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PROCUREMENT OPPORTUNITY

HMPPS Higher Education

Ministry of Justice · compiled

Tender information last checkedLast checked 29 Sept 2026, 20:33.

Opportunity overview

Higher Education services in England and Wales.

Awarded to

Amounts belong to published awards or contracts. Where several suppliers share one value, it is labelled as shared and is not a supplier-specific allocation.

The Open University

Match pending…
Contract value
£3.3m
Awarded
Not supplied
Contract signed
23 Jan 2025
Award ID
003924-2025-1
Status
active
Location
Milton Keynes, UK, MK7 6AA, United Kingdom

The Open University

Match pending…
Contract value
£3.3m
Awarded
Not supplied
Contract signed
19 Mar 2024
Award ID
041327-2024-1
Status
active
Location
Milton Keynes, UK, MK7 6AA, United Kingdom

Classification

  • CPV75231200 — Services related to the detention or rehabilitation of criminals
  • CPV75231230 — Prison services
  • CPV80000000 — Education and training services
  • CPV80300000 — Higher education services
  • CPV80400000 — Adult and other education services

Lots

  • To provide a service supporting students in a secure environment to apply for, access funding for and complete, higher education courses. Support should be available for a minimum of 400 module enrolments in England and Wales new enrolments per year. Support for new enrollers will continue for subsequent years until course completion or release. This support must include: Ensuring that a range of courses are adapted for delivery in a secure environment, compliant with HMPPS standards and regulations, approved by security and available for delivery in a secure environment. Production of a prospectus of courses available in a secure environment. To protect student choice this must cover the following minimum range of levels and subject areas: Levels: Certificate level 4, Diploma level 5, Undergraduate degree level 6 Subject areas: English Language, English Literature, Maths, Psychology, Business Management, Geography, Art history, Politics, Criminology, History, Economics, Spanish, French, German, Classical Studies, Law, Sociology, Sports, fitness and coaching, Religion, Health & Social care and Combined Science Marketing and promoting to prisoners the uptake of Higher education in prisons and other secure environments. Offering information, advice and guidance to prisoners on the types of course they could apply for and which course would be most suitable. Support in registering for and applying for courses. Support in registering for and applying for student loans. Supporting tutors to enable them to deliver to students in secure environments. Providing support for any course exams to be conducted in a secure environment. Deliver award/graduation ceremonies in secure environments for students who complete courses whilst incarcerated. The initial term of the contract is for 24 months with an option to extend for a further two periods of up to 12 months each. The service commencement date is the 1st of April 2025. If no extension options are exercised, the end date will be the 31st of March 2027.   The estimated contract value of £3,340,000 GBP is based on an annual spend of £835k, over the entire maximum contract length of 48 months, assuming the full options to extend the contract are exercised (however this may not be necessary). It may be necessary for contractor to provide termination assistance beyond the expiry of the contract including, but not limited to, assistance to the extent necessary to ensure that any HMPPS learners already registered on a programme of study with the contractor can continue to be able to access the contractor’s course materials, and have the opportunity to complete their course. The costs associated with such assistance would be dependent on the number of affected HMPPS learners, the nature of their courses and the extent to which they have progressed through a particular course. It is therefore not possible at this point to attribute an accurate estimated value to such termination assistance and the estimated value referred to at II.1.7 does therefore not include this element of potential service provisionValue not stated

Published notice details

Additional information from the published procurement release. Fields appear only when supplied by the source; check the original notice and tender documents before acting.

