Contract for the provision of Independent Unaccompanied Asylum-Seeking Children (UASC) Support Service

Contract summary

Industry

• Welfare services for children and young people - 85311300

Location of contract

North East, North West, Yorkshire and the Humber, East Midlands, West Midlands, East of England, London, South East, South West

Value of contract

£4,850,000

Procurement reference

tender_285012/1004868

Published date

13 October 2021

Closing date

15 November 2021

Closing time

4pm

Contract start date

1 April 2022

Contract end date

31 March 2025

Contract type

Service contract

Procedure type

Open procedure (above threshold)

Contract is suitable for SMEs?

Yes

Contract is suitable for VCSEs?

No

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Description

Contract for the Independent Unaccompanied Asylum-Seeking Children (UASC) Support Services. The service delivers support and advice to UASC in two distinct phases on arrival in the UK.
- Provide experienced staff to manage a safe area for UASC to wait within the HO asylum processing facility in Dover.
- Provide initial support appropriate to the needs of newly arrived children. This will include answering initial questions about the asylum process and care services in the UK.
- Share any immediate safeguarding concerns, and any observations made about the child's welfare, or any other pertinent information shared by the child with the appropriate authorities.

and also the priority is to assist UASC to understand the end-to-end asylum process, including their rights and responsibilities as looked after
children. The desired outcome is young people that feel empowered to navigate the asylum system.
This should include:
- Support UASC to advise the Home Office of material changes in their circumstances
- Where children do not have existing legal representation for their asylum application, to refer to a Legal Aid Agency accredited legal representative, or to offer the necessary information to the relevant social worker or carer
- Inform UASC of options available to them through the Red Cross International Family Tracing Service when appropriate.
- As appropriate, act as appropriate Adults for children at substantive asylum interviews and other asylum process events.
- Assist children to understand their rights and responsibilities while being a looked after child in England, and to make relevant referrals as necessary to support them with this
- Work with Local Authorities to make sure that children are receiving the right level of support, including but not limited to accommodation, education, and mental and emotional health support.
- As appropriate, assist the child to make positive cultural connections.
- Provide a general advice and signposting service for Clients following the Final Asylum Decision supporting the triple planning process to ensure that the UASC is aware of all options and possible outcomes including voluntary returns programme.

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More information

Additional text

The Home Office uses an eSourcing toolkit to enable its sourcing activities to be conducted over the internet. In order to express an interest, please follow the steps set out below. The procurement will be managed electronically using the Jaggaer eSourcing Portal. The eSourcing Portal is an online application that allows suppliers to create and submit their Tender responses to any requests for information, requests for quotes, or requests for proposals via the internet rather than in paper form.

To participate in this procurement, participants must first be registered on the eSourcing Suite. If you have not yet registered this can be done online at https://homeoffice.app.jaggaer.com/web/login.html by following the link to Register. All suppliers interested in learning more about any potential contract opportunities described in this contract notice should submit their details (company name, lead contact name, lead contact email address and telephone number), in the first instance, to the following address:. UASCsupportprocurement@homeoffice.gov.uk

Arrangements will then be made for registered suppliers to access the eSourcing Portal for this opportunity so that they can provide a signed non-disclosure agreement to enable access to the UASC Advice & Support Procurement Documents and ITT event on the eSourcing Portal. Any expressions of interest not submitted in the required format (or containing the requested information) may be rejected. Participants are requested to express interest by Wednesday 3rd November 2021, to allow sufficient time for the tender administrative process and submission of responses. The authority requires new participants to sign a non-disclosure agreement (NDA) in order to be invited to participate in the competition for this project. On receipt of an email detailed above, the authority will either confirm receipt of an NDA as part of market engagement or provide access to the NDA document through the eSourcing portal. If required, the authority will expect participants to download and reattach a signed copy of the NDA to the event. When saving the 'pdf' document, please ensure that you include the participant organisation's name in the filename. Once a correctly signed NDA is received by the authority, participants will be invited to the standard selection questionnaire and will be able to access all of the project documentation. The closing date for submissions will be 4pm on Monday 15 November 2021. ITT Response clarification requests must be submitted no later than 12pm on Wednesday 10 November 2021. In light of the situation with COVID-19 we reserve the right to delay or adjust our timetables or such other aspects of the procurement as we consider appropriate. We will therefore keep the situation under constant review and will notify all bidders of any changes as and when these are required.

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About the buyer

Address

2 Marsham Street
London
SW1P 4DF
England

Email

UASCsupportprocurement@homeoffice.gov.uk