Scope
Description
A contract to provide and safeguard statutory provision of prison library services at HMP Bure, HMP Norwich, HMP The Mount and HMP Wayland.
Contract 1. con_25268 Contract for the Provision of Library Services at HMP Bure HMP Norwich HMP The Mount and HMP Wayland
Supplier
Contract value
- £1,752,534.78 excluding VAT
- £2,103,041.73 including VAT
Above the relevant threshold
Earliest date the contract will be signed
28 October 2025
Contract dates (estimated)
- 28 October 2025 to 31 March 2029
- Possible extension to 31 March 2032
- 6 years, 5 months, 4 days
Description of possible extension:
The Customer may extend the Contract for a period of three (3) periods of twelve (12) Months up to a
maximum of thirty-six (36) Months by giving not less than three (3) Months' notice in writing to the Supplier
prior to the Expiry Date. The terms and conditions of the Contract shall apply throughout any such extended
period as updated from time to time.
Main procurement category
Services
CPV classifications
- 75231230 - Prison services
Other information
Description of risks to contract performance
The actual contract date is 01/07/2025-31/03/2029. Due to the urgency and short timescale resulted in this notice not being completed in the correct governance
Conflicts assessment prepared/revised
Yes
Procedure
Procedure type
Direct award
Special regime
Light touch
Direct award justification
Extreme and unavoidable urgency
The direct award of library services to the supplier are strictly necessary for reasons of extreme and unavoidable urgency. The Ministry of Justice has a legal requirement to secure the provision of education and training for prisoners (Apprenticeships, Skills, Children and Learning Act 2009). Section 86 of the Apprenticeships, Skills, Children and Learning Act 2009 provides that the Secretary of State must secure the provision of such education and training facilities as he/she considers appropriate for education and training suitable to the requirements of prisoners. The incumbent library supplier advised that they would be unable to continue providing a service due to their contractual arrangements ceasing with the local authority on 30th June 2025. This resulted in the supplier going into termination as this represented the majority of their business and they were unable to continue operations due to the loss of this local authority contract. This created a huge challenge for the Authority because there is a statutory obligation to provide prison library services and service provision cannot disrupted. Given these reasons of extreme and unavoidable urgency, these services could not be awarded on the basis of a competitive tendering procedure (due to timescales involved and that the supplier only provided 2 months notice of cessation of business). The urgency is unavoidable as it is not attributable to any act or omission of the contracting authority and could not have been reasonably foreseen by the contracting authority. The business owner's requirement is to maintain current delivery and system stability, with future contracts being based on the services currently delivered, with all Terms and Conditions and contract value remaining unchanged.
Supplier
Greenwich Leisure Ltd
- Public Procurement Organisation Number: PDGW-6391-PLVW
Middlegate House
London
SE18 6SX
United Kingdom
Email: rebecca.gediking@gll.org.uk
Region: UKI51 - Bexley and Greenwich
Small or medium-sized enterprise (SME): No
Voluntary, community or social enterprise (VCSE): Yes
Contract 1. con_25268 Contract for the Provision of Library Services at HMP Bure HMP Norwich HMP The Mount and HMP Wayland
Contracting authority
Ministry of Justice
- Public Procurement Organisation Number: PDNN-2773-HVYN
102 Petty France
London
SW1H 9AJ
United Kingdom
Email: commercial.prisoneducation@justice.gov.uk
Website: https://www.gov.uk/government/organisations/ministry-of-justice/about/procurement
Region: UKI32 - Westminster
Organisation type: Public authority - central government