Scope, procedure and submissions

Id
ocds-h6vhtk-04cc71
Status
complete
Procurement Method
limited
Main Procurement Category
services
Procurement Method Details
Award procedure without prior publication of a call for competition
Why this procedure was chosen
MoJ considers that the award of this contract is permitted pursuant to Regulation 32(2)(b)(ii) of the Public Contracts Regulations 2015 for the following reasons. a) Open University is the only supplier able to meet MoJ's requirement for a minimum acceptable number of courses (as per II.2.4 above) to be delivered in secure environments by the go live date of April 2025, due to technical reasons. Having sought advice from internal and external stakeholders, with experience of higher education and education in a secure environment, the estimated timeframes needed for courses to be adapted by alternative suppliers are: • 6 months for suppliers to develop relationships with higher education (HE) institutions for course delivery (where not delivering the services directly). • 3 months for HE Institutions to engage with MOJ on understanding its security requirements. • 12 - 18 months per course to adapt all course content and material for delivery in secure environments. Furthermore, time would be needed for HMPPS to sign off suitability of degrees to be delivered as part of the services and for MoJ to conduct a procurement for a supplier to deliver the services. Accordingly, alternative suppliers' courses would not be ready for delivery by April 2025. b) Open University already has distance learning courses available, is the only supplier able to meet the minimum acceptable subject range in secure environments, and no reasonable alternative or substitute exists. MoJ publicised its requirements as part of pre-market engagement, advertising them on Contracts Finder, through a Prior Information Notice on Find a Tender Service and Find a Grant, plus directly inviting HE institutions. This provided suppliers the opportunity to engage with MoJ as part of its consideration as to whether alternative suppliers who could meet MoJ's requirements exist. During market engagement (from December 2023 to February 2024) one-to-one meetings were arranged with six interested suppliers that could potentially deliver some of the services (aside from the Open University). Of these suppliers, the supplier with the most courses currently available for delivery in secure environments could not meet the minimum requirements of offering qualifications at levels 4, 5, and 6 in core subject areas including English language, English literature, sciences, languages, psychology, sociology, art, and politics c) Over 100 different undergraduate level courses are currently being offered to students in secure environments. In the interest of opening up competition and to ensure no artificial narrowing down of the parameters of the procurement, MoJ determined the minimum acceptable range of courses (as per section II.2.4 above) that must be available for delivery in a secure environment from April 2025 in order to protect student choice.

Legal basis

Id
32014L0024
Scheme
CELEX

Classification

Id
80000000
Scheme
CPV
Description
Education and training services

Procedure reasons

Entry 1
Id
D_PROC_RESTRICTED
Scheme
TED_PT_AWARD_CONTRACT_WITHOUT_CALL
Description
No tenders or no suitable tenders/requests to participate in response to restricted procedure
Entry 2
Id
D_TECHNICAL
Scheme
TED_PT_AWARD_CONTRACT_WITHOUT_CALL
Description
The works, supplies or services can be provided only by a particular economic operator due to absence of competition for technical reasons

Lots and requirements

Entry 1
Id
1
Status
cancelled
Has Options
No
Description
To provide a service supporting students in a secure environment to apply for, access funding for and complete, higher education courses. Support should be available for a minimum of 400 module enrolments in England and Wales new enrolments per year. Support for new enrollers will continue for subsequent years until course completion or release. This support must include: Ensuring that a range of courses are adapted for delivery in a secure environment, compliant with HMPPS standards and regulations, approved by security and available for delivery in a secure environment. Production of a prospectus of courses available in a secure environment. To protect student choice this must cover the following minimum range of levels and subject areas: Levels: Certificate level 4, Diploma level 5, Undergraduate degree level 6 Subject areas: English Language, English Literature, Maths, Psychology, Business Management, Geography, Art history, Politics, Criminology, History, Economics, Spanish, French, German, Classical Studies, Law, Sociology, Sports, fitness and coaching, Religion, Health & Social care and Combined Science Marketing and promoting to prisoners the uptake of Higher education in prisons and other secure environments. Offering information, advice and guidance to prisoners on the types of course they could apply for and which course would be most suitable. Support in registering for and applying for courses. Support in registering for and applying for student loans. Supporting tutors to enable them to deliver to students in secure environments. Providing support for any course exams to be conducted in a secure environment. Deliver award/graduation ceremonies in secure environments for students who complete courses whilst incarcerated. The initial term of the contract is for 24 months with an option to extend for a further two periods of up to 12 months each. The service commencement date is the 1st of April 2025. If no extension options are exercised, the end date will be the 31st of March 2027.   The estimated contract value of £3,340,000 GBP is based on an annual spend of £835k, over the entire maximum contract length of 48 months, assuming the full options to extend the contract are exercised (however this may not be necessary). It may be necessary for contractor to provide termination assistance beyond the expiry of the contract including, but not limited to, assistance to the extent necessary to ensure that any HMPPS learners already registered on a programme of study with the contractor can continue to be able to access the contractor’s course materials, and have the opportunity to complete their course. The costs associated with such assistance would be dependent on the number of affected HMPPS learners, the nature of their courses and the extent to which they have progressed through a particular course. It is therefore not possible at this point to attribute an accurate estimated value to such termination assistance and the estimated value referred to at II.1.7 does therefore not include this element of potential service provision

