Provision of Asylum Accommodation and Support Services

Descriptions

The Asylum Support and Accommodation Programme (ASAP) is a long-term transformation programme in the delivery of asylum support and accommodation services.

The objective is a transformative re-procurement of services to replace the following contracts:

• Asylum Accommodation Support Contracts (AASC)

• Advice Issue Reporting and Eligibility (AIRE)

• Bridging Accommodation and Travel Services (BATS)

• Asylum Support Payments (ASP)

The Home Office will be going to market for supplier(s) who can:

1. Accommodation Provision - Identify, acquire, and maintain a diverse range of safe, suitable, and legally compliant accommodation types within agreed timescales and contracted regions to meet the varied needs of asylum seekers. Ensure accommodation aligns with statutory and regulatory standards, and is approved and allocated in collaboration with Local Authorities to support lawful use, community integration, and minimal impact on local services.

2. Accommodation Management - Maintain accommodation to defined standards throughout its lifecycle, with robust systems in place for maintenance, temporary housing, and complaint communication and resolution to ensure a safe, suitable, and responsive living environment for asylum seekers.

3. Transport - Arrange, manage, and deliver a 24/7/365 transportation service that is safe, timely, and responsive to asylum seeker needs in line with Home Office policy, whether independently or as directed by the Home Office. This includes the use of suitable, appropriately equipped, roadworthy vehicles and professional drivers, supported by an appropriate IT booking system, and ensuring the transport of asylum seekers, their dependents, and permitted belongings with appropriate assistance and within agreed timescales.

4. Sustenance - Ensure that asylum seekers receive appropriate interim support through food vouchers or cash, including issuing food vouchers as a temporary or emergency measure until a Section 4 payment card is provided or replaced, and providing cash where full board accommodation is not available.

5. Safety and Security - Ensure the safety and security of all staff and asylum seekers by implementing appropriate training, incident management, cross-provider collaboration, and vetting procedures.

6. Audit & Assurance Services - Monitor provider compliance and performance through a structured assurance framework, combining inspections, desk-based reviews, and data analysis to identify trends, risks, and areas for improvement. The assuror must also produce clear, evidence-based reports to support supplier management and meet the reporting requirements of external assurance bodies.

7. Service User Assistance - The Provider must ensure that asylum seekers receive clear, accessible, and timely information and support throughout their asylum journey - from initial application and arrival at accommodation to integration into the community. This includes maintaining a reliable single point of contact, delivering oral and written communication in a way asylum seekers can understand, assisting with access to local services, and continuously monitoring and improving the asylum seeker experience through inclusive feedback mechanisms.

8. Wellbeing and Safeguarding - Establish effective communication channels with relevant partners to ensure timely notification and coordination on safeguarding and wellbeing matters. Where safeguarding concerns are identified, specialist safeguarding staff must be deployed and follow the prescribed action plan.

Proactively prevent and reduce safeguarding incidents, the Provider must offer ongoing support to asylum seekers and ensure that all staff and asylum seekers have access to resources that help them recognise, respond to, and report safeguarding concerns.

Regular welfare checks must be conducted for all asylum seekers.

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**The content of this Notice, including the nature of works and services including start date of contract, may be subject to change.**

Engagement process description
The Asylum Support and Accommodation Programme Commercial Team will carry out the engagement in two phases, the first phase will focus on gathering market feedback between June and July 2025, and the second phase will focus on validating strategy with market insights in August and September 2025. Further phases may be included in advance of any formal procurement launch.

It is our intention to invite those suppliers that express an interest in this opportunity. In the event of high demand, we reserve the right to limit attendance to ensure fair and manageable engagement. Where attendance is limited, efforts will be made to ensure a representative cross-section of the market is included.

Suppliers who are unable to attend will not be disadvantaged in any future procurement and will be provided with access to any relevant materials or outputs from the engagement session.

For the purposes of this Preliminary Market Engagement Notice, the estimated contract value has been listed as £0. This figure does not reflect the expected final value of the contract. The actual estimated value is currently being finalised and will be shared as part of the ongoing market engagement process.

1. To express an interest, participants must first be registered on the Home Office eSourcing Suite. If you have not yet registered, this can be done online at https://homeoffice.app.jaggaer.com/web/login.html by following the link. Please note that, to register, you must have a valid DUNS number (as provided by Dun and Bradstreet) for the organisation which you are registering and who will be entering into a contract if invited to do so.

2. Send an 'Expression of Interest' email following the instructions:

Email to: ASAPprocurement@homeoffice.gov.uk

Email title: Expression of Interest - ASAP - NDA Request - (DUNS number)

3. The email must include the following:

Supplier name (as on Companies House)

DUNS number

Jaggaer registration details

Contact person - Name, job title, email address, contact number

4. The suppliers will be added to the NDA event on Jaggaer to access the NDA. This will contain the instruction to access and return signed copies.

5. The suppliers will receive countersigned NDAs and access to the Background Note providing details of the services in scope, engagement process and timelines.

PHASE 1: Gathering Market Feedback

ASAP Industry Day (In-person, London):

Publish Preliminary Market Engagement Notice - 28 May 2025

Deadline for Express of Interest; 12:00 BST on - 4 June 2025

Deadline for supplier signed NDAs; 16:00 BST on - 5 June 2025

Deadline for suppliers to confirm attendees; 16:00 BST on - 6 June 2025

Industry Day logistics and invites confirmed - 6 June 2025

Industry Day - 10 June 2025

Request for Information (RFI - Round 1):

RFI live - 10 June 2025

Deadline for Express of Interest; 12:00 BST on - 11 July 2025

Deadline for supplier signed NDAs; 16:00 BST on - 14 July 2025

Deadline for Clarification Questions; 12:00 BST on - 15 July 2025

Publish response to Clarification Questions - 16 July 2025

RFI response deadline; 16:00 BST on - 18 July 2025

Service-Specific Industry Days (Virtual):

Publish Preliminary Market Engagement Notice(s) - 20 June 2025

Service-Specific Industry Days - 30 June - 11 July 2025

Timetable for every service line will be published in respective Preliminary Market Engagement Notice published latest by 20 June 2025.

Supplier 1:1s:

Notification of supplier 1:1s - 7 - 18 July 2025

Hold virtual supplier 1:1s - 14 - 31 July 2025

PHASE 2: Validating Strategy with Market Insights

Request for Information (RFI - Round 2):

RFI live - 6 August 2025

RFI response deadline; 16:00 BST on - 29 August 2025

Supplier 1:1s:

Notification of supplier 1:1s - 8 - 12 September 2025

Hold virtual supplier 1:1s - 15 - 30 September 2025

*Please note that these dates are indicative and are subject to change.

*Please note that the Home Office reserves the right to amend the Market Engagement process at a later date if needed. Any changes will be updated on the Preliminary Market Engagement Notice and through Jaggaer.

1. Additional CPV coverage;

2. Updated engagement process and timelines.