---
title: "HMPPS Higher Education"
ocid: "ocds-h6vhtk-04cc71"
canonical_url: "https://d3tenders.com/contract/?ocid=ocds-h6vhtk-04cc71"
markdown_url: "https://d3tenders.com/contract/ocds-h6vhtk-04cc71.md"
json_url: "https://d3tenders.com/contract/ocds-h6vhtk-04cc71.json"
source: "Find A Tender Service"
current_stage: "Award"
buyer: "MINISTRY OF JUSTICE"
published: "2025-02-06"
---

# HMPPS Higher Education

Buyer: MINISTRY OF JUSTICE  
Current stage: Award  
OCID: ocds-h6vhtk-04cc71

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## Summary

The Ministry of Justice has awarded a contract to The Open University for the provision of Higher Education services in secure environments across England and Wales. The contract, titled "HMPPS Higher Education", is valued at £3,340,000 and covers a maximum duration of 48 months, starting on 1st April 2025. The service is designed to support students in prisons with access to and completion of higher education courses, including guidance on course selection and student loan applications, with a minimum of 400 new enrolments per year. The procurement process was conducted under limited procedures, specifically negotiated without prior publication due to the technical reasons associated with the unique delivery requirements in secure environments. The Ministry of Justice identified The Open University as the sole supplier capable of delivering the required breadth of education services by the go-live date.

This tender presents a significant opportunity for businesses involved in the provision and support of education services within secure environments. As the contract involves adapting a range of university courses for delivery in compliance with HMPPS standards, there is potential for collaboration with suppliers of educational materials, digital learning platforms, and related support services. Businesses with expertise in secure environments, higher education, or vocational training are well-positioned to benefit from potential subcontracting opportunities and may also find indirect opportunities to engage with HMPPS or other public sector organisations aiming to enhance education and rehabilitation programmes in prison settings.

## Notice

Higher Education services in England and Wales.

### Lot Information

Lot 1

To provide a service supporting students in a secure environment to apply for, access funding for and complete, higher education courses. Support should be available for a minimum of 400 module enrolments in England and Wales new enrolments per year. Support for new enrollers will continue for subsequent years until course completion or release. This support must include: Ensuring that a range of courses are adapted for delivery in a secure environment, compliant with HMPPS standards and regulations, approved by security and available for delivery in a secure environment. Production of a prospectus of courses available in a secure environment. To protect student choice this must cover the following minimum range of levels and subject areas: Levels: Certificate level 4, Diploma level 5, Undergraduate degree level 6 Subject areas: English Language, English Literature, Maths, Psychology, Business Management, Geography, Art history, Politics, Criminology, History, Economics, Spanish, French, German, Classical Studies, Law, Sociology, Sports, fitness and coaching, Religion, Health & Social care and Combined Science Marketing and promoting to prisoners the uptake of Higher education in prisons and other secure environments. Offering information, advice and guidance to prisoners on the types of course they could apply for and which course would be most suitable. Support in registering for and applying for courses. Support in registering for and applying for student loans. Supporting tutors to enable them to deliver to students in secure environments. Providing support for any course exams to be conducted in a secure environment. Deliver award/graduation ceremonies in secure environments for students who complete courses whilst incarcerated. The initial term of the contract is for 24 months with an option to extend for a further two periods of up to 12 months each. The service commencement date is the 1st of April 2025. If no extension options are exercised, the end date will be the 31st of March 2027. The estimated contract value of PS3,340,000 GBP is based on an annual spend of PS835k, over the entire maximum contract length of 48 months, assuming the full options to extend the contract are exercised (however this may not be necessary). It may be necessary for contractor to provide termination assistance beyond the expiry of the contract including, but not limited to, assistance to the extent necessary to ensure that any HMPPS learners already registered on a programme of study with the contractor can continue to be able to access the contractor's course materials, and have the opportunity to complete their course. The costs associated with such assistance would be dependent on the number of affected HMPPS learners, the nature of their courses and the extent to which they have progressed through a particular course. It is therefore not possible at this point to attribute an accurate estimated value to such termination assistance and the estimated value referred to at II.1.7 does therefore not include this element of potential service provision

