Contract for the provision of in-country and overseas escorting services in relation to Migration and Economic Development Partnerships (MEDP) and other immigration services.

The Home Office is responsible, under the Immigration Act 1971 and the Immigration and Asylum Act 1999, for detaining and/or enforcing the removal of certain persons (Detainees), assigned by the Home Office to Immigration Removal Centres and other locations from the United Kingdom. The Home Office is responsible for the provision of bed space, escorting services and electronic monitoring. At any one time, approximately 3000 detained individuals can be held overnight in one of seven Immigration Removal Centres, 3 residential Short-Term Holding Facilities, a pre-departure accommodation and additional spaces including prisons and police stations across the United Kingdom. Persons can be detained for shorter periods of time in holding rooms at reporting centres, air and seaports.

To facilitate the transfer of detained individuals under Migration and Economic Development Partnerships, it is necessary to provide sufficient escort and transportation staff to enable their safe and secure passage. This includes the transportation of detained individuals with no legal basis to remain in the UK to an overseas destination and transfer to appropriate authorities upon arrival. Appropriate safeguards will be required for individuals being transferred with vulnerabilities, such as medical conditions or for those who refuse to comply with the transfer.

The Authority is seeking a commercial partner to provide a number of fully integrated services. These services include (but are not limited to):

• The escorting and transportation of detained and non-detained individuals within the UK (In-Country Escorting Services).
• The escorting of detained and non-detained individuals to and from the UK and to and from an overseas destination (Overseas Escorting) including the escorting of individuals from the UK to an overseas destination whereby a legal agreement has been signed to deliver MEDP.
• Collection, transportation, and escorting individuals on a charter to an overseas destination, and where required returning individuals to an immigration removal centre where those individuals do not leave on the charter or are returned to the UK.

This service is volumetric and any estimated values may be subject to change up or down depending on the amount of activity undertaken during the life of contract.