--- title: "English for Speakers of Other Languages (ESOL) Screening and Assessment Tool Market Engagement" ocid: "ocds-b5fd17-49e9880f-ecd2-4dc6-9a60-33ff8fed912e" canonical_url: "https://d3tenders.com/contract/?ocid=ocds-b5fd17-49e9880f-ecd2-4dc6-9a60-33ff8fed912e" markdown_url: "https://d3tenders.com/contract/ocds-b5fd17-49e9880f-ecd2-4dc6-9a60-33ff8fed912e.md" json_url: "https://d3tenders.com/contract/ocds-b5fd17-49e9880f-ecd2-4dc6-9a60-33ff8fed912e.json" source: "Contracts Finder" current_stage: "Planning" buyer: "MINISTRY OF JUSTICE" published: "2024-09-10" --- # English for Speakers of Other Languages (ESOL) Screening and Assessment Tool Market Engagement Buyer: MINISTRY OF JUSTICE Current stage: Planning OCID: ocds-b5fd17-49e9880f-ecd2-4dc6-9a60-33ff8fed912e [View canonical contract page](https://d3tenders.com/contract/?ocid=ocds-b5fd17-49e9880f-ecd2-4dc6-9a60-33ff8fed912e) [Download OCDS JSON](https://d3tenders.com/contract/ocds-b5fd17-49e9880f-ecd2-4dc6-9a60-33ff8fed912e.json) ## Summary The Ministry of Justice (MoJ) is seeking to procure an English for Speakers of Other Languages (ESOL) Screening and Assessment Tool to support the Prisoner Education Service (PES). This procurement process is in the planning stage, with the engagement end date scheduled for 30th September 2024. The MoJ aims to secure innovative digital solutions that comply with Government Digital Standards (GDS) and integrate seamlessly into existing systems. The contract's expected length is up to 7 years. This opportunity spans several regions across the UK, including the North East, North West, and London, among others. Businesses are invited to engage, provide feedback, and present potential solutions during this market engagement phase. This tender offers valuable growth opportunities for businesses specialising in educational software development, IT support services, and digital integration solutions. SMEs and voluntary, community, and social enterprises (VCSEs) are particularly encouraged to participate. The ESOL tool is intended to help identify prisoners’ language needs accurately, ensuring they receive the appropriate support, which could lead to significant improvements in educational outcomes and reoffending rates. Businesses capable of providing high-quality digital S&A tools, offering robust user training, and supporting continuous improvement will find this tender especially relevant. The procurement process also addresses contract terms proportionality, barrier reduction for SMEs, and cost considerations, making it an inclusive opportunity for a wide range of suppliers. ## Notice The Ministry of Justice (MoJ) has a legal requirement to secure the provision of education and training for prisoners and recognises that Education, Skills, and Work (ESW) play a significant role in reducing reoffending. A 2017 MoJ report shows that prisoners who participated in any form of learning activity were 9 percentage points less likely to reoffend compared to non-learners and 1.8 percentage points more likely to be in employment after release. MoJ is committed to delivering a transformed 'Prisoner Education Service' (PES) focused on work-based training and skills'. The Prisoner Education Service (PES) is developing an innovative, integrated digital ecosystem that brings together a holistic prisoner view that informs planning, delivery and accountability. Effective Screening and Assessment (S&A) is at the core of this, ensuring that prisoner's learner needs are identified when engaging with education, and inform their learner journey throughout their time in custody. This system should enable HMPPS to drive up standards and outcomes across the estate, both in custody and in the community. To realise this vision, we are procuring digital S&A tools for the PES contracts. This PIN is for an English for Speakers of Other Languages (ESOL) screening tool only. We are expecting to procure one tool; the tool can be part, fully or not yet developed. The expected contract length is up to 7 years. The ESOL tool must accurately identify any gaps in a prisoner's ability to read, write, speak and understand English, written and spoken language, in line with National Standards. The tool must also indicate the level of support required to enable progression. ESOL assessments can include digital elements but should include interaction with and reading assessment outcomes determined by screening and assessment delivery staff. The Tool must be compliant with Government Digital Standard (GDS) in the design, testing and deployment in a timeframe agreed with the Authority, supported by an Implementation Plan and must be capable of integrating with other services and sharing data using open standards. The vision for the ESOL tool contract is to: - Implement a high-quality, accessible tool that accurately identifies prisoners ESOL ability levels. - Enable collaboration with the Authority and PES providers to ensure continuous improvement so that the tool enables quality ESOL S&A delivery. - Enable data reporting integration of the ESOL tool into the Authority systems. - Provide for the first time national consistent ESOL screening across