Heathrow IRC Operator Services

• The authority expects to re-tender this requirement around 17 Mar 2032, 23:59 GMT.
• How the procedure runs: Stage 1 Procurement Specific Questionnaire Subject to Bidders completing and returning the Authority NDA, Bidders will be provided access to the Authority Procurement Specific Questionnaire (PSQ). All responses will be evaluated in accordance with the guidance contained within the PSQ documentation. Bidders will be required to respond via the Authority's eSourcing portal. Stage 2 Issue of ITT Procurement Documentation Following successful completion of the PSQ stage, bidders will be granted access to the full set of procurement documentation via the Authority’s eSourcing portal. Stage 3 Site Visit and Group Dialogue A site visit to view the IRC will be arranged for all bidders who have successfully passed the PSQ stage (date to be confirmed). Following the site visit, the Authority will host an in‑person Group Dialogue session. This session will provide the Authority with the opportunity to explain pre‑identified aspects of the procurement documentation to ensure that bidders have a clear understanding of the tender requirements. Bidders will also have the opportunity to ask clarification questions in a group setting. Stage 4 One to One Dialogue Following the Group Dialogue session, individual virtual one‑to‑one Dialogue sessions will be available to bidders (dates to be confirmed). Attendance at these sessions is optional and bidders are under no obligation to participate. The purpose of the one‑to‑one Dialogue sessions is to provide bidders with an opportunity to raise bidder‑specific or commercially confidential queries with the Authority. Following completion of the Dialogue stage, the Authority reserves the right to make minor amendments to elements of the tender documentation. Any revised documentation will be issued to all bidders via the eSourcing portal in advance of the deadline for submission of bidders’ initial proposals. Stage 5 Bidders submit fully costed initial proposals Bidders are required to submit their fully costed proposals to the Authority in accordance with the instructions contained within the tender documentation. Stage 6 Evaluation and Moderation of Initial Bidder proposals (including feedback) Bidder proposals will be evaluated in accordance with the Detailed Evaluation Guidance (Technical Envelope) issued within the ITT documents. Following completion of the initial evaluation, Technical Envelope question scores will be moderated to ensure compliance with evaluation principles and to confirm that assessments by individual evaluators have been conducted in accordance with the published scoring methodology. Evaluation will be undertaken by the panel of initial evaluators for each relevant section and will consider each question independently of any others. A single consensus final qualitative score will be agreed at moderation for each technical question response submitted by each bidder. The final qualitative scores, agreed by consensus, will be recorded on the Authority’s eSourcing portal and used to generate each bidder’s overall Quality score (%) as described above. Bidders will be provided with feedback on their proposals via the Authority’s eSourcing portal. At the conclusion of the Evaluation and Moderation stage, the Authority reserves the right to: - Exclude Bidders who achieve less than 60% of the available marks in the technical quality assessment (i.e., scoring below 60 out of 100 for the quality section; or - Progress to the Negotiation stage with all remaining bidders; or - Proceed directly to Contract Award Due Diligence (Stage 9) without entering into Negotiation and Best and Final Offer (BAFO) stages. Stage 7 Negotiation & BAFO Should the Authority elect to undertake Negotiations, bidders who progress from the initial ITT Evaluation and Moderation stage will be invited to participate in a Negotiation phase covering a number of pre‑identified themed areas. The Authority is not obliged to enter into a Negotiation phase and may instead proceed directly to Contract Award Due Diligence without conducting Negotiations or inviting Best and Final Offers. Bidders will also be given the opportunity to propose additional areas for Negotiation, which the Authority may accept or reject at its sole discretion. At the conclusion of any Negotiation phase, bidders will be issued with a summary of the Negotiation discussions and will then be invited to submit their Best and Final Offer. Stage 8 Evaluation and Moderation of BAFO Bidders’ submissions will first be evaluated and moderated in accordance with the published award criteria and assessment methodology, consistent with the approach outlined in Stage 6. Once evaluation and moderation stages have been completed, scores awarded in respect of quality and price will be combined to determine bidders’ overall score and ranking. The outcome of this stage will be the formulation of a provisional recommendation for Contract award to the highest‑scoring bidder. The formulation of a provisional recommendation does not constitute a decision to award the Contract. Stage 9 Contract Award Due Diligence The provisional recommendation for Contract award will be subject to a separate Due Diligence stage. This stage will include the completion of relevant checks and the approval of the recommendation in accordance with the Authority’s appropriate governance arrangements. A decision to award the Contract will only be taken following the successful completion of the Due Diligence and Governance stages. The Authority reserves the right not to proceed to award the Contract.

CPV: Accommodation cleaning services · Accommodation services · Building and facilities management services · Canteen and catering services · Education and training services · Grounds maintenance services · Guard services · Housekeeping services · Recreational, cultural and sporting services · Religious services · Security services · Special-purpose road passenger-transport services

Procedure method

Competitive flexible procedure

Legal basis

UKPGA · 2023/54 Procurement Act 2023

Procurement category

Services

Notice status

Closed

Procurement threshold

Above threshold (FTS publication)

Regulatory regime

Standard

Commercial structure

Stand-alone contract (no framework)

Competition type

Competitive procedure

GPA / WTO covered

Unspecified in notice

Recurring procurement

Yes · next expected 17 Mar 2032

First published

1 May 2025, 14:06 BST

Last source update

17 Mar 2026, 16:08 GMT

Award evaluation window

Submission end – 15 Nov 2027

Authority reference

Heathrow IRC Operator Services / project_18030

FTS notice number

2026/S 000-024238

Latest notice

Tender notice (UK4)

