---
title: "Pilot for Identifying Unmet Needs Between Local Authorities and Probation Services"
ocid: "ocds-h6vhtk-05fe36"
canonical_url: "https://d3tenders.com/contract/?ocid=ocds-h6vhtk-05fe36"
markdown_url: "https://d3tenders.com/contract/ocds-h6vhtk-05fe36.md"
json_url: "https://d3tenders.com/contract/ocds-h6vhtk-05fe36.json"
source: "Find A Tender Service"
current_stage: "Award"
buyer: "MINISTRY OF JUSTICE"
published: "2026-02-16"
---

# Pilot for Identifying Unmet Needs Between Local Authorities and Probation Services

Buyer: MINISTRY OF JUSTICE  
Current stage: Award  
OCID: ocds-h6vhtk-05fe36

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## Summary

The Ministry of Justice (MoJ) is undertaking a procurement process for a pilot project titled "Pilot for Identifying Unmet Needs Between Local Authorities and Probation Services," primarily in the data services industry. The procurement process, initiated as a tender, has reached the award stage, with Newton Consulting Ltd selected as the supplier. This project is oriented towards reducing reoffending rates and enhancing public protection through data-informed decision-making within probation services. The procurement method employed is a direct award, justified under the Procurement Act 2023 for prototypes and development contracts. The contract commenced on 5th February 2026 and is scheduled to end on 4th August 2026, with a possible extension until November 2026. The project, based in the United Kingdom, particularly involves collaborations with local authorities and corresponding Probation Delivery Units.

This tender presents potential growth opportunities for businesses specializing in data services and research on unmet community needs. By participating, businesses can leverage their expertise to contribute to critical public service improvements, potentially securing future contracts in public sector collaborations. Companies with pre-existing relationships with probation services and local authorities, such as those capable of rapid prototype development and data-sharing solution configurations, are well-suited to compete. Given its strategic objectives and potential for extension, this contract offers a chance to build long-term relationships with the Ministry of Justice, positioning businesses as frontrunners in the realm of data-driven public service solutions.

## Notice

The Secretary of State for Justice ("MOJ") has a strategic objective to reduce reoffending and improve public protection by enabling more effective, data-informed decision-making within probation services. HMPPS have expressed the need for a pilot in which a supplier will test the hypothesis that access to Local Authority data will add capacity into the probation system and enable frontline staff to perform their feasibility of surfacing cross-system data to probation officers and commissioners. The insights generated will support risk and needs assessments, sentence planning, and commissioning decisions. The Ministry of Justice intends to award a contract to Newton Consulting Limited (the "Supplier") for 6 months (plus optional 3 month extension) at a maximum contract value of PS800,000 to test whether: (a) Local Authorities ("LA") hold data on unmet need that can drive effectiveness in sentence management for use by probation practitioners; and (b) HMPPS can serve that data to probation services. The supplier is required to design and deliver a pilot that enables probation services to access cross-system data such as mental health, housing, education, and substance misuse indicators; to identify unmet needs among people on probation. The pilot will involve 5-10 local authorities or equivalent data holders and their corresponding Probation Delivery Units (PDUs).

