Defence Online

Type of document: Contract Notice
Country: United Kingdom

1. Title: COMMUNITY ACCOMMODATION SERVICE – TIER 2
2. Awarding Authority: Ministry of Justice, GB. Web:
3. Contract type: Service contract
4. Description: The Awarding Authority is seeking a managed service provider to design and deliver a digital referral service for the Community Accommodation Service Tier 2 (CAS2). We require a multidisciplinary team to develop the service through an agile lifecycle from discovery into live running by December 2023.
5. CPV Code(s): 98341000
6. NUTS code(s): UKE, UKE3, UKE32, UKI, UKI3, UKI32
7. Main site or location of works, main place of delivery or main place of performance: No specific location, for example they can work remotely
Address where the work will take place Working remotely although occasional travel may be required to either:
MoJ Digital Studio, 32 Scotland Street, Sheffield, S3 7BS
MoJ, 102 Petty France, London, SW1H 9AJ
8. Reference attributed by awarding authority: Not provided.
9. Estimated value of requirement: Budget range: Up to £1,400,000
10. Closing date for applications 21.11.2022 (23:59:00).
11. Address to which they must be sent: For further information regarding the above contract notice please visit:
12. Other information: Deadline for asking questions: Monday 14 November 2022 at 11:59pm GMT
Off-payroll (IR35) determination: Contracted out service: the off-payroll rules do not apply
Latest start date Tuesday 31 January 2023
Expected contract length 11 Months
Organisation the work is for Ministry of Justice
About the work
Why the work is being done: Accommodation is an enduring issue that impacts on re-offending and public protection.
HMPPS has a Community Accommodation Service (CAS) to meet the specific accommodation needs of individuals. This covers three types of accommodation:
Tier 1 – Approved Premises provision for high-risk ex-offenders with a public protection focus and intensive partnership working.
Tier 2 – formerly known as Bail Accommodation and Support Services. This is for low and medium risk offenders predominantly released from custody on Home Detention Curfew (HDC) but can also include those released on bail.
Tier 3 – is temporary accommodation for those at risk of being homeless on release from prison or moving on from tier 1 and tier 2 accommodation.
We are developing digital services for CAS1 and CAS3, currently in beta.
This work is to focus on CAS2 and develop a digital application service to improve the efficiency and quality of referrals and placements.
Problem to be solved: Referrals are made by prison or probation staff based in prisons and courts by completing lengthy PDF forms and emailing these to the accommodation supplier, NACRO. It is a time-consuming process, and information can be missed or incomplete.
A digital service will make it easier for prison and probation staff to make referrals, improve the quality of applications, reduce re-keying and support an increase in occupancy levels as we’ll be able to better match demand and supply.
The digital service needs to be built in line with MOJ’s technology standards:
front-end server-side applications in Typescript/Node.js using the GOV.UK Design System
back-end services in kotlin/java (integrated with authority systems via existing internal APIs)
Use of AWS service i.e RDS (postgres), S3 and SQS
Github to store and manage our code and CircleCI to build our software
Kubernetes and Docker to schedule and run our services hosted in MoJ Cloud platform (built on AWS).
There are common transactions between the CAS tiers providing the opportunity for reuse. However, there are operational differences in how the tiers operate that will need to be reflected in a digital service, as well as the specific application requirements for CAS2 accommodation.
Who the users are and what they need to do: Users are prison and probation staff in prisons and courts.
Early market engagement N/A
Any work that’s already been done: No, the current managed service digital teams are focused on CAS1 and CAS3.
Existing team: As above – current managed service digital teams are focused on CAS1 and CAS3.
Current phase: Not started
Work setup
Working arrangements: The majority of work can be completed remotely i.e., homeworking. However, there may be a requirement to work with MoJ Digital or business stakeholders who are predominantly based in London and Sheffield or to visit users at HMPPS locations.
Security clearance: A minimum of Baseline Personnel Security Standard (BPSS) standard is required. Where access to live production data is necessary, Security Check (SC) clearance is also required.
Additional information
Additional terms and conditions: Changes to the DOS framework.
Skills and experience
Buyers will use the essential and nice-to-have skills and experience to help them evaluate suppliers’ technical competence.
Essential skills and experience
Proven track record of design, development, and delivery of digital services to, and/or on behalf of, Government Agencies to meet the Digital Service Standard.
Experience of leading delivery throughout the product lifecycle (discovery, alpha, beta, live) demonstrating how agile methodologies have been applied to meet user needs and ensure value for money.
Evidence of in-depth understanding and experience of presenting clear, compelling, evidence-based recommendations.
In-depth understanding of collaboratively delivering rapid/ iterative prototyping (low to high fidelity) using design systems and approaches and taking this into build.
Proven experience of communicating with a range of stakeholders, advocating for user needs and GDS principles, standard and working practices.
Nice-to-have skills and experience
Experience of designing and delivering digital services for HMPPS
Knowledge of technical and security standards aligned with the Technology Code of Practice and MoJ requirements.
How suppliers will be evaluated
All suppliers will be asked to provide a written proposal.
How many suppliers to evaluate: 3
Proposal criteria
Explain your approach and methodology for successfully delivering this work to time, quality and budget referencing your previous experience and how this adds value. (10%)
Provide a proposed team structure including skills, experience, responsibilities in this approach and relevance of individuals. (10%)
Provide a project plan for what your team would deliver for each delivery phase. (10%)
Provide examples of how you have identified and taken ownership of risks, issues, and dependencies and how you have managed their mitigation and resolution. (10%)
Explain how you’ll ensure collaboration at all levels of the project between users, stakeholders, digital in-house and managed service teams. Give examples of where you have applied this approach (10%)
Demonstrate how you ensure knowledge sharing and an effective hand over to an in-house team at the end of the contract. (10%)
Cultural fit criteria
Demonstrate an open and collaborative approach to making decisions. (5%)
Demonstrate experience of championing knowledge sharing within and outside of the team. (5%)
Evidence how your organisation encourages new entrees to the digital professions and up-skills, develops its workforce. (5%)
Evidence how your organisation encourages diverse representation in its workforce. (5%)
Payment approach Capped time and materials
Additional assessment methods
Evaluation weighting
Technical competence 60%
Cultural fit 20%
Price 20%
TKR-2022118-EX-1499605