Pre-Market Engagement for Home Office Quality Assurance & Testing (QAT) Contracts

The UK Home Office (referred to hereafter as the Authority) is inviting prospective bidders to take part in a series of pre-market engagement activities for the Authority's planned QAT procurements.

The Authority currently has a number of contracts for QAT capability, aligned to portfolios across the Home Office. The future commercial strategy is to consolidate these services into two core testing capability contracts by Autumn 2027. The exact scope, duration and values of the new contracts is still to be confirmed, however the current expectation is that each contract will have a minimum term of 3-years, with a maximum spend of £150m (including any extensions). The intention is to compete these contracts via the GCA Dynamic Purchasing System, RM6148, however the pre-market engagement is open to all suppliers.

Before any tender activity is launched, the Authority wishes to invite feedback from prospective bidders on the proposed strategy and gather information that will help it to refine its procurement and contracting approach further.

Key topics that the Authority wishes to explore include, but are not limited to: 1. Route to market 2. Transition approach 3. Key Performance Indicators & contractual incentives (i.e. Service Credits) 4. Cost drivers 5. The use of innovation and AI to drive efficiency 6. Roles and Capability 7. Tooling and hardware 8. Removing barriers for SMEs 9. Support in the transformation from a Programme SDLC to a Product SDLC, including using experience gained from other clients to help shape and drive the change 10. Support in the transformation from Quality Assurance to Quality Engineering, including using experience gained from other clients to help shape and drive the change

This engagement shall start with an in-person event from 10:30 until 13:00 on Monday 27th July at the TechUK office in London; 10 Saint Bride St, London, EC4A 4AD.

Each supplier may bring a maximum of 2 delegates to the day, and should confirm who these individuals are no later than 17:00 (BST) on Thursday 23rd July.

Suppliers can register their interest for this event by registering an account on the Authority's eSourcing Portal (https://homeoffice.app.jaggaer.com) and navigating to the opportunity titled 'pqq_823 - Pre-Market Engagement for Home Office Quality Assurance & Test Engineering (QAT) Contracts'. Once registered against this opportunity, you should submit a response to the 'Qualification Envelope' with the names and email addresses for the 2 delegates who you plan to attend the event.

NOTE: Expressions of interest for this opportunity should NOT be sent via email and must be done as instructed via the eSourcing Portal above.

Following the event, a Request for Information questionnaire will be issued to all suppliers who have expressed an interest in the opportunity; attendance at the in-person event is not mandatory for this, but is encouraged to help your understanding.