Britain's Home Office has issued a £91m ($118m) tender for immigration services using biometrics and the digitisation of supporting evidence.The tender covers how up to 780,000 people either extend their stay in the UK, settle or pursue British nationality.The contract is for an initial three years, plus an option for the Home Office, acting through UK Visas and Immigration (UKVI) to extend the deal for two additional years.Services to be provided include an identity check, the capture of biometrics, digitisation of supporting evidence and secure submission of all data to the Home Office, acting through UK Visas and Immigration (UKVI).The so-called Front End Services (FES) UK supplier will be required to provide all the premises, people, hardware and software to deliver these services as well as supporting integration with Home Office systems in line with Government Digital Service (GDS) standards.The winning supplier will also be required to offer a range of optional and chargeable services that generate revenue.The challenge for the successful vendor is that the “Front End Services” are expected to be “available to customers” within just 14 months, from October 2018.UKVI says its strategic ambition for FES (UK) is to create a “streamlined, digitised and accessible application service, whilst offering a choice for customers in how they experience that service and facilitate opportunities to generate revenue that align with customer demand.”UKVI has an ambition to move to a self-service, digital experience for all parts of the application process. It believes that there is a role for a commercial supplier in achieving this ambition within the UK and particularly to diversify the offer, deliver efficiency and enhance the customer experience.The tender says the services in the scope of the procurement fall into three main categories:core servicespriority services, andadded value servicesThe core services include biometric capture, identity check, and digitisation of supporting evidence.Any clarification requests must be submitted no later than August 25 with responses to be submitted no later than September 4.
UK’s Home Office issues $118m digitisation tender for immigration
