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PROCUREMENT OPPORTUNITY

Heathrow IRC Operator Services

Home Office · Tender notice on Find a Tender

Tender information last checkedLast checked 3 Oct 2026, 18:32.

Opportunity overview

The Authority is responsible, under statutory obligations including the Immigration Act 1971, the Immigration and Asylum Act 1999, the Nationality Immigration and Asylum Act 2002 and the Immigration Act 2014, for detaining and/or enforcing the removal of certain persons. Heathrow Immigration Removal Centre (IRC) is Europe’s largest immigration detention facility, providing a contracted capacity of 1093 beds, and is made up of two sites: Harmondsworth (754 beds); and Colnbrook (339 beds). Heathrow IRC accepts around 12,000 detained individuals every year and provides crucial strategic and operational benefits to the Home Office. The Authority is seeking a commercial partner to operate the Heathrow Immigration Removal Centre, with the required services including but not limited to: a) security services; b) canteen and catering services; c) special-purpose road passenger-transport services; d) guard services; e) building and facilities management services; f) grounds maintenance services; g) education and training services; h) accommodation cleaning services; i) recreational, cultural and sporting services; j) religious services; k) accommodation services; l) housekeeping services; and m) administration, defence and social security services.

Classification

  • CPV55500000 — Canteen and catering services
  • CPV60130000 — Special-purpose road passenger-transport services
  • CPV77314000 — Grounds maintenance services
  • CPV79710000 — Security services
  • CPV79713000 — Guard services
  • CPV79993000 — Building and facilities management services
  • CPV80000000 — Education and training services
  • CPV90911100 — Accommodation cleaning services
  • CPV92000000 — Recreational, cultural and sporting services
  • CPV98131000 — Religious services
  • CPV98341000 — Accommodation services
  • CPV98341110 — Housekeeping services

Lots

  • Lot 1£901.5m

Documents and notices

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
Heathrow IRC Operator Services / project_18030
Status
active
Procurement Method
open
Procurement Method Details
Competitive flexible procedure
Main Procurement Category
services
Above Threshold
Yes
How to submit
Authority's eSourcing portal : https://homeoffice.app.jaggaer.com/web/login.html
Has Recurrence
Yes
Published risks
There is a potential requirement for the Authority to relocate the Heathrow IRC to an alternative site during the life of the contract arising from the proposed construction of a new third runway at Heathrow Airport. The timing of any relocation and the future location of the facility are currently unknown. This scenario could impact the Contractor’s ability to deliver the services in accordance with the existing contractual arrangements and may require adjustments to operational models, staffing, mobilisation, or infrastructure to ensure continuity of service. While the Authority considers that such a relocation could jeopardise the satisfactory performance of the contract, the specific details of if and when it may occur, and the characteristics of any new facility, are not yet known and therefore cannot be addressed within the contract at award. As such, the risk meets the definition of a “known risk” under the Procurement Act 2023 because it is identifiable but cannot currently be mitigated through contractual provisions or specification requirements. A relocation may require revisions to service delivery arrangements, staffing patterns, site specific operational procedures, mobilisation/demobilisation activity, or logistical planning to ensure service continuity. The scale of potential impact cannot be determined at this stage due to the absence of confirmed information on the future site and timeline. Should this known risk materialise, the Authority may consider modifying the contract in accordance with the “materialisation of a known risk” provisions contained in paragraphs 5 to 7 of Schedule 8 of the Procurement Act 2023. Any such modification would be limited to what is necessary to address the consequences of the relocation, and would be subject to statutory conditions, including publication of a Contract Change Notice where required.

