Department is planning to put in place two separate commercial engagements, collectively worth hundreds of millions and respectively covering office printing and services required in locations across the justice system

The Ministry of Justice has shed light on plans to put in place a new agreement worth hundreds of millions of pounds and covering the management of the printing and posting of vast volumes of documents.

A newly published contract notice reveals that “the MoJ is looking to procure its next generation of print services”, encompassing an engagement addressing the ministry’s office-based printing needs, as well as a contract for a supplier of “high-volume offsite print” (HVOP) services.

In the latter case, “the requirement is for a hybrid mail solution operating out of a dedicated, secure document production centre located off-site”, the notice says.

The commercial specification document indicates that this deal is scheduled to begin a five-year term in summer 2027 and is expected to be worth £251.6m to the chosen provider, who will be tasked with delivering a range of technical and operational services.

“Files and documents will be submitted through either an integration with an MoJ line-of-business application, or via a dedicated portal provided by the supplier,” the notice adds. “The documents must then be printed, packed and dispatched directly to the intended recipient. Additionally, there is an option to validate postcodes prior to dispatch, ensuring that items with invalid postcodes are not sent. The service includes all components of the delivery including the cost of the postage to the ultimate recipient.”

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Before issuing a formal tender, the MoJ is undertaking a market-engagement process, via which prospective suppliers will have until around the end of February to respond to respond to a request for information. Having assessed the feedback gained from this exercise, the ministry currently expects to open bidding over the summer.

“The MoJ is currently evaluating whether to utilise an existing framework agreement… or to proceed with a new tender,” the notice adds. “This decision will follow a comprehensive review of market conditions and internal requirements. Please note that the details outlined in this notice are subject to change as the MoJ continues to develop its procurement strategy. Please also note that the estimated value of this procurement is a high-level estimate at an early stage of the process, inclusive of optimism bias contingency. It should not be taken as a guarantee for actual expenditure under any future contract.”

Suppliers are advised, however, to take into consideration the scale of the ministry’s operations – and, ergo, its technological requirements.

“In total, there are approximately 90,000-plus users across the organisations, located all across the country and in approