Official UK procurement notice
Escorting and Related Services
Authority: Home Office (Central government)
What is being bought
Published requirement descriptionThe Home Office is seeking to engage with suppliers who are interested in becoming the commercial partners responsible for delivering the Escorting Services contract, which provides the in-country and overseas escorting of detained persons and management of Short-Term Holding Facilities (STHF), across the UK and Northern France.
Background:
The Home Office is responsible for detaining and enforcing the removal of people from the UK who have no legal basis to remain here. The Escorting Services contract is fundamental to delivering this through the movement of people within the UK, which supports the functioning of the immigration detention / removal estate; the removal of people from the UK, which is predominately via air travel and a mix of escorted (to destination) and unescorted (not escorted to destination). The contract also includes the operation, management and maintenance of Residential Short-Term Holding Facilities and the operation and management of Non-Residential Short-Term Holding Facilities at air/seaports and Immigration Enforcement reporting centres (STHFs). STHFs support the wider immigration detention / removal estate, enforcement activity within the community and protection of the UK border.
Requirement (please note not exhaustive and subject to change):
Management Services – includes operational control centre, performance monitoring and reporting, audit arrangement, and complaint procedures.
Core Services – includes welfare, care of children, risk assessments, use of force, staffing & personnel and training.
In-Country Escorting – 24/7 escorting between locations within the UK. Includes prisons, police stations, hospitals (inc bed watches), STHFs, Immigration Removal Centres. Also includes escort to aircraft for purpose of removal (unescorted) and provision of medical escorts.
Overseas Escorting – 24/7 escorting from place of detention within the UK to designated overseas destination, primarily via air travel with a mix between scheduled and charter flights. Also includes provision of medical escorts and interfacing with the authorities travel service provider.
Non-Residential STHF - the operation and management of designated holding rooms across all parts of the UK. There are currently 28 of these facilities which operate up to 24/7 and can hold people up to 24 hours and beyond in certain circumstances.
Residential STHF – the operation, management and maintenance of RSTHF across all parts of the UK. There are currently 3 of these facilities which operate 24/7 and can hold people up to 7 days in certain circumstances.
Juxtaposed Controls (Northern France) 24/7 escorting services with the UK control zones (Calais, Coquelles, and Dunkerque) and operation and management of 5 (currently) holding rooms at these French ports.
- How the procedure runs: Details of the Competitive Flexible Procedure steps will be depicted at a later stage. This Planned Procurement Notice is issued for information only, to update the market on anticipated procurement timescales. It does not invite requests to participate or the submission of tenders.
CPV: Canteen and catering services · Education and training services · Facilities management services · Security services · Special-purpose road passenger-transport services · Vehicle-fleet management services
The lotProcurement structure
single lot · value publishedLot #1PlannedPublished value£1,201,000,000
Pipeline intelligence · planning stage: how this market runs before the tender is published
How Home Office buys Repair and maintenance services of motor vehicles and associated equipment (CPV 5011), and who usually turns up
Home Office’s published record next to the market for the same work. Frameworks and DPS are left out: they draw different bid counts. Whole-market view: Repair and maintenance services of motor vehicles and associated equipment (CPV 5011) →
How the contest usually goes
Winner shares use published awards; bid and price charts use contested lots.
i
How often small and medium firms win.
Share of awards where the winner’s size is known.
The counts under this question show how many awards have a known supplier size.
Small firms have won here. Neither number says whether you qualify; it describes who has been winning.
i
How often local firms win similar work.
Winners with a registered address in the delivery region, out of awards with a known address.
Local means the winner is registered in the region where that award was delivered.
A local branch does not count if the registered address is elsewhere.
No winner locations published for this authority. Local means a registered address in the region where that award was delivered.
i
How long buyers here take to decide after bids close.
Middle value in days from the bid deadline to the award date, on competitions that published both.
Only decided tenders count, so slow ones still waiting are not in.
Half of these awards have an award date within 50 days of the bid deadline.
i
How often work is awarded with no recorded rival.
Direct awards and tenders where every published lot count shows one bid.
Both shares are minimums: some awards have no bid count.
Thin markets produce this too; it is not proof of a tailored specification.
Direct awards or one recorded bid are common here. Check the route before spending time on a bid.
How many bids did past lots attract?
i
How many bids past lots received.
Each colour is a bid-count range. Only competed lots with a published count are included.
Past bids do not predict this tender.
