Official UK procurement notice
UK2 Notice: Preliminary Market Engagement - Asylum Seeker Travel Services
Authority: Home Office (Central government)
What is being bought
Published requirement descriptionThe Home Office (the Authority) has a statutory duty under Section 55 of the Borders, Citizenship and Immigration Act 2009 to discharge its immigration and asylum functions having regard to the need to safeguard and promote the welfare of children in the UK.
In addition to this, under the Immigration and Asylum Act 1999, the Home Office has a statutory obligation to provide temporary support for Asylum Seekers who appear to be destitute or are likely to become destitute within a prescribed period.
These obligations include Unaccompanied Asylum-Seeking Children (UASC) who arrive in the UK and enter the immigration system without a parent or guardian as well as an adult Asylum Seeker Cohort.
The service includes the arrangement of transport on behalf of local authorities, as well as the Home Office, for the movement of UASC when these movements are required. A number of core business units will utilise this contract. Further details will be provided through additional materials that will be made available to parties, upon completion and receipt of a signed Non-Disclosure Agreement (more information for which is set out in this document).
This service will not be used for Home Office staff transport and is intended as a civilian travel programme only. The Home Office is still considering all of its options with regards to aggregation and disaggregation and therefore encourages suppliers who may not be able to deliver the full scope of services to still participate in any subsequent market engagement activity.
The purpose of this engagement is to better understand market capability, capacity, delivery models, and commercial approaches available to support the future service. Information regarding service requirements, volumes and operational arrangement will be shared with interested organisations as part of this engagement activity. Please refer to “Engagement process description” below.
The content of this Notice, including the estimated contract value and indicative contract timelines, is subject to change and does not commit the Authority to commence any procurement process.
CPV: Taxi services · Travel management services · Travel services
The lotProcurement structure
single lot · no lot value publishedPipeline intelligence · planning stage: how this market runs before the tender is published
How Home Office buys Travel agency and similar services (CPV 6351), 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: Travel agency and similar services (CPV 6351) →
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.
Most of this buyer’s recorded winners were registered 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 42 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% / 25%
2–337% / 25%
4–641% / 31%
7+11% / 19%
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 estimate46% / 13%
Within ±2%34% / 63%
Above estimate20% / 25%
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 6351No real estimate
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 16 past lots.
A forecast, not a list of bidders.
1 bid25%
2–325%
4–631%
7+19%
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- Legal basis
- UKPGA · 2023/54 Procurement Act 2023
- Procurement category
- Services
- Notice status
- Planned procurement
- 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
- Unspecified in notice
- First published
- 27 Aug 2026, 16:26 BST
- Last source update
- 22 Sept 2026, 10:50 BST
- Authority reference
Project_19384- FTS notice number
2026/S 000-089490- Latest notice
- Preliminary market engagement notice (UK2)
- Classification (CPV)
- Delivery area
- Official registry OCID
ocds-h6vhtk-06edfdFind a Tender
How it was run
Official notice- Submission deadline
- —
Timeline
27 Aug 2026 → 1 Mar 2027 · 5 dates- Planning notice published58 days ago27 Aug 2026, 16:26 BST
- Latest notice published32 days ago22 Sept 2026, 10:50 BST
- Market engagement23 days ago1 Oct 2026, 23:59 BST
Any previous expression of interest or signed Non-Disclosure Agreement (NDA) associated with other Home Office procurements will not be valid for this process and previous participation in market engagement will not result in automatic inclusion in this new preliminary market engagement, and any subsequent tender process.
It is our intention to invite those suppliers that express an interest in this procurement to complete an initial Supplier Questionnaire, subject to parties signing a Non-Disclosure Agreement. Following receipt of responses, the Authority will decide whether to conduct further market engagement activities. These may include an Industry Day, one-to-one engagement sessions with prospective bidders, or the issuing of clarifying questions to suppliers.
How to Express Interest
- Register on the Home Office eSourcing Portal
Suppliers must be registered on the Home Office eSourcing Suite to participate. If your organisation is not yet registered, please do so at:
homeoffice.app.jaggaer.com/web/login.html ↗
Select the "To register click here" link and follow the instructions.
Note: You must have a valid DUNS number (as provided by Dun & Bradstreet) for the organisation that will be entering into any subsequent contract.
- Submit an Expression of Interest via Email following the instructions:
Send an email to: [email protected]
Use the subject line: Asylum Seeker Travel Services – Expression of Interest
Please include the following details in the body of the email, using the format below:
Organisation name (as on Companies House)
DUNS Number
Jaggaer Account ID
Contact person – Name, job title, email address, contact number
Next Steps Following Expression of Interest
- NDA Issuance
Once your Expression of Interest has been received, your organisation will be invited to sign a NDA, which must be completed prior to receiving further materials.
- Access to Further Information
Suppliers will be unable to participate in preliminary market engagement or any subsequent tender process without returning a signed NDA via the Home Office eSourcing Portal.
Upon receipt of the signed NDA, you will be provided with access to a Background Note detailing the potential scope of services, along with a Supplier Questionnaire to complete.
- Today24 Oct 2026
- Tender notice expectedin 51 days14 Dec 2026, 23:59 GMT
- Contract startsin 127 days1 Mar 2027
Notice history
2 events · 2 releases on Find a Tender · since 27 Aug 2026- Preliminary market engagement notice published27 Aug 2026, 16:26 BSTUK2
- Preliminary market engagement notice published22 Sept 2026, 10:50 BSTUK2
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 (2)
Official links; attachments are not copiedNotices published for this procedure
- Preliminary market engagement notice Preliminary market engagement notice on Find a Tender
- Preliminary market engagement notice Preliminary market engagement notice on Find a Tender