### Procurement Information

The Ministry of Justice has a strategic objective to reduce reoffending and improve public protection by enabling more effective, data-informed decision-making within probation services. At present, probation officers continue to rely on incomplete or delayed information, which undermines their ability to assess risk, plan interventions, and commission services effectively. HMPPS have expressed the need for a pilot in which a supplier will test the hypothesis that sharing data between HMPPS and Local Authorities will add capacity into the probation system and enable frontline staff to perform their feasibility of surfacing cross-system data to probation officers and commissioners. The insights generated will support risk and needs assessments, sentence planning, and commissioning decisions. This contract is for researching the data held by Local Authorities and HMPPS which could be shared between both parties to assess whether such data would be useful to share and to understand the viability of procuring a solution to share data between HMPPS and Local Authorities. This contract will deliver a prototype to understand the feasibility for a data solution. The contracting authority ("MOJ") is relying on the prototypes and development direct award justifications in set out in Procurement Act 2023, Schedule 5, clause 2 for Direct Award: * The public contract concerns the production of a prototype, or supply of other novel goods or services, for the purpose of-- (a)testing the suitability of the goods or services, (b)researching the viability of producing or supplying the goods or services at scale and developing them for that purpose, or (c)other research, experiment, study or development. This is further backed up by guidance set out in paragraphs 15 and 16 of Schedule 5 in the Procurement Act 23 Direct Award guidance regarding Prototypes and Development: 15) This justification allows for direct award when procuring a prototype or other novel good or service that is designed or developed at the request of the contracting authority. For example, procuring a solution to enable data to be shared securely between different agencies. 16) The public contract must be limited to the early stages of design and development and aimed only at testing the suitability of the goods or services, understanding the viability of production or supply in quantity or other research, experiment, study or development. This means it must not include quantity production or supply beyond that necessary for these purposes, for example, to produce or supply the contracting authority with the goods or service on a commercial basis. The explanations for why the justifications apply are as follows. This discovery pilot needs to be done at pace, to fit with longer term strategic digital development as an enabler for the Our Future Probation Service, which is tasked with liberating 25% of probation practitioner time. To delay will miss the opportunity to build on the work completed for Kent County Council ("KCC") and would require a greater financial commitment if HMPPS were to attempt to commission this work from scratch. This justification applies because the pilot contract is for researching and developing a prototype to share the data held by Local Authorities and HMPPS to assess whether such data would be useful to share between the parties and to understand the viability of procuring such a. This is very similar to the example set out in paragraph 15 of the guidance. This contract is to understand viability and configure a prototype so is similar the circumstances set out in paragraph 16 of the guidance. Newton Consulting Ltd. have been identified as the most appropriate supplier on the basis they have an existing delivery model and relationships with the HMPPS and Kent County Council (KCC). This builds on the work already undertaken by the supplier with KCC, and involving HMPPS at a Probation Delivery Unit (PDU) level, but to pivot this to offer HMPPS a national view on how data sharing with Local Authorities could work across England and Wales, supported by draft designs and recommendations based on small-scale user testing with probation practitioners in the Kent, Surrey & Sussex Probation region.

## Key Details

| Field | Value |
| --- | --- |
| Publication source | Find A Tender Service |
| Latest notice | https://www.find-tender.service.gov.uk/Notice/013900-2026 |
| Notice type | UK7 - Contract Details Notice |
| Procurement type | Standard |
| Procurement category | Services |
| Procurement method | Direct |
| Procurement method details | Direct award |
| Tender suitability | Not specified |
| Awardee scale | Large |
| All stages | Award |

## Dates

| Field | Value |
| --- | --- |
| Publication date | 16 Feb 2026 |
| Submission deadline | Not specified |
| Future notice date | Not specified |
| Award date | 30 Dec 2025 |
| Contract period | 5 Feb 2026 - 4 Aug 2026 |
| Recurrence | Not specified |

## Values

| Field | Value |
| --- | --- |
| Tender value | Not specified |
| Lots value | Not specified |
| Awards value | £800,000 |
| Contracts value | £795,000 |

## Status

| Field | Value |
| --- | --- |
| Tender status | Complete |
| Lots status | Complete |
| 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 | NEWTON CONSULTING |

## CPV Codes

### Divisions

- 72 - IT services: consulting, software development, Internet and support

### Codes

- 72300000 - Data services

## Release History

- 16 Feb 2026 at 14:30 - Award - UK7 - Contract Details Notice - https://www.find-tender.service.gov.uk/Notice/013900-2026
- 21 Jan 2026 at 11:33 - Award - UK6 - Contract Award Notice - https://www.find-tender.service.gov.uk/Notice/005206-2026
- 30 Dec 2025 at 14:02 - Award - UK5 - Transparency Notice - https://www.find-tender.service.gov.uk/Notice/086451-2025

## Documents

- https://www.find-tender.service.gov.uk/Notice/013900-2026
  16th February 2026 - Contract details notice on Find a Tender
- https://www.find-tender.service.gov.uk/Notice/005206-2026
  21st January 2026 - Contract award notice on Find a Tender
- https://www.find-tender.service.gov.uk/Notice/086451-2025
  30th December 2025 - Transparency notice on Find a Tender

## Notice URLs

- https://www.gov.uk/government/organisations/ministry-of-justice/about/procurement
- https://www.legislation.gov.uk/ukpga/2023/54/contents

## 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-05fe36. The underlying structured data is available as OCDS JSON at https://d3tenders.com/contract/ocds-h6vhtk-05fe36.json.