1 bid11% / 32%
2–337% / 38%
4–641% / 19%
7+11% / 12%
How did awards compare with estimates?
i
Where winning prices landed against estimates.
Each colour shows awards below, close to or above the published estimate, one lot at a time.
Past prices are a guide, not a bid price.
Below estimate44% / 23%
Within ±2%11% / 60%
Above estimate44% / 17%
Assess each lot i
What past awards tell you about each lot.
See the forecast, this buyer’s earlier suppliers and firms with relevant wins.
No supplier is confirmed as a bidder.
i
What past awards tell you about each lot.
See the forecast, this buyer’s earlier suppliers and firms with relevant wins.
No supplier is confirmed as a bidder.
Open a lot for its forecast, this buyer’s previous supplier and possible competitors, from published award history, not a bid list
Lot #1CPV 5011Published estimate£1.2bn
i
How many bids this lot may attract.
The forecast uses similar past competitions. The bar shows either that forecast or past bid counts; the line below says which.
Each lot shows its own forecast based on its own category; forecasts for different lots of the same notice are not comparative. The bar shows 85 past lots.
A forecast, not a list of bidders.
1 bid32%
2–338%
4–619%
7+12%
i
Where the award price may land.
The forecast uses similar awards and the buyer’s estimate. The band covers the middle half of likely prices.
No comparable awards for this lot yet.
A statistical guide from past awards, not a price to bid.
Who has supplied this buyer on similar work? i
Who has done similar work for this buyer.
Past contracts are matched by buyer, title and type of work.
A past supplier may not bid again.
i
Who has done similar work for this buyer.
Past contracts are matched by buyer, title and type of work.
A past supplier may not bid again.
No earlier contract of this buyer matches this lot on the published record.
Who could compete for this lot? i
Who could compete for this lot?
Firms with relevant past wins. On a framework, we show firms on that agreement.
None is confirmed as a bidder.
i
Who could compete for this lot?
Firms with relevant past wins. On a framework, we show firms on that agreement.
None is confirmed as a bidder.
Candidate suppliers for this notice have not been worked out yet, so this is not a verdict that nobody fits.
About this data
- Source. Official UK public procurement notices (Find a Tender), reused under the Open Government Licence v3.0. New notices arrive through the day; the figures are rebuilt nightly.
- Two views, kept apart. The authority’s own track record and the wider market for the same kind of work sit side by side and are never mixed. Where the local picture is too thin, a figure widens to a broader market and says which one it used.
- Forecasts are labelled. The price forecast and its range, possible competitors and the earlier-work matches are our estimates from past awards: not published facts, not win chances and not price advice. Official notices do not say who is bidding.
- Every figure shows what it rests on. Not every notice publishes a bid count, a value or a delivery region, so each figure carries the number of records behind it, and one built on few records is marked as such. The on a figure explains it; the counting rules are in the methodology. Spotted something wrong? Tell us.
Procedure terms & legal framework
From the official record- Procedure method
- Competitive flexible procedure
- Legal basis
- UKPGA · 2023/54 Procurement Act 2023
- Procurement category
- Services
- Notice status
- Planned procurement
- Procurement threshold
- Above threshold (FTS publication)
- Regulatory regime
- Concession
- Commercial structure
- Stand-alone contract (no framework)
- Competition type
- Competitive procedure
- GPA / WTO covered
- Unspecified in notice
- Recurring procurement
- Unspecified in notice
- First published
- 18 Jul 2025, 15:09 BST
- Last source update
- 2 Oct 2026, 10:13 BST
- Award evaluation window
- Submission end – 13 Aug 2028
- Authority reference
project_19029- FTS notice number
2026/S 000-093163- Latest notice
- Preliminary market engagement notice (UK2)
- Classification (CPV)
- Delivery area
- Official registry OCID
ocds-h6vhtk-056241Find a Tender
- How it runs
Details of the Competitive Flexible Procedure steps will be depicted at a later stage.
This Planned Procurement Notice is issued for information only, to update the market on anticipated procurement timescales. It does not invite requests to participate or the submission of tenders.
