Future Skills Programme

Employment on release can reduce the chance of reoffending, by up to nine percentage points compared to those without a job on release. We want to increase the number of prisoners entering employment on release by ensuring they have the skills needed to secure jobs, thereby supporting more prison leavers to rebuild their lives. The Prisons Strategy White Paper is committed to establishing the Employability Innovation Fund. The fund will enable prison governors to work with more employers and training providers to repurpose workshops and deliver sector-specific skills training. This in turn will meet the changing needs of the economy and smooth the path from prison to employment. The Future Skills Programme (FSP) is one strand of the Employability Innovation Fund and is focused on sector-specific training. The Authority is seeking suppliers to develop innovative approaches and skills training courses to equip prison leavers with the necessary skills to obtain and sustain jobs for the future. Any programme will include, a minimum of a job interview for a genuine vacancy and/or job offer for everyone who completes a Future Skills Programme course. This and other minimum tender requirements are set out in the Invitation to Tender (ITT). Programmes will target job ready prisoners in their last six months of sentence. This design model intends to help prisoners develop new, sought-after skills that support the ease of transition into sustainable employment on release. Through the FSP, HMPPS are seeking suppliers who are able to support prisoners to develop the skills and employer relationships to secure sustainable employment on release. The skills training programme will fund projects across a variety of different prisons and sectors/job roles, in England and Wales between 2023 and 2025 to support prison leavers into employment. This procurement shall cover 17 Lots. Bidders will have the option to bid for up to a maximum of five of the seventeen regional lots, however the maximum number of Lots a bidder may be awarded is three Lots, subject to the operation of the Award Process set out in the ITT. The tender for each lot will differ and bidders will therefore have to submit up to five separate tenders should they choose to bid for multiple lots. Tender responses should be tailored to and reflect the needs of individual lots. Bidders that choose to bid for multiple Lots should ensure that they review the data packs for each Lot and tailor each bid for the relevant Lot. The total available funding to cover the 17 Lots is in the region of £5,769,507. The Authority is using the Jaggaer electronic eSourcing Portal (formerly Bravo) for the procurement. The ITT, which is comprised of a number of volumes, is available only in electronic format via the Portal. Bidders must register the names of all contacts requiring access to the sourcing event and should submit queries via the Portal https://ministryofjusticecommercial.bravosolution.co.uk/web/login.html

Additional information: This requirement has been classified as being subject to the Light Touch Regime under the Public Contract Regulations 2015. Under the Light Touch Regime, the Authority is not obliged to observe the full requirements of the Regulations, including the detailed rules and timescales applicable to the procurement procedures covered by the Regulations. This is irrespective of the use of this standard notice (the Authority is unable to use the Light Touch Regime notice for technical compatibility reasons. The Future Skills Programme (FSP) is separate to the HMP Academies project (procurement commenced early March 2023 https://www.find-tender.service.gov.uk/Notice/006583-2023 and Prisoner Education Service (PES) programme for which some suppliers may have already registered for market engagement. These programmes are separate but form part of our overarching ambition to ensure prisoners can access the skills and qualifications they need to get into employment on release. The PES programme will deliver future Adult Prisoner Education Services (PES) in England. We have commenced Market Warming with a wide range of prospective suppliers, If you have not registered for PES market warming and next steps you can still obtain information - register here https://www.contractsfinder.service.gov.uk/Notice/a3b29677-949f-42c2-98be-250417ef9603 We anticipate commencing the Core Education procurement for PES this summer. Award of contract: The Authority is not committed to any course of action as a result of this Contract Notice. It is not liable for any costs incurred in respect of expressing an interest or in tendering for this opportunity. The Authority reserves the right to abandon, rewind, pause or terminate the procurement and not to award one or more contract(s) at its own discretion. Nothing in this Contract Notice shall generate any contractual obligations prior to the signature of a Contract Important notice: This Contract Notice must be read in full together with the procurement documents being released for this procurement. Bidders are reminded that participation in this procurement will be subject to the conditions of participation set out in the procurement documents and the eSourcing Portal.