Prisoner Telephony Services – Bridging Agreement

CPV: Construction and ancillary works for telephone and communication lines · Local area network · Local area network services · Public telephones · Telecommunications equipment and supplies · Telecommunications network · Telecommunications services · Telephone equipment · Telephone network

Procedure method

Direct award

Legal basis

UKPGA · 2023/54 Procurement Act 2023

Procurement category

Services

Notice status

Awarded without competition

Procurement threshold

Above threshold (FTS publication)

Regulatory regime

Concession

Commercial structure

Stand-alone contract (no framework)

Competition type

Direct award (no call for competition)

GPA / WTO covered

Yes (GPA)

Recurring procurement

Unspecified in notice

First published

2 Mar 2026, 17:00 GMT

Last source update

23 Oct 2026, 13:42 BST

Authority reference

prj_14443

FTS notice number

2026/S 000-100501

Latest notice

Contract details notice (UK7)

Classification (CPV)

Construction and ancillary works for telephone and communication linesLocal area networkLocal area network servicesPublic telephonesTelecommunications equipment and suppliesTelecommunications networkTelecommunications servicesTelephone equipmentTelephone network

Delivery area

UK

Official registry OCID

ocds-h6vhtk-066032 Find a Tender

Why no open competition

Single Suppliers Intellectual Property Exclusive Rights; Single Suppliers Technical Reasons

Published justification

The contracting authority (MOJ) is relying on the single supplier direct award justifications under section 41 and schedule 5 paragraphs 5 and/or 6 of the Procurement Act 2023 in the alternative:

-paragraph 5 (a)due to a particular supplier having intellectual property rights or other exclusive rights, only that supplier can supply the goods, services or works required, and (b)there are no reasonable alternatives to those goods, services or works.

and in the alternative:

-paragraph 6 (a)due to an absence of competition for technical reasons, only a particular supplier can supply the goods, services or works required, and (b)there are no reasonable alternatives to those goods, services or works.

The explanations for why the justifications apply are as follows:

Intellectual property rights - paragraph 5.

This justification applies because only BT has the intellectual property rights needed to be able to provide the services. This is a consequence of the intellectual property clauses in the current PTS contract and the Bridging Agreement.

No reasonable alternatives

In the absence of the intellectual property rights that would be needed for an alternative supplier to be able to provide the services, the only reasonable potential alternative would be for MOJ to procure another supplier/s to develop a replacement solution that meets MOJ’s requirements – whether building from scratch or configuring a commercial-off-the-shelf solution. Any replacement supplier/s would then need time for mobilising, testing and transitioning to that replacement solution after it had been appropriately governed and procured by MOJ. There is not sufficient time to do all these activities which would be necessary to transition to a replacement solution by the date the services are required, which is 1 June 2027. This is evidenced by the number of years it is taking to replace the PTS and transition to the next generation replacement service, PICS. PICS is being designed for use in the prisons in England and Wales which are run by HM Prisons and Probation Service and will be rolled out incrementally over time to eventually end use of the PTS service. MOJ is approximately two years into the PICS project. The direct award for the Bridging Agreement is for the period required to facilitate MOJ procuring, governing, testing, mobilising and transitioning from PTS to PICS. Therefore, there are no reasonable alternatives.

The second justification is absence of competition for technical reasons - paragraph 6

There is an absence of competition for technical reasons which are based on the same arguments as for the intellectual property rights justification under paragraph 5, which are stated above. The PTS is bespoke and an alternative supplier would not be able to walk in and take over the services on the date from which they are required due to the intellectual property rights of BT. Instead, there would have to be an appropriately governed procurement/s and then the selected supplier/s would have to mobilise, test and then transition to that service and as stated in the justification under paragraph 5 above, this is not possible to do by the time the services are required on 1 June 2027.

No reasonable alternatives

The same justifications, stated above, for why there are no reasonable alternatives for paragraph 5 intellectual property rights, apply to the justification for paragraph 6.

Therefore, there are no reasonable alternatives.

Submission deadline

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• British Telecommunications LimitedAwarded supplierGB-COH: 01800000GB-PPON: PRYC-1538-TGMN 1 Braham Street, London, London, E1 8EEContact emailShow contact details
• British Telecommunications plcAwarded supplierGB-COH: 01800000 One Braham, 1 Braham Street, London, London, E1 8EEContact emailShow contact details