Data; Information protected by intellectual property rights; Information which is not in the public interest to disclose (following tests under the Freedom of Information Act 2000); third party confidential information; IT Security; and Prevention of Fraud.