Legal basis

Id
2023/54
Scheme
UKPGA

Procedure

Features
Stage 1 Procurement Specific Questionnaire Subject to Bidders completing and returning the Authority NDA, Bidders will be provided access to the Authority Procurement Specific Questionnaire (PSQ). All responses will be evaluated in accordance with the guidance contained within the PSQ documentation. Bidders will be required to respond via the Authority's eSourcing portal. Stage 2 Issue of ITT Procurement Documentation Following successful completion of the PSQ stage, bidders will be granted access to the full set of procurement documentation via the Authority’s eSourcing portal. Stage 3 Site Visit and Group Dialogue A site visit to view the IRC will be arranged for all bidders who have successfully passed the PSQ stage (date to be confirmed). Following the site visit, the Authority will host an in‑person Group Dialogue session. This session will provide the Authority with the opportunity to explain pre‑identified aspects of the procurement documentation to ensure that bidders have a clear understanding of the tender requirements. Bidders will also have the opportunity to ask clarification questions in a group setting. Stage 4 One to One Dialogue Following the Group Dialogue session, individual virtual one‑to‑one Dialogue sessions will be available to bidders (dates to be confirmed). Attendance at these sessions is optional and bidders are under no obligation to participate. The purpose of the one‑to‑one Dialogue sessions is to provide bidders with an opportunity to raise bidder‑specific or commercially confidential queries with the Authority. Following completion of the Dialogue stage, the Authority reserves the right to make minor amendments to elements of the tender documentation. Any revised documentation will be issued to all bidders via the eSourcing portal in advance of the deadline for submission of bidders’ initial proposals. Stage 5 Bidders submit fully costed initial proposals Bidders are required to submit their fully costed proposals to the Authority in accordance with the instructions contained within the tender documentation. Stage 6 Evaluation and Moderation of Initial Bidder proposals (including feedback) Bidder proposals will be evaluated in accordance with the Detailed Evaluation Guidance (Technical Envelope) issued within the ITT documents. Following completion of the initial evaluation, Technical Envelope question scores will be moderated to ensure compliance with evaluation principles and to confirm that assessments by individual evaluators have been conducted in accordance with the published scoring methodology. Evaluation will be undertaken by the panel of initial evaluators for each relevant section and will consider each question independently of any others. A single consensus final qualitative score will be agreed at moderation for each technical question response submitted by each bidder. The final qualitative scores, agreed by consensus, will be recorded on the Authority’s eSourcing portal and used to generate each bidder’s overall Quality score (%) as described above. Bidders will be provided with feedback on their proposals via the Authority’s eSourcing portal. At the conclusion of the Evaluation and Moderation stage, the Authority reserves the right to: - Exclude Bidders who achieve less than 60% of the available marks in the technical quality assessment (i.e., scoring below 60 out of 100 for the quality section; or - Progress to the Negotiation stage with all remaining bidders; or - Proceed directly to Contract Award Due Diligence (Stage 9) without entering into Negotiation and Best and Final Offer (BAFO) stages. Stage 7 Negotiation & BAFO Should the Authority elect to undertake Negotiations, bidders who progress from the initial ITT Evaluation and Moderation stage will be invited to participate in a Negotiation phase covering a number of pre‑identified themed areas. The Authority is not obliged to enter into a Negotiation phase and may instead proceed directly to Contract Award Due Diligence without conducting Negotiations or inviting Best and Final Offers. Bidders will also be given the opportunity to propose additional areas for Negotiation, which the Authority may accept or reject at its sole discretion. At the conclusion of any Negotiation phase, bidders will be issued with a summary of the Negotiation discussions and will then be invited to submit their Best and Final Offer. Stage 8 Evaluation and Moderation of BAFO Bidders’ submissions will first be evaluated and moderated in accordance with the published award criteria and assessment methodology, consistent with the approach outlined in Stage 6. Once evaluation and moderation stages have been completed, scores awarded in respect of quality and price will be combined to determine bidders’ overall score and ranking. The outcome of this stage will be the formulation of a provisional recommendation for Contract award to the highest‑scoring bidder. The formulation of a provisional recommendation does not constitute a decision to award the Contract. Stage 9 Contract Award Due Diligence The provisional recommendation for Contract award will be subject to a separate Due Diligence stage. This stage will include the completion of relevant checks and the approval of the recommendation in accordance with the Authority’s appropriate governance arrangements. A decision to award the Contract will only be taken following the successful completion of the Due Diligence and Governance stages. The Authority reserves the right not to proceed to award the Contract.

