Public procurement notice: Contract Notice
Published: 2019-05-23
Buyer: Secretary of State for the Home Department
Country: UK
Contract type: Services
Procedure: Restricted procedure
CPV classification: 72300000 | 72310000: Data processing services | 72317000: Data storage services | 75000000 | 75100000
Estimated value: 120000000 GBP
Submission deadline: 2019-07-10
Award criteria: The most economic tender

Technical requirements: Contract for the provision of back-office services for Her Majesty’s Passport Office (HMPO) to support the processing of passport applications. Required services include secure handling and digitisation of documentation, cashiering and payment processing, checking and validation of documentation, physical storage and retrieval of documentation and the return of documentation to the applicant. This service will support the transformation strategy of HMPO to become a modern digital business. Reducing and removing reliance on the current paper workflow while maintaining the business continuity of existing services. Services must be delivered from 2 secure Document Handling Units located at supplier’s facilities. Further information is available via the Crown Commercial Service's e-Sourcing Suite.
Established in 2006, Her Majesty’s Passport Office provides passport services for British nationals residing in the UK and to those residing overseas with over 6 000 000 passports issued each year.
The current contract for handling and preparing new applications for examination by HMPO staff is due to expire. HMPO seeks a commercial partner to provide new replacement service to both maintain business continuity while transforming existing arrangements to introduce a modern, digital service. This will be delivered within 2 secure Document Handling Units (DHU) located at supplier’s facilities. It will reduce the flow of hardcopy documentation across the business, eliminate geographical restraints, maximise efficiency and quality and improve document fraud detection.
— scalable provision to meet varying levels of demand in both the short and long term to required deadlines,
— verification of the physical integrity and validity of paper applications and supporting documents,
— scanning of paper applications and supporting documents to a quality that enables accurate transfer of applicant data and examination by HMPO staff,
— secure storage of data and transfer of data to HMPO systems in conformance to industry information security management standards,
— documents to be stored and prepared for return to Applicants, forwarded to other Departments or Third Parties as required.
This contract can be extended for up to 2 years with an option for a further 1 year extension (5 + 2 + 1). The estimated value includes the optional extension periods.
This is a restricted procedure with open access to the selection questionnaire (SQ) stage once a non-disclosure agreement has been completed. SQ submissions will be scored, suppliers ranked and 5 will invited to submit tenders to bid for the contract.
Additional Information on using the eSourcing portal can be obtained via the eSourcing portal. https://gpsesourcing.cabinetoffice.gov.uk/sso/jsp/login.jsp
The Authority is not responsible for any bidding costs incurred by potential suppliers in respect of this procurement. The Authority reserves the right to abandon the competitive process and not award any contract; make any changes it sees as reasonable to the competition; remove and/or amend element(s) from the scope of the requirements; and accept or reject any tender.
Respondents are requested to express an interest, the process for which is 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 the previous market engagement activities for this project. Any such involvement does not constitute an expression of interest for the competition advertised in this notice. In order to express an interest, please follow the steps set out below.
The procurement will be managed electronically via the Crown Commercial Service's e-Sourcing Suite. To participate in this procurement, participants must first be registered on the e-Sourcing Suite. If you have not yet registered on the e-Sourcing Suite, this can be done online at https://gpsesourcing.cabinetoffice.gov.uk by following the link ‘Register for CCS e-Sourcing’. Please note that, to register, you must have a valid DUNS number (as provided by Dun and Bradstreet) for the organisation which you are registering and who will be entering into a contract if invited to do so. Full instructions for registration and use of the system can be found at http:// gps.cabinetoffice.gov.uk/i-am
Once registered, organisations wishing to participate in the tender must send an email, as detailed below, to: HMPOSVSProc@homeoffice.gov.uk


Award value: 120000000