How it was run
Official notice- Submission deadline
- 4 Jun 2027, 23:59 BST
- Clarification deadline
- 14 May 2027, 23:59 BST
- Electronic submission
- Allowed
- Accepted languages
- en
Timeline
18 Jul 2025 → 1 May 2029 · 8 dates- Planning notice published18 Jul 2025, 15:09 BST
- Latest notice published22 days ago2 Oct 2026, 10:13 BST
- Market engagement1 day ago23 Oct 2026, 23:59 BST
The Home Office is undertaking a targeted market engagement exercise to inform future procurement and delivery arrangements for Residential Short-Term Holding Facilities (RSTHFs) as part of the wider Escorting and Related Services Procurement. Specifically, this engagement seeks to test the market's appetite for, and views on, the potential disaggregation of RSTHFs from the future escorting contract.
Through this exercise, the Authority aims to better understand the viability of standalone RSTHF delivery, potential operating and commercial models, associated risks and opportunities, and whether separation could improve operational outcomes, resilience and value for money.
Responses will be used solely to support strategic planning and future procurement decisions and will not form part of any procurement evaluation process.
A questionnaire shall be sent to prospective suppliers by 9th October 2026, following the execution of a Non-Disclosure Agreement (NDA). Supplier will have until the 23rd October 2026 to complete the questionnaire and upload their response to the Home Office's Jaggaer e-sourcing portal.
Please note:
To express your interest in the Market Engagement process, your organisation must be registered on the Home Office eSourcing Portal. If you have not yet registered, this can be done online at homeoffice.app.jaggaer.com/web/login.html ↗
To register, you must have a valid DUNS number for the organisations which you are registering and who will be entering into a contract if invited to do so.
Once registered, please search for the following project information:
project_19029 - Escorting and Related Services
pqq_891 - NDA stage - Preliminary Market Engagement: Residential Short Term Holding Facilities for Escorting and Related Services. Available at:
- Today24 Oct 2026
- Tender notice expectedin 135 days8 Mar 2027, 23:59 GMT
- Clarification questions byin 202 days14 May 2027, 23:59 BST
- Submission deadlinein 223 days4 Jun 2027, 23:59 BST
- Award decision expected by13 Aug 2028, 23:59 BST
- Contract starts1 May 2029, 00:00 BST
Notice history
12 events · 6 releases on Find a Tender · since 18 Jul 2025- Preliminary market engagement notice published18 Jul 2025, 15:09 BSTUK2
- Planned procurement notice published5 Feb 2026, 16:01 GMTUK3
- Published value updated to £1,201,000,0005 Feb 2026, 16:01 GMTwas £950,000,000
- Status changed to planned5 Feb 2026, 16:01 GMT
- Procurement method changed5 Feb 2026, 16:01 GMT
- Deadline published: 16 Nov 2026, 23:59 GMT5 Feb 2026, 16:01 GMT
- Planned procurement notice published2 Jun 2026, 11:53 BSTUK3
- Deadline moved to 5 Mar 2027, 23:59 GMT2 Jun 2026, 11:53 BST+109 days · was 16 Nov 2026, 23:59 GMT
- Preliminary market engagement notice published2 Jun 2026, 11:54 BSTUK2
- Planned procurement notice published1 Oct 2026, 14:44 BSTUK3
- Deadline moved to 4 Jun 2027, 23:59 BST1 Oct 2026, 14:44 BST+91 days · was 5 Mar 2027, 23:59 GMT
- Preliminary market engagement notice published2 Oct 2026, 10:13 BSTUK2
Published amendments (2)
Updated anticipated tender publication, tender submission, contract award and contract start and end dates.
Updated anticipated tender publication, tender submission and contract award. Addition of Facilities Management Service CPV code (79993100).
Routine re-releases (6)
- 2026-06: 1 release · 2 Jun 2026
- 2026-02: 1 release · 5 Feb 2026
- 2025-07: 1 release · 18 Jul 2025
Commercial outcome & contract awards
Pipeline notice- Awards (0)
- No award published
- Contracts (0)
- No contract published
- Bid statistics
- No aggregate bid statistics published
Contracting authority & participating public bodies
Official documents & specifications (7)
Official links; attachments are not copiedTender pack and attachments
- Bidding documents and specificationsAccess: via the Authority's procurement portal
Notices published for this procedure
- Preliminary market engagement notice Preliminary market engagement notice on Find a Tender
- Planned procurement notice Planned procurement notice on Find a Tender
- Preliminary market engagement notice Preliminary market engagement notice on Find a Tender
- Planned procurement notice Planned procurement notice on Find a Tender
- Planned procurement notice Planned procurement notice on Find a Tender
- Preliminary market engagement notice Preliminary market engagement notice on Find a Tender