Provision of Digital Interviewing Services

The Home Office (hereafter referred to as the Authority) intends to issue a notice to tender for the provision of Digital Interviewing (Goods and Services) in support of the asylum procedures.

The aim of this Prior Information Notice is to notify the market of our future plans to procure services for Digital Interviewing services, including Defined Role-Based Access Controls; the ability to operate on the Home Office ‘POISE’ network; the ability to audio record interviews; provision of one-time interview session access link, which expires at the end of the session; notification and alert capabilities; provision of live service user support; the ability to hold multiple sessions for the same case; third party access via their own devices; the ability to capture acknowledgments and confirmations digitally; audio transcription as required; suitable MI; dedicated and secure storage solution; wraparound support service for both hardware and software; ability to share a digital copy of both transcript and audio file with the customer.

The Authority currently anticipates that the procurement stages for the Digital Interviewing Contract Agreement will comprise the following stages under the Restricted Procedure:

• Stage 1: Supplier selection through the issue of a Standard Selection Questionnaire (SSQ) to check compliance with wider laws, regulations and demonstrate appropriate financial standing and technical ability to deliver the service.
• Stage 2: Shortlisted bidders will be invited to the next stage, which is an Invitation To Tender (ITT) process, being invited to submit a bid in response to the published Scope of Requirements
• Stage 3: Contract award.

The purpose of this process is to ensure that the widest possible pool of suitably-qualified potential bidders is reached.