Published date: 13 August 2015

Awarded contract - This means that the contract has been awarded to a supplier.


Closing: 28 August 2015

Contract summary

Industry

  • Research and development services and related consultancy services - 73000000

Location of contract

AL4 9HQ

Value of contract

£12,000 to £15,000

Procurement reference

HOS/015/031

Published date

13 August 2015

Closing date

28 August 2015

Contract start date

18 September 2015

Contract end date

9 October 2015

Contract type

Supply contract

Procedure type

Open procedure

Any interested supplier may submit a tender in response to an opportunity notice.

Contract is suitable for SMEs?

Yes

Contract is suitable for VCSEs?

No

Description

1. BACKGROUND

Home Office CAST (Centre for Applied Science and Technology) has been tasked with assessing a product, known in the industry as an electronic tag. These tags are used by government for the purpose of offender management. Upon authorisation from a UK court of law a tag is assigned and fitted to an offender. Fitment is typically around the ankle and legitimate removal thereof is only possible through the authorised use of special equipment.

Once fitted the tag is activated to perform one or both of two functions:

1. Alert the authorities to a breach of agreed terms, for example leaving or entering set boundaries, or tampering with the tag's normal operation.
2. Continuous reporting of the geographical location of the wearer.

The main components inside the tag are the mobile transceiver module and the GNSS (Global Navigation Satellite System) module. The mobile transceiver module allows for a number of mobile communication technologies, but currently most of the UK products employ only 2g GSM (900/1800) and 3g UMTS.

The GNSS receiver module also allows for a number of different satellite-based location systems, but currently uses mostly GPS (Global Positioning System). Both the Alerts and the Geographic Location Data are transmitted to a secure web server via the mobile phone network. The web server has a graphical user interface, allowing human operators to monitor assigned tags.

Tags can also be individually interrogated to provide immediate status updates or to perform configuration changes. This can either be done remotely via the mobile phone network, or locally via an onboard infrared or short range RF (Radio Frequency) transceiver facility.


2. REQUIREMENT

One particular tag model has undergone hardware and software updates. In order to verify this improvement CAST needs to test and compare the results of both the original and the updated tag.

As testing needs to be consistent and repeatable, it's essential that it be done in a controlled environment that involves a shielded and absorber-lined chamber. Furthermore, to determine the degree of operational consistency between tags, up to three of both the old and of the new tags will be made available for testing, amounting to a possible maximum of six tags being tested.

More information

Attachments

Award information

Awarded date

8 September 2015

Contract start date

8 September 2015

Contract end date

9 October 2015

Total value of contract

£13,000

This contract was awarded to 1 supplier.

UL VS LTD

Address

UL Unit 3
Horizon Wade Road
Kingsland Business Park
Basingstoke RG24 8AH

Reference

None

Supplier is SME?

No

Supplier is VCSE?

No

About the buyer

Address

2 Marsham Street
London
SW1P 4DF
England

Email

HOSProcurement@homeoffice.gsi.gov.uk

Website

https://www.gov.uk/government/organisations/home-office/about/procurement