Heathrow IRC Operator Services

1. Introduction
The Home Office is seeking to engage with the market regarding the future procurement of Operator Services for the Heathrow Immigration Removal Centre (IRC). This RFI is part of our ongoing market engagement exercise and does not constitute a call for competition or a commitment to any future procurement activity. The Home Office may undertake further engagement activities, which could include additional RFIs, questionnaires, supplier events, or 1-2-1 discussions, to ensure supplier feedback is captured.
Background:
The Heathrow IRC is a medium security facility in the UK where Residents are detained under immigration powers to effect their removal from the UK. The IRC houses around 1,000 residents and comprises of two sites, Colnbrook and Harmondsworth. The commercial partner is required to support the Home Office to deliver its immigration detention operations.
The operational services required include (but are not limited to):
a. Overall management of the services;
b. Security and guarding;
c. Admissions and discharge;
d. Detainee welfare and general care;
e. Local escorting and hospital bed watches;
f. Provision of furniture and equipment;
g. Facilities Management and cleaning services;
h. Educational and Recreational services including sport & health related activities and paid activity services;
i. Religious affairs;
j. Catering and shop services.
2. Purpose of the RFI
The purpose of this exercise is to gather supplier views to inform the development of the procurement approach. This is RFI is part of our ongoing market engagement, and further activities may follow depending on the breadth of responses received.
Specifically, the RFI seeks to understand supplier perspectives on:
1. Relocation Risks and Challenges – the potential risks, challenges, and mitigation strategies if IRC services were required to move sites.
2. Procurement Timeline – how the proposed timeline may affect supplier bidding capacity, including risks linked to concurrent procurements.
3. Security Certificates – views on which cyber security accreditations (e.g. Cyber Essentials Plus, ISO 27001) are essential for IRC service delivery, and any reasoning where they may not be considered necessary.
4. Bid Validity – understand your maximum bid validity period your organisation can realistically commit to before the need to make changes to any submitted proposals.
5. Dialogue & Negotiation Stage – understand your views on which topics and issues would be most helpful to explore during the dialogue and negotiation stage.

Estimated date of publication of contract notice: 2026-01-28T23:59:59+00:00
Contract location: UK
Engagement process description
• To express interest and obtain the documentation please contact the Heathrow IRC Procurement mailbox: heathrowircreprocurementproject@homeoffice.gov.uk
• We kindly request your completed response be returned by 12 noon, 3rd of October 2025 to the Heathrow IRC Procurement mailbox: heathrowircreprocurementproject@homeoffice.gov.uk
• When submitting, please include “RFI Response – Heathrow IRC Operator Services” in the subject line.
Please note:
• This RFI is for information-gathering purposes only.
• Any information provided will be treated in confidence and used solely to inform the Home Office’s procurement strategy.
• Suppliers are advised that this exercise does not form part of a formal procurement process, and no commercial advantage will be given to those who respond to this notice.
• This is one of a series of potential market engagement activities.
• The Home Office will contact suppliers who express an interest in this RFI, as well as those who participated in previous Heathrow IRC market engagement activities, to inform them of any subsequent market engagement opportunities.
• Any Suppliers who have not engaged in earlier market engagement activities for this procurement will be required to sign a Non-Disclosure Agreement prior to receiving the RFI questionnaire.
• If you are not able to respond within the timelines stated please let us know.

Lot: 1
This contract is subject to renewal: Yes

Languages in which tenders or requests to participate may be submitted: En