Official UK procurement notice
DoJ Provision of Electronic Monitoring Services in Northern Ireland
Authority: Department of Justice (Central government)·Consortium: 4 public authorities
What is being bought
Published requirement descriptionThe Department of Justice (DOJ) require a contract for the provision of services for the Electronic Monitoring (EM) of offenders in Northern Ireland. The scope of EM is a public
protection tool for both for the judiciary and for the criminal justice agencies monitoring offenders in the community. The Criminal Justice (Northern Ireland ) Order 2008 ("the 2008
Order") provides that electronic monitoring services are made available to facilitate effective monitoring of offenders' compliance with curfew conditions aimed at enhancing
their supervision and limiting their opportunity to reoffend. EM is a key public protection tool for both for the judiciary and for the criminal justice agencies (CJA) who monitor offenders in
the community. The four CJA clients using EM services are:
- NI Court Service (NICTS);
•Police Service NI (PSNI);
- NI Prison Service (NIPS); and
- Probation Board NI (PBNI).
EM currently monitors adherence to curfews requiring the confinement of the subject within the boundaries of an approved address for a period of between 2 and 12 hours per day. It uses an
electronic tag fitted to a subject which sends a signal to a receiver unit located at the curfew address - usually the subject's home. During the hours of the curfew, breaks in the signal (where the tag goes out of range of the receiver) indicate that a curfew violation has occurred and are verified and reported by the service provider to the appropriate supervising CJA. The monitoring information EM provides can be presented at court to confirm curfew
condition violations or support the prosecution case in relation to any other offences which may have been committed whilst being monitored. It therefore plays an important role in levels of public confidence, hampers the ability of an offender to reoffend (during the curfew hours when the court believes they are at greatest risk of re-offending) and can provide valuable information to statutory authorities which can be used to support the detection and
prosecution of crime.
CPV: Security services · Surveillance services
The lotProcurement structure
single lot · no lot value publishedLot #1Awarded
What it takes to wini
How this buyer will score bids.
The evaluation criteria and weights exactly as published on the notice, grouped by family (price, quality, social value and so on).
Evaluation split and conditions of participation as published; the tender pack may add morei
How this buyer will score bids.
The evaluation criteria and weights exactly as published on the notice, grouped by family (price, quality, social value and so on).
Published sub-criteria (10)
- AC1 Operational Service Requirements (i): 12%
- AC2 Operational Service Requirements (ii): 4%
- AC3 Operational Service Requirements (iii): 4%
- AC4 Management Information Systems and Reporting Requirements: 10%
- AC5 Technical Requirements: 12%
- AC6 Service Requirements including Implementation and Transition: 10%
- AC7 Information Security: 4%
- AC8 Personnel Experience - Project Manager: 4%
- price: 30%
- AC9 Social Value: 10%
Published award criteria (10)
- AC1 Operational Service Requirements (i): 12
- AC2 Operational Service Requirements (ii): 4
- AC3 Operational Service Requirements (iii): 4
- AC4 Management Information Systems and Reporting Requirements: 10
- AC5 Technical Requirements: 12
- AC6 Service Requirements including Implementation and Transition: 10
- AC7 Information Security: 4
- AC8 Personnel Experience - Project Manager: 4
- AC9 Social Value: 10
- Price: 30
- Price carries 30 of 100 points: a 10% discount moves about 3 points. The method statement decides this lot, not the discount.
Price arithmetic assumes straight proportional scoring; the tender pack may use another formula.
Procedure terms & legal framework
From the official record · publisher note attached- Procedure method
- Competitive procedure with negotiation
- Legal basis
- CELEX · 32014L0024 Public Contracts Regulations 2015 (Directive 2014/24/EU)
- Procurement category
- Services
- Notice status
- Awarded
- Procurement threshold
- Unspecified in notice
- Regulatory regime
- Standard
- Commercial structure
- Stand-alone contract (no framework)
- Competition type
- Competitive procedure
- GPA / WTO covered
- Yes (GPA)
- Recurring procurement
- Unspecified in notice
- First published
- 12 Sept 2022, 12:48 BST
- Last source update
- 31 Mar 2025, 07:05 BST
- Authority reference
ID3342314- FTS notice number
2025/S 000-011897- Classification (CPV)
- Delivery area
- Official registry OCID
ocds-h6vhtk-0367a9Find a Tender
- Why no open competition
- The procurement falls outside the scope of application of the directive
- Published justification
DoJ awarded a contract in 2018, which was terminated prior to going live. To ensure service continuity, DoJ extended the existing contract while a new competitive process was initiated
in January 2020. Pre-market engagement responses were receipted early 2020 and about to be assessed when the COVID pandemic hit. The new process had to be put on hold immediately as DoJ and CPD resources were prioritised to COVID response activities. DoJ had to ensure delivery of business as usual for this critical service while working around constraints and working conditions imposed by the pandemic. The current contract was due to expire in October 2022.
Provision of this service is a statutory requirement under the Criminal Justice (NI) Order 2008 and there are serious legal and public protection ramifications if it is not in place. Lack of service would significantly impact on the ability to manage the risk of those on bail or those who have been released subject to licence conditions, who are often released on the basis of an EM curfew being in place. In Northern Ireland, there is the added risk and profile of tagging high risk terrorist subjects, with substantial legal scrutiny and press interest in this matter.
There are derogations under the Public Contracts Regulations to award a contract where the supplies or services can only be supplied by a particular supplier for the following reasons: -
a) Where competition is absent for technical reasons (regulation 32(2) (b) (ii)); but only, where no reasonable alternative or substitute exists and the absence of competition is not the result of an artificial narrowing down of the parameters of the procurement.
b) Regulation 32(5)(b) for additional deliveries by the original supplier which are intended either as a partial replacement of supplies or installations or as the extension of existing supplies or installations where a change of supplier would oblige the contracting authority to acquire supplies having different technical characteristics which would result in incompatibility or disproportionate technical difficulties in operation and maintenance.