Submission terms

Electronic Submission Policy
allowed

Languages

en

Tender Period

Ends
20 Apr 2026, 12:00

Enquiry period

Ends
7 Apr 2026, 17:00

Expected award period

Ends
15 Nov 2027, 23:59

Recurrence

Dates

Entry 1
Starts
17 Mar 2032, 23:59

Lots and requirements

Entry 1
Id
1
Status
active
Has Renewal
Yes
Has Options
Yes

Value

Including VAT
1,081,800,000
Amount
901,500,000
Currency
GBP

Award criteria

Weighting Description
Weighted Price per Quality Point

Criteria

Criterion 1
Type
quality
Name
Quality - Technical and Social Value
Description
60% (including 10% Social Value)
Criterion 2
Type
price
Name
Price
Description
40%

Selection criteria

Criteria

Criterion 1
Type
economic
Description
Details are included within the Procurement Specific Questionnaire.
Criterion 2
Type
technical
Description
Details are included within the Procurement Specific Questionnaire.

Contract period

Starts
1 Apr 2028, 00:00
Ends
31 Mar 2034, 23:59
Max Extent Date
31 Mar 2038, 23:59

Renewal

Description
Maximum of four years (2+1+1)

Options

Description
An initial contract term of 6 years with the option to extend for a period of up to four years, comprising of 2+1+1.

Items and delivery

Item 1
Id
1
Related Lot
1

Additional Classifications

Entry 1
Scheme
CPV
Id
79710000
Description
Security services
Entry 2
Scheme
CPV
Id
55500000
Description
Canteen and catering services
Entry 3
Scheme
CPV
Id
60130000
Description
Special-purpose road passenger-transport services
Entry 4
Scheme
CPV
Id
77314000
Description
Grounds maintenance services
Entry 5
Scheme
CPV
Id
79713000
Description
Guard services
Entry 6
Scheme
CPV
Id
79993000
Description
Building and facilities management services
Entry 7
Scheme
CPV
Id
80000000
Description
Education and training services
Entry 8
Scheme
CPV
Id
90911100
Description
Accommodation cleaning services
Entry 9
Scheme
CPV
Id
92000000
Description
Recreational, cultural and sporting services
Entry 10
Scheme
CPV
Id
98131000
Description
Religious services
Entry 11
Scheme
CPV
Id
98341000
Description
Accommodation services
Entry 12
Scheme
CPV
Id
98341110
Description
Housekeeping services

Delivery locations

Entry 1
Region
UK
Country
GB
Country Name
United Kingdom

Published documents

Entry 1
Id
conflictOfInterest
Document Type
conflictOfInterest
Description
Not published
Entry 2
Id
future
Document Type
biddingDocuments
Access Details
Subject to signing a Non-Disclosure Agreement, bidders will be provided with the relevant tender documentation to complete the Procurement Specific Questionnaire phase of the procurement via the Authority's eSourcing portal.
Entry 3
Id
024238-2026
Document Type
tenderNotice
Notice Type
UK4
Description
Tender notice on Find a Tender
Published
17 Mar 2026, 16:08
Format
text/html

Buyer, suppliers and contacts

Organisation 1
Name
Home Office
Id
GB-PPON-PWGC-6513-PQLZ

Identifier

Scheme
GB-PPON
Id
PWGC-6513-PQLZ

Address

Street Address
2 Marsham Street
Locality
London
Postal Code
SW1P 4DF
Country
GB
Country Name
United Kingdom
Region
UKI32

Contact

Name
Heathrow IRC Procurement Team

Roles

buyer

Details

Classifications

Entry 1
Scheme
UK_CA_TYPE
Id
publicAuthorityCentralGovernment
Description
Public authority - central government

Recorded locations

  • Buyer location · London · UKI32 · SW1P 4DF · United Kingdom
  • Delivery location · UK · United Kingdom

Notice and amendment history

2 published notice versions reviewed by ProcuraAxis.

2 VERSIONS
  1. 001203-2026Planned procurement notice on Find a Tender ·
  2. 024238-2026Tender notice on Find a Tender ·