On 12 December 2012, the UK Border Agency announced the ‘preferred bidders’ to provide accommodation and transport for people seeking sanctuary in the UK.
Three providers have been chosen for the six regions, with the public and voluntary sector being replaced by private providers:
http://www.ukba.homeoffice.gov.uk/aboutus/workingwithus/workingwithasylum/compassprogramme
COMPASS
Working with migrants from outside the EU
This page contains information about the commercial and operational managers procuring asylum support services (COMPASS) project.
The overall aim of the COMPASS project is to provide ongoing contract provision for asylum support services, in accordance with government policy, beyond the current arrangements which are due to expire during 2012. The following services are currently within the scope of COMPASS:
- initial and dispersed accomodation and associated services for asylum applicants; and
- transport for asylum applicants.
The COMPASS project’s aims are to:
- deliver better value for money by ensuring that the project establishes guidelines and applies lessons learned to ensure delivery of greater operational efficiency, and enables lower risk facilitated by robust management;
- build in sufficient flexibility to vary services in line with changing demand in terms of volume, service user type and location;
- ensure overall business continuity so that support to entitled service users is maintained;
- continue to foster cohesion in the communities to which we disperse; and
- fulfil the UK Border Agency’s legal obligations and meets its strategic objectives.
The COMPASS project will look to procure the in-scope services and, where possible, minimise the disruption to service users, limiting the number of service user relocations and ensuring the smooth transfer of all services. Transition will also include early engagement with the UK Border Agency’s regional asylum teams to ensure that they fully understand the operational implications of the COMPASS contracts.
The timescales for the project are as follows:
Project launched July 2009 Prior information notice (PIN) issued August 2009 Competition(s) launched (OJEU published) April 2011 Invitation to tender (RFP) July – August 2011 Tender evaluation September – October 2011 Preferred bidders identified December 2011 – January 2012 Due diligence December 2011 Contract award February 2012 As part of the evaluation approach for the request for proposal (RFP), COMPASS utilised an e-Auction. The e-auction process enabled the UK Border Agency to drive out the most economically advantageous bid based on quality and cost.
Following the e-Auction, a shortlist of preferred bidders has now been identified:
Region Preferred Bidder London and South Reliance Secure Task Management Ltd Wales Reliance Secure Task Management Ltd Midlands and East of England G4S Regional Management (UK&I) Ltd North East Yorkshire and Humber G4S Regional Management (UK&I) Ltd North West Serco Civil Government Scotland and Northern Ireland Serco Civil Government Following the approval by our internal Governance channels, formal notification was issued to successful and unsuccessful bidders, along with communications to corporate partners.
The project will now go through a period of due diligence to endorse the decisions taken prior to formal contract award in February 2012.
The project is continuing to work with the regions and corporate partners to support effective planning and management of the transition of service users from current contracts to COMPASS contracts to ensure minimal disruption.
What is the regional aggregated model?
The COMPASS project has investigated the feasibility of several commercial models to deliver this service and is now progressing the development of the ‘regional aggregated model’ to procure the in-scope services.
Our definition of the regional aggregated model is: ‘A supplier or group of suppliers (in the case of a joint venture or consortia) responsible for delivery of all services (transport, accommodation and advisory) either directly or indirectly through sub-contracting arrangements within an allotted region.’
In effect, each UK Border Agency operational region will have 1 prime contractor, which can be either a public or a private organisation. This contractor will be responsible for the delivery of accommodation and transport services, and can be supported through sub-contracting agreements. The exception to this is in the Wales and the South West region, which has been split for the purposes of this procurement. There will be 1 contract covering Wales, and the South West’s requirements will be combined with those of the London and the South East region to create a South of England region for contract purposes.
Updates
We will update this page routinely with the latest details on the procurement process. If you have any queries about the COMPASS project in the meantime, please emailCompass@homeoffice.gsi.gov.uk.
…
Serco and G4S already have the contracts for transportation and detention – what could this lead to? More coordination within the system? ‘Stealth’ changes to policy by the back door as practice between the enforcement and support areas of asylum provision are streamlined?
Local authorities can and should be doing more to use their powers and responsibilities for housing and social care within their boundaries to scrutinise and regulate the worst excesses of substandard housing and treatment of asylum seekers.
…
In Scotland, the Glasgow contract will be run by Serco, the international government and security services company.