Options

Description
Initial term: 24 months Option 1: 12 months Option 2: 12 months

Award criteria

Criteria

Criterion 1
Type
price

Items and delivery

Item 1
Id
1
Related Lot
1

Delivery Location

Description
England and Wales

Delivery locations

Entry 1
Region
UK
Entry 2
Region
UK

Additional Classifications

Entry 1
Id
75231200
Scheme
CPV
Description
Services related to the detention or rehabilitation of criminals
Entry 2
Id
75231230
Scheme
CPV
Description
Prison services
Entry 3
Id
80000000
Scheme
CPV
Description
Education and training services
Entry 4
Id
80300000
Scheme
CPV
Description
Higher education services
Entry 5
Id
80400000
Scheme
CPV
Description
Adult and other education services

Buyer, suppliers and contacts

Organisation 1
Id
GB-FTS-6365
Name
Ministry of Justice

Roles

buyer

Address

Region
UK
Locality
London
Postal Code
SW1H 9AJ
Country Name
United Kingdom
Street Address
102 Petty France

Details

Classifications

Entry 1
Id
MINISTRY
Scheme
TED_CA_TYPE
Description
Ministry or any other national or federal authority, including their regional or local subdivisions
Entry 2
Id
01
Scheme
COFOG
Description
General public services

Identifier

Legal Name
Ministry of Justice

Contact

Name
Abriti Regmi
Telephone
+44 02033343555
Organisation 2
Id
GB-FTS-133532
Name
The Open University

Roles

supplier

Address

Region
UK
Locality
Milton Keynes
Postal Code
MK7 6AA
Country Name
United Kingdom
Street Address
Walton Hall, Kents Hill

Details

Scale
large

Identifier

Legal Name
The Open University
Organisation 3
Id
GB-FTS-2059
Name
High Court

Roles

reviewBody

Address

Locality
London
Postal Code
WC2A 2LL
Country Name
United Kingdom
Street Address
Royal Courts of Justice, Strand

Identifier

Legal Name
High Court

Contact

Telephone
+44 20794760000

Award information

Award 1
Id
041327-2024-1
Status
active
Has Subcontracting
Yes

Suppliers

Supplier 1
Id
GB-FTS-133532
Name
The Open University

Related lots

1
Award 2
Id
003924-2025-1
Title
HMPPS Higher Education
Status
active

Suppliers

Supplier 1
Id
GB-FTS-133532
Name
The Open University

Related lots

1

Contracts and changes

Entry 1
Id
041327-2024-1
Status
active
Award ID
041327-2024-1
Date Signed
19 Mar 2024, 00:00

Value

Amount
3,340,000
Currency
GBP
Entry 2
Id
003924-2025-1
Title
HMPPS Higher Education
Status
active
Award ID
003924-2025-1
Date Signed
23 Jan 2025, 00:00

Value

Amount
3,340,000
Currency
GBP

Recorded locations

  • Buyer location · London · UK · SW1H 9AJ · United Kingdom
  • Delivery location · UK

Notice and amendment history

1 published notice version reviewed by ProcuraAxis.

1 VERSION
  1. ocds-h6vhtk-04cc71-2025-02-06T11:04:50Zcompiled ·