Classification (CPV)

Accommodation cleaning servicesAccommodation servicesBuilding and facilities management servicesCanteen and catering servicesEducation and training servicesGrounds maintenance servicesGuard servicesHousekeeping servicesRecreational, cultural and sporting servicesReligious services

+2 more

Security servicesSpecial-purpose road passenger-transport services

Delivery area

UK

Official registry OCID

ocds-h6vhtk-050b69 Find a Tender

How it runs

Stage 1 Procurement Specific Questionnaire

Subject to Bidders completing and returning the Authority NDA, Bidders will be provided access to the Authority Procurement Specific Questionnaire (PSQ). All responses will be evaluated in accordance with the guidance contained within the PSQ documentation. Bidders will be required to respond via the Authority's eSourcing portal.

Stage 2 Issue of ITT Procurement Documentation

Following successful completion of the PSQ stage, bidders will be granted access to the full set of procurement documentation via the Authority’s eSourcing portal.

Stage 3 Site Visit and Group Dialogue

A site visit to view the IRC will be arranged for all bidders who have successfully passed the PSQ stage (date to be confirmed).

Following the site visit, the Authority will host an in‑person Group Dialogue session. This session will provide the Authority with the opportunity to explain pre‑identified aspects of the procurement documentation to ensure that bidders have a clear understanding of the tender requirements. Bidders will also have the opportunity to ask clarification questions in a group setting.

Stage 4 One to One Dialogue

Following the Group Dialogue session, individual virtual one‑to‑one Dialogue sessions will be available to bidders (dates to be confirmed). Attendance at these sessions is optional and bidders are under no obligation to participate.

The purpose of the one‑to‑one Dialogue sessions is to provide bidders with an opportunity to raise bidder‑specific or commercially confidential queries with the Authority.

Following completion of the Dialogue stage, the Authority reserves the right to make minor amendments to elements of the tender documentation. Any revised documentation will be issued to all bidders via the eSourcing portal in advance of the deadline for submission of bidders’ initial proposals.

Stage 5 Bidders submit fully costed initial proposals

Bidders are required to submit their fully costed proposals to the Authority in accordance with the instructions contained within the tender documentation.

Stage 6 Evaluation and Moderation of Initial Bidder proposals (including feedback)

Bidder proposals will be evaluated in accordance with the Detailed Evaluation Guidance (Technical Envelope) issued within the ITT documents.

Following completion of the initial evaluation, Technical Envelope question scores will be moderated to ensure compliance with evaluation principles and to confirm that assessments by individual evaluators have been conducted in accordance with the published scoring methodology.

Evaluation will be undertaken by the panel of initial evaluators for each relevant section and will consider each question independently of any others. A single consensus final qualitative score will be agreed at moderation for each technical question response submitted by each bidder. The final qualitative scores, agreed by consensus, will be recorded on the Authority’s eSourcing portal and used to generate each bidder’s overall Quality score (%) as described above.

Bidders will be provided with feedback on their proposals via the Authority’s eSourcing portal.

At the conclusion of the Evaluation and Moderation stage, the Authority reserves the right to:

• Exclude Bidders who achieve less than 60% of the available marks in the technical quality assessment (i.e., scoring below 60 out of 100 for the quality section; or
• Progress to the Negotiation stage with all remaining bidders; or
• Proceed directly to Contract Award Due Diligence (Stage 9) without entering into Negotiation and Best and Final Offer (BAFO) stages.

Stage 7 Negotiation & BAFO

Should the Authority elect to undertake Negotiations, bidders who progress from the initial ITT Evaluation and Moderation stage will be invited to participate in a Negotiation phase covering a number of pre‑identified themed areas. The Authority is not obliged to enter into a Negotiation phase and may instead proceed directly to Contract Award Due Diligence without conducting Negotiations or inviting Best and Final Offers.

Bidders will also be given the opportunity to propose additional areas for Negotiation, which the Authority may accept or reject at its sole discretion.

At the conclusion of any Negotiation phase, bidders will be issued with a summary of the Negotiation discussions and will then be invited to submit their Best and Final Offer.

Stage 8 Evaluation and Moderation of BAFO

Bidders’ submissions will first be evaluated and moderated in accordance with the published award criteria and assessment methodology, consistent with the approach outlined in Stage 6.

Once evaluation and moderation stages have been completed, scores awarded in respect of quality and price will be combined to determine bidders’ overall score and ranking.

The outcome of this stage will be the formulation of a provisional recommendation for Contract award to the highest‑scoring bidder. The formulation of a provisional recommendation does not constitute a decision to award the Contract.

Stage 9 Contract Award Due Diligence

The provisional recommendation for Contract award will be subject to a separate Due Diligence stage. This stage will include the completion of relevant checks and the approval of the recommendation in accordance with the Authority’s appropriate governance arrangements.

A decision to award the Contract will only be taken following the successful completion of the Due Diligence and Governance stages. The Authority reserves the right not to proceed to award the Contract.

Requests to participate (first stage)

3 Mar 2026, 10:00 GMT

Submission deadline

20 Apr 2026, 12:00 BST

Clarification deadline

7 Apr 2026, 17:00 BST

Submission channel

Official e-sourcing portal

Electronic submission

Allowed

Accepted languages

en