Section one: Contracting authority
one.1) Name and addresses
Home Office
Croydon
CR0 2EU
Contact
Ben Spencer
benjaminluke.spencer@homeoffice.gov.uk
Country
United Kingdom
NUTS code
UK - United Kingdom
Internet address(es)
Main address
https://www.gov.uk/government/organisations/home-office
one.3) Communication
Access to the procurement documents is restricted. Further information can be obtained at
https://homeoffice.app.jaggaer.com
Additional information can be obtained from the above-mentioned address
Tenders or requests to participate must be submitted electronically via
https://homeoffice.app.jaggaer.com
Tenders or requests to participate must be submitted to the above-mentioned address
one.4) Type of the contracting authority
Ministry or any other national or federal authority
one.5) Main activity
Other activity
Immigration, Citizenship and Borders
Section two: Object
two.1) Scope of the procurement
two.1.1) Title
Proc 645 Digital Interviewing
Reference number
C20887 (Proc 645)
two.1.2) Main CPV code
- 72232000 - Development of transaction processing and custom software
two.1.3) Type of contract
Services
two.1.4) Short description
Further to a Prior Information Notice (PIN) ref: CF-0160200D58000000L5A4EAK1 issued on 22 April 2021, The Authority is undertaking this tender exercise to appoint suitably capable and experienced provider of a Digital Interviewing solution. It utilises the Restricted Procedure, a multi-stage procurement process that is intended to short list qualified bidders, who will in turn be invited to tender for the contract opportunity.
The objective of the Selection Stage is to assess the responses to the SSQ and select Bidders to proceed to the ITT Stage of this procurement. The evaluation panel shall evaluate the SSQ responses using the selection criteria detailed in the SSQ document, which is provided on the Home Office e-sourcing portal. Bidders who pass this SSQ assessment will then be invited to tender.
two.1.5) Estimated total value
Value excluding VAT: £2,500,000
two.1.6) Information about lots
This contract is divided into lots: No
two.2) Description
two.2.3) Place of performance
NUTS codes
- UK - United Kingdom
Main site or place of performance
CR0 2EU
two.2.4) Description of the procurement
About the requirement:
Digital Interviewing is used by the Home Office Visas & Immigration Directorate to gather additional information to support a visa application or asylum claim. Interviews are currently carried out in-person and as remote interviews (via telephone or video links). Other areas of the Home Office also use interviewing to different extents.
This notice relates specifically to delivering a continuous operational service for Asylum and V&C Operations from January 2022 to 2023.
The core components of the project include:
• Digital Audio Recording Software; Capture the audio from all participants whether they are present in the host room or joining remotely via MS Teams. It will allow control of the audio (e.g. pause) during the interview and will link to the Interview Record Forms software.
• Interview Records Software: Capture typed information during the interview in relation to the interview including information about the interview, the participants and the questions, statements and response made during the interview.
• Cloud Hosted Storage: The audio record and the interview record forms will be saved and stored to cloud-hosted storage on completion of the interview or, if offline, when later connected to the network
• Management Information: The solution must provide reports of all digital interviews undertaken with filtering and sorting by all metadata data captured during interviewing and any automatically applied grouped by business area/team responsible.
• RBAC: The solution shall have Role-based User Access Control which will allow specific user roles to be defined - each with a specific set of permissions within the system
• Auto Transcription: Provision of automated transcripts from the recorded interview audio including all audio spoken during the interview in the English language only.
two.2.5) Award criteria
Price is not the only award criterion and all criteria are stated only in the procurement documents
two.2.6) Estimated value
Value excluding VAT: £2,500,000
two.2.7) Duration of the contract, framework agreement or dynamic purchasing system
Duration in months
36
This contract is subject to renewal
No
two.2.9) Information about the limits on the number of candidates to be invited
Envisaged number of candidates: 4
Objective criteria for choosing the limited number of candidates:
The ITT Evaluation approach is detailed in the procurement documentation, which will be available to suppliers who express interest as per the process set out above. ITT responses will be evaluated, and the 4 x Bidders with the highest scores will be invited to a final round of Bidder presentations, where an additional 15% of the total evaluation mark is available. Following Bidder presentations, the final combined score will be used to identify the preferred Bidder.
two.2.10) Information about variants
Variants will be accepted: No
two.2.11) Information about options
Options: No
two.2.13) Information about European Union Funds
The procurement is related to a project and/or programme financed by European Union funds: No
Section three. Legal, economic, financial and technical information
three.1) Conditions for participation
three.1.2) Economic and financial standing
Selection criteria as stated in the procurement documents
three.1.3) Technical and professional ability
Selection criteria as stated in the procurement documents
three.2) Conditions related to the contract
three.2.2) Contract performance conditions
contract performance requirements are set out within the draft contract and relevant schedules. N.B. the draft Contract is based on the Crown Mid-Tier Model contract
Section four. Procedure
four.1) Description
four.1.1) Type of procedure
Restricted procedure
Accelerated procedure
Justification:
PIN previously published (reference CF-0160200D58000000L5A4EAK1), and the Authority is using electronic tendering via its e-Sourcing portal.
four.1.8) Information about the Government Procurement Agreement (GPA)
The procurement is covered by the Government Procurement Agreement: Yes
four.2) Administrative information
four.2.2) Time limit for receipt of tenders or requests to participate
Date
25 June 2021
Local time
11:59pm
four.2.3) Estimated date of dispatch of invitations to tender or to participate to selected candidates
26 July 2021
four.2.4) Languages in which tenders or requests to participate may be submitted
English
four.2.6) Minimum time frame during which the tenderer must maintain the tender
Duration in months: 6 (from the date stated for receipt of tender)
Section six. Complementary information
six.1) Information about recurrence
This is a recurrent procurement: No
six.2) Information about electronic workflows
Electronic ordering will be used
Electronic invoicing will be accepted
Electronic payment will be used
six.4) Procedures for review
six.4.1) Review body
Secretary of State for the Home Department (Commercial Directorate)
2 Marsham Street
London
SW1P 4DF
Country
United Kingdom