Section one: Contracting authority
one.1) Name and addresses
Business Energy and Industrial Strategy
1 Victoria Street
London
SW1H0ET
Contact
James Lovesey
Country
United Kingdom
Region code
UKI32 - Westminster
Justification for not providing organisation identifier
Partnership
Internet address(es)
Main address
https://www.gov.uk/government/organisations/department-for-business-energy-and-industrial-strategy
one.3) Communication
Additional information can be obtained from the above-mentioned address
one.4) Type of the contracting authority
Ministry or any other national or federal authority
one.5) Main activity
General public services
Section two: Object
two.1) Scope of the procurement
two.1.1) Title
Early Engagement- Claims Facilitator Services
two.1.2) Main CPV code
- 79000000 - Business services: law, marketing, consulting, recruitment, printing and security
two.1.3) Type of contract
Services
two.1.4) Short description
The Department for Business Energy and Industrial Strategy is seeking to procure Claims Facilitation and Alternative Dispute Resolution (ADR) services which will be supported by a secure portal for the management of associated documentation.
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
two.2.4) Description of the procurement
Background
Post Office Limited (POL) is a Government owned business, sponsored by the Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy (BEIS). It operates at arm's length from Government as a commercial business with its own board.
The Post Office Horizon IT scandal saw hundreds of postmasters prosecuted by the Post Office between 2000-2014. A Group Litigation Order (GLO) brought by a number of postmasters was settled in December 2019. After paying fees the postmasters shared c. £10.5m of the £57.75m settlement paid by POL. Paradoxically this group received less than those not in the group who have since been able to apply for compensation under the Historical Shortfall Scheme and arrangement for overturned criminal convictions. The group has since campaigned for HMG to make further payments and in March 2022 the Government announced it would make further funding available to ensure members of the GLO will receive compensation similar to their non-GLO peers.
The Government is in the process of consulting on a scheme to give those in the GLO similar compensation to their non-GLO peers. This scheme will be open to those in the GLO who were not convicted of a criminal offence. An outline of the scheme design has been sent to Postmasters in the group. A copy of this letter and supplemental note to legal advisors can be found here.
Detail of Requirements
There is a defined cohort of claimants of 492.
To support this requirement we are looking to procure claims facilitators with (Alternative Dispute Resolution) ADR skills to help facilitate the process between the parties and provide the factual reports to the panel. We would also be looking for the claims facilitators to provide a secure portal to manage documents. Due to the sensitivity of the data the portal will need to be hosted in the UK. Access for claimants and legal advisors will be limited to relevant cases. The Department expects that between a significant number of pages of documents will need to be uploaded for each of the 492 cases
BEIS would require ADR specialists whose role is to act as independent facilitators, encouraging the parties towards rapid and fair resolution of claims. We expect that the selected firm will be able to deploy both ADR specialists and supporting administrative staff.
Market Engagement Event
We will be hosting a market engagement event where we will outline the envisaged method for delivery of compensation and the details of the scheme. BEIS are inviting feedback from the market on how firms with ADR expertise can help BEIS to deliver compensation to those in the GLO similar to their non-GLO peers. We are also keen to understand whether suppliers are interested in bidding for this requirement in its current form.
We will be holding an Early Market Engagement session online at 12:00 - 13:00 on Thursday 13 October 2022.
Please email James Lovesey (james.lovesey@beis.gov.uk) and Elena Michael (elena.michael@beis.gov.uk) by 17:00 Monday 10 October 2022 to book your place.
Other Information
Please note that spaces are currently limited and therefore a maximum of 2 people per organisation are permitted. Early registration is recommended. Please also note this event is restricted to industry specific organisations and BEIS reserve the right to restrict attendees accordingly. This notice has been issued only to invite interested parties to a market engagement event. The contracting authority reserves the right not to commence any formal procurement process. The contracting authority also does not commit to any particular procurement route or method for its future procurement approach
two.3) Estimated date of publication of contract notice
30 November 2022
Section four. Procedure
four.1) Description
four.1.8) Information about the Government Procurement Agreement (GPA)
The procurement is covered by the Government Procurement Agreement: No