The Executive Office (TEO) – Communities in Transition (CIT): Regional Expanding Restorative Practice in Non Justice Settings

The Executive Office (TEO) is seeking to appoint a Contractor to design and deliver a programme of activities that will increase the use of restorative practice in the eight Communities in Transition (CIT) Areas of focus. The core purpose of the proposed intervention for the 8 CIT areas is multi-fold:

• To address underlying community and personal issues such as poverty, educational under attainment, health, isolation, environmental, anti-social behaviour, community safety, policing, and community division which are being exploited by those seeking to sustain paramilitary activity, criminality and organised crime;
• promote the use of peaceful and democratic means and the rule of law
• support those wishing to move away from paramilitary activity, criminality and organised crime and; and
• To work in partnership with statutory agencies, including law enforcement and the criminal justice system to build safe and confident communities. This tender is linked to the CIT Project which had been due to end in March 2024 however the Executive made a commitment to extend the overall Executive Programme on Paramilitarism and Organised Crime (EPPOC) to March 2027. As CIT is a key element of EPPOC, it has also been extended to 31 March 2027. This phase of delivery is classed as Phase 3 of CIT and will operate from 01 April 2025 – 31 March 2027. Phase 1 of the Project provided a firm foundation for continuing to address the issues that allow Paramilitarism, criminality and coercive control to persist within communities. Phase 2 presented an opportunity to further refine the work under a thematic approach as we move forward. Phase 3 will see delivery move from a thematic approach to an issues-based approach focusing on the key issues caused by paramilitarism in communities. This Contract falls under Phase 3 and will support the Department in its overall delivery of the CIT Project. The Contractor’s programme will incorporate and deliver a number of programme activities, described at paragraph 6.5 of the Specification. Full details of all the requirements for this Contract are provided for within the Specification of Requirements Schedule. The Contractor must not be delivering general programme activities as part of this programme, all activities must clearly link to the objectives listed above and to the Benefits Framework (as listed at paragraph 6.6 of the Specification). It is anticipated that the Contract will commence in April 2025 and run until 31 March 2026.