Escorting and Travel Services Re-Procurement Project

Provision of In-Country and Overseas Escorting, operation and management of Short Term Holding Facilities and Holding Rooms and related services; and the provision of Travel Services for Removals. The Home Office is responsible, under the Immigration Act 1971 and the Immigration and Asylum Act 1999, for detaining and/or enforcing the removal of certain persons (Detainees), assigned by the Home Office to Immigration Removal Centres and other locations from the United Kingdom.

The Immigration Enforcement Directorate of the Home Office is responsible for the provision of bed space, escorting services and electronic monitoring. At any one time, approximately 3,400 detainees are held overnight in one of ten Immigration Removal Centres, two residential Short Term Holding Facilities, a pre-departure accommodation, prisons and police stations across the United Kingdom.

In addition, persons can be detained for shorter periods of time in holding rooms at Reporting Centres, land and sea ports. In order to facilitate the removal of detainees from the UK, it is necessary to provide sufficient escort and transportation staff to enable their safe and secure passage.

This often entails the provision of transportation for detainees and escorts who will travel with them to their final destination and hand them over to the appropriate authorities. This will include vulnerable detainees, (e.g. with a medical condition), as well as those who refuse to leave the UK voluntarily and those being removed on chartered flights.

Detainees and the appropriate escort staff are transported either by scheduled flights with commercial carriers or via chartered aircraft (where sufficient volume or specific routes dictate the need). The Home Office is seeking commercial partner(s) for the provision of a number of distinct, but fully integrated, in-country and overseas detainee escorting, holding room management services and a range of travel booking services.

These services include (but are not limited to): •The escorting and transportation of detainees within the UK (In-Country Escorting Services); •The escorting of detainees from the UK to an overseas destination (Overseas Escorting); •Management of detainees detained at holding rooms and Short-term Holding Facilities; and. •Providing a range of travel services (predominantly booking of scheduled and chartered flights) relating to immigration services. The Home Office is also considering the inclusion of similar services for other Government Departments.

Additionally, the Home Office may be interested in exploring whether some of the related services should remain in-house. Following market engagement, the Home Office will consider whether the services should be divided into lots and allocate suitable contract titles. The total contract value for Escorting and Travel Services is estimated at £500m including travel ticket costs of approximately £200m.