Request for Information (RFI) Exercise for Home Office Quality Assurance & Testing (QAT) Contracts
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The UK Home Office (referred to hereafter as the Authority) is seeking further input from prospective suppliers through a Request for Information (RFI) exercise in support of its planned Quality Assurance and Testing (QAT) procurements.
The Authority currently has a number of contracts for QAT capability aligned to portfolios across the Home Office and is developing a future commercial strategy that is expected to consolidate these services into two core testing capability contracts by Autumn 2027.
Following the Authority's recent supplier engagement event on 27th July, this RFI forms the next stage of pre-market engagement.
The event provided an opportunity to introduce our objectives and gather initial market feedback.
Building on the insights received, the Authority is now seeking more detailed information from suppliers to help refine its requirements, further develop its procurement strategy, and inform decisions regarding the future commercial and contracting approach.
The Authority is particularly interested in supplier views and experience relating to procurement and delivery models, transition and mobilisation, commercial and performance management approaches, the use of innovation, automation and Artificial Intelligence, tooling and technical capabilities, support for SMEs, and experience of supporting organisations to transition towards product-centric delivery models and Quality Engineering practices.
The exact scope, duration and value of the future contracts remains under development.
However, the current expectation is that each contract will have a minimum term of three years, with a maximum spend of £150m (including any extensions).
While the current intention is to compete these contracts through the GCA's Quality Assurance and Testing for IT Systems 2 Dynamic Purchasing System (RM6148), the Authority continues to assess its options and welcomes responses from all interested suppliers.
This RFI is for information gathering purposes only and does not constitute a call for competition, nor will participation influence any future procurement process.
Suppliers wishing to participate should register and respond via the Home Office eSourcing Portal: https://homeoffice.app.jaggaer.com You will find the request for information under the section with the reference pqq_864.
What the notice asks for
The Authority currently has a number
The Authority currently has a number of contracts for QAT capability aligned to portfolios across the Home Office and is developing a future commercial strategy that is expected to consolidate these services into two core testing capability contracts by Autumn 2027.
Sentences from the notice that state an obligation, surfaced automatically and shown in the order they appear. Not an exhaustive list — always confirm against the tender documents.
What this notice demands of you
2 named, none in explicit obligation language. Each one is quoted from the notice.
While the current intention is to compete these contracts through the GCA's Quality Assurance and Testing for IT Systems 2 Dynamic Purchasing System (RM6148), the Authority continues to assess its options and welcomes responses from all interested suppliers.
While the current intention is to compete these contracts through the GCA's Quality Assurance and Testing for IT Systems 2 Dynamic Purchasing System (RM6148), the Authority continues to assess its options and welcomes responses from all interested suppliers.
Matched against the notice text, so this is a floor — the tender pack will demand things the notice never mentions. “Says must” means the quoted sentence itself used obligation language; anything ambiguous is left as a mention.
What it takes to bid this
Typical UK bid effort for the value not published — mid-band assumed band — an estimate, not a quote.
Qualify & bid/no-bid ~10% · SQ / PQQ ~20% · Written response ~55% · Review & presentation ~15%
Stated in this notice
- Plan for deliveryMobilisation period“…ent and delivery models, transition and mobilisation, commercial and performance management approaches, the use…”
Typical for this category — confirm against the ITT pack
- Hold at bidCyber Essentials Plus (often mandatory for gov IT)
- Hold at bidISO 27001 (information security)
- Plan for deliveryData protection / DPIA readiness
- Show at bidComparable references / case studies
- Hold at bidFinancial standing (accounts, often ~2× contract value turnover)
- Hold at bidInsurance cover (PL / EL, often PI)
- Show at bidSocial value commitments
Hold at bid = pass/fail conditions of participation. Show at bid = scored in the quality response. Plan for delivery = contract obligations from day one.
Make the case to bid
Reveal who to approach at Home Office, and generate a go-to-market strategy from their news, accounts and people.
Free to start. Named contacts come from published notices; the strategy is generated from the buyer’s news, accounts and people.
The full intelligence dossier
Our agent reads Home Office’s accounts, hunts live signals, finds the people who decide — and hands you a bid strategy plus a go-to-market influence plan, including what your team should post this week. You approve every paid step.
Five included while we’re in beta, and the agent asks before it spends on any paid step.
- OCID
- d826ef16-2d49-4f6c-9157-d7512d48277a
- Stage
- preprocurement · Open
- Source
- Contracts Finder
- Buyer ref
- tender_519756/1603725
Contains public sector information licensed under the Open Government Licence v3.0. Source data © Crown copyright.
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