Options: Initial term: 24 months Option 1: 12 months Option 2: 12 months

### Procurement Information

MoJ considers that the award of this contract is permitted pursuant to Regulation 32(2)(b)(ii) of the Public Contracts Regulations 2015 for the following reasons. a) Open University is the only supplier able to meet MoJ's requirement for a minimum acceptable number of courses (as per II.2.4 above) to be delivered in secure environments by the go live date of April 2025, due to technical reasons. Having sought advice from internal and external stakeholders, with experience of higher education and education in a secure environment, the estimated timeframes needed for courses to be adapted by alternative suppliers are: * 6 months for suppliers to develop relationships with higher education (HE) institutions for course delivery (where not delivering the services directly). * 3 months for HE Institutions to engage with MOJ on understanding its security requirements. * 12 - 18 months per course to adapt all course content and material for delivery in secure environments. Furthermore, time would be needed for HMPPS to sign off suitability of degrees to be delivered as part of the services and for MoJ to conduct a procurement for a supplier to deliver the services. Accordingly, alternative suppliers' courses would not be ready for delivery by April 2025. b) Open University already has distance learning courses available, is the only supplier able to meet the minimum acceptable subject range in secure environments, and no reasonable alternative or substitute exists. MoJ publicised its requirements as part of pre-market engagement, advertising them on Contracts Finder, through a Prior Information Notice on Find a Tender Service and Find a Grant, plus directly inviting HE institutions. This provided suppliers the opportunity to engage with MoJ as part of its consideration as to whether alternative suppliers who could meet MoJ's requirements exist. During market engagement (from December 2023 to February 2024) one-to-one meetings were arranged with six interested suppliers that could potentially deliver some of the services (aside from the Open University). Of these suppliers, the supplier with the most courses currently available for delivery in secure environments could not meet the minimum requirements of offering qualifications at levels 4, 5, and 6 in core subject areas including English language, English literature, sciences, languages, psychology, sociology, art, and politics c) Over 100 different undergraduate level courses are currently being offered to students in secure environments. In the interest of opening up competition and to ensure no artificial narrowing down of the parameters of the procurement, MoJ determined the minimum acceptable range of courses (as per section II.2.4 above) that must be available for delivery in a secure environment from April 2025 in order to protect student choice.

## Key Details

| Field | Value |
| --- | --- |
| Publication source | Find A Tender Service |
| Latest notice | https://www.find-tender.service.gov.uk/Notice/003924-2025 |
| Notice type | Award Notice |
| Procurement type | Standard |
| Procurement category | Services |
| Procurement method | Limited |
| Procurement method details | Award procedure without prior publication of a call for competition |
| Tender suitability | Not specified |
| Awardee scale | Large |
| All stages | Award |

## Dates

| Field | Value |
| --- | --- |
| Publication date | 6 Feb 2025 |
| Submission deadline | Not specified |
| Future notice date | Not specified |
| Award date | 19 Mar 2024 |
| Contract period | Not specified |
| Recurrence | Not specified |

## Values

| Field | Value |
| --- | --- |
| Tender value | Not specified |
| Lots value | Not specified |
| Awards value | Not specified |
| Contracts value | £3,340,000 |

## Status

| Field | Value |
| --- | --- |
| Tender status | Complete |
| Lots status | Cancelled |
| Awards status | Active |
| Contracts status | Active |

## 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 | Not specified |

## Supplier

| Field | Value |
| --- | --- |
| Number of suppliers | 1 |
| Supplier names | THE OPEN UNIVERSITY |

## CPV Codes

### Divisions

- 75 - Administration, defence and social security services
- 80 - Education and training services

### Codes

- 75231200 - Services related to the detention or rehabilitation of criminals
- 75231230 - Prison services
- 80000000 - Education and training services
- 80300000 - Higher education services
- 80400000 - Adult and other education services

## Release History

- 6 Feb 2025 at 11:04 - Award - Award Notice - https://www.find-tender.service.gov.uk/Notice/003924-2025
- 21 Dec 2024 at 10:43 - Award - Award Notice - https://www.find-tender.service.gov.uk/Notice/041327-2024

## Notice URLs

- https://www.justice.gov.uk
- https://www.open.ac.uk/

## Provenance

This Markdown file is an alternate public rendering of the D3 Tenders contract record. The canonical page is https://d3tenders.com/contract/?ocid=ocds-h6vhtk-04cc71. The underlying structured data is available as OCDS JSON at https://d3tenders.com/contract/ocds-h6vhtk-04cc71.json.