The current service is very complex, high risk with serious legal ramifications if it fails e.g. adverse public protection outcomes, including in respect of terrorist related offenders; legal
challenges and associated financial penalties for the department; ECHR and deprivation of liberty related issues where EM is not available to manage release on bail or licence. There are high switching costs and high technical thresholds which require a significant period of testing to satisfy the Department and stakeholders that another provider could deliver the service to the required standard. This would include multiple field and breach
reporting tests, equipment/hardware tests, process testing and interoperability with existing DOJ/CJO systems.
Pre-market engagement was completed to aid the new procurement process which identified a lack of awareness/understanding of the NI Criminal Justice system, and
highlighted that a limited number of suppliers had any geographic footprint locally. This is a specialist and limited market.
As equipment and installations are a large proportion of the contract, retaining the incumbent is the only option. It will be VFM in that there is stable, quality service delivery that will ensure the Department can deliver its statutory obligations. There will be no
requirement to purchase new equipment until the new contract is in place. Any other provider would have to bring in new equipment/new technology etc all of which would need to be robustly tested over time.
This will be an interim contract to ensure continuity of services while a tender process (already initiated) occurs. The anticipated go live date is 1st April 2024. The tender opportunity and Contract Notice will be advertised in FTS in due course.
- Review procedure
The UK does not have any special review body with responsibility for appeal/mediation procedures in public procurement competitions. Instead, any challenges are dealt with by the High Court, Commercial Division, to which proceedings may be issued regarding alleged breaches of the Public Contracts Regulations 2015.
Publisher note: With reference to IV.2.1: please note that the correct contract notice reference is 2023/S 000-018490. The FTS system would not recognise this. Please note that information relating to contractors engaged by the Northern Ireland Department of Justice, and associated bodies, is not published in any publicly accessible forum or publication. This is to protect such contractors, whose security and safety could be threatened by dissident terrorist organisations still active in Northern Ireland if their details became known. This is consistent with Regulation 50(6)(a). The contract value listed is a broad estimate only and includes additional quantum for unforeseen demand and to future proof for additional potential. There is no guarantee of any level of business under this contract. The estimate is not deemed to be a condition of contract nor a guarantee of minimum demand or uptake. No compensation will be payable to a contractor should the actual demand be less than that stated. Contract Monitoring: The successful contractor's performance on this contract will be managed as per specification and regularly monitored. Contractors not delivering on contract requirements is a serious matter. It means the public purse is not getting what it is paying for. If a contractor fails to reach satisfactory levels of contract performance they will be given a specified time to improve. If, after the specified. time, they still fail to reach satisfactory levels of contract performance, the matter will be escalated to senior management in Construction and Procurement Delivery for further action. If this occurs and their performance still does not improve to satisfactory levels within the specified period, it may be regarded as an act of grave professional misconduct and they may be issued with a notice of written warning and notice of unsatisfactory performance and this contract may be terminated. The issue of a notice of written warning and notice of unsatisfactory performance will result in the contractor being excluded from all procurement competitions being undertaken by Centres of Procurement Expertise on behalf of bodies covered by the Northern Ireland Procurement Policy for a period of up to 3 years from the date of issue of the notice.
Notice history
2 events · 3 releases on Find a Tender · since 31 Mar 2025- Procurement method changed31 Mar 2025, 07:05 BST
- Buyer details updated31 Mar 2025, 07:05 BST
Commercial outcome & contract awards
Published awards, contracts and bid statistics, not a forecast| Awarded to | Value | Date | Status |
|---|---|---|---|
| Information withheld for security reasons | £20,000,000 † | — | Awarded |
| Information withheld for security reasonsProvision of Electronic Monitoring (EM) Services in Northern Ireland | £2,400,000 † | — | Awarded |
| Information withheld for security reasonsProvision of Electronic Monitoring (EM) Services in Northern Ireland | £2,400,000 † | — | Awarded |
Contracts
DoJ Provision of Electronic Monitoring Services in Northern Ireland · Information withheld for security reasons
- Signed
- 27 Mar 2025
- Value
- £20,000,000
- Status
- active
Provision of Electronic Monitoring (EM) Services in Northern Ireland · Information withheld for security reasons
- Signed
- 23 Sept 2022
- Value
- £2,400,000
- Status
- active
Provision of Electronic Monitoring (EM) Services in Northern Ireland · Information withheld for security reasons
- Signed
- 6 Sept 2022
- Value
- £2,400,000
- Status
- active
Bid statistics published by the authority
| Bids | SME | VCSE | Valid bid range |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2bids | — | — | — |
Contracting authority & participating public bodies
3 public bodies on the noticeConsortium members and other public bodies
- Police Service of Northern IrelandContracting authority
- Probation Board for Northern IrelandContracting authority
Dispute resolution & review bodies
- See VI.4.3 / Review procedureReview body
- The UK does not have any such bodies with responsibility for appeal/mediation procedures. Instead; any challenges are dealt with by the High Court, Commercial Division, to which proceedings may be issued regarding alleged breaches of the PCR 2015 as amended.Review body
Bidders & participating suppliers
3 commercial parties on the notice- Information withheld for security reasonsAwarded supplier
- Information withheld for security reasonsAwarded supplier
- Information withheld for security reasonsAwarded supplier
Official documents & specifications
Official links; attachments are not copiedNo document links were published on the notice.