the PES prison estate to reduce duplication and improve data flow across the estate. - Deliver the ambition for digital by default screening with contingencies to allow continued S&A delivery when access to digital tool/s is impacted. - Ensure high quality ESOL S&A tool provider led training and ongoing support to PES Core-Education staff on the use of provider screening tools. - Drive quality via output measured KPIs Additional information: The purpose of this engagement is to secure wider market involvement in the testing and development of our procurement structure, including the specification and contract. Topics we would like to hear suppliers' view on may include but are not limited to: - Tool demonstration or vision - Specification Optimisation - Contract Terms Proportionality - Removing Barriers to SMEs - IPR - Costs - Pay Mech (including development, mobilisation and service delivery costs) - Ability to meet current requirements and timescale including if developed - Appetite to develop tool - Insurance Levels - Digital Requirements - Delivery requirements - Tool outputs & next steps We have included a Survey to seek out your views and to ask if you would be willing to speak with us further on this topic, once complete please return it to the PES-ScreeningandAssessment@justice.gov.uk email no later than the 27th September 2024. If you agree to speak with us, we will be holding meetings on a first come first serve basis between 30th September - 7th October. ## Key Details | Field | Value | | --- | --- | | Publication source | Contracts Finder | | Latest notice | https://www.contractsfinder.service.gov.uk/Notice/97763f52-83df-4e97-9f4c-cda92c039f3a | | Notice type | Market Engagement Notice | | Procurement type | Standard | | Procurement category | Not specified | | Procurement method | Not Specified | | Procurement method details | Not specified | | Tender suitability | SME, VCSE | | Awardee scale | Not specified | | All stages | Planning | ## Dates | Field | Value | | --- | --- | | Publication date | 10 Sep 2024 | | Submission deadline | Not specified | | Future notice date | 30 Sep 2024 | | Award date | Not specified | | Contract period | Not specified | | Recurrence | Not specified | ## Values | Field | Value | | --- | --- | | Tender value | Not specified | | Lots value | Not specified | | Awards value | Not specified | | Contracts value | Not specified | ## Status | Field | Value | | --- | --- | | Tender status | Planning | | Lots status | Not specified | | Awards status | Not specified | | Contracts status | Not specified | ## Buyer | Field | Value | | --- | --- | | Main buyer | MINISTRY OF JUSTICE | | Locality | LONDON | | Post town | South West London | | Postcode | SW1H 9AJ | | Country | England | | ITL 1 | TLI London | | ITL 2 | TLI3 Inner London - West | | ITL 3 | TLI35 Westminster and City of London | | Local authority | Westminster | | Electoral ward | St James's | | Westminster constituency | Cities of London and Westminster | | Delivery location | TLC North East (England), TLD North West (England), TLE Yorkshire and The Humber, TLF East Midlands (England), TLG West Midlands (England), TLI London, TLJ South East (England), TLK South West (England) | ## CPV Codes ### Divisions - 48 - Software package and information systems - 72 - IT services: consulting, software development, Internet and support - 75 - Administration, defence and social security services - 80 - Education and training services ### Codes - 48190000 - Educational software package - 72212190 - Educational software development services - 72212210 - Networking software development services - 72212311 - Document management software development services - 72212517 - IT software development services - 72250000 - System and support services - 72253000 - Helpdesk and support services - 72260000 - Software-related services - 72261000 - Software support services - 72267000 - Software maintenance and repair services - 72310000 - Data-processing services - 75231200 - Services related to the detention or rehabilitation of criminals - 75231230 - Prison services - 80000000 - Education and training services - 80400000 - Adult and other education services - 80533000 - Computer-user familiarisation and training services - 80533100 - Computer training services ## Release History - 10 Sep 2024 at 12:55 - Planning - Market Engagement Notice - https://www.contractsfinder.service.gov.uk/Notice/97763f52-83df-4e97-9f4c-cda92c039f3a ## Documents - https://www.contractsfinder.service.gov.uk/Notice/97763f52-83df-4e97-9f4c-cda92c039f3a 10th September 2024 - Early engagement notice on Contracts Finder - https://www.contractsfinder.service.gov.uk/Notice/Attachment/95be1045-3ceb-407a-b176-db220510c3d2 n/a - https://www.contractsfinder.service.gov.uk/Notice/Attachment/6e6b0790-d6d2-4c23-9c32-5d5e51fecb56 n/a - https://www.contractsfinder.service.gov.uk/Notice/Attachment/01962653-7a0c-48d5-a856-dd67b6f1c98d n/a ## Notice URLs - https://www.gov.uk/government/organisations/ministry-of-justice ## Provenance This Markdown file is an alternate public rendering of the D3 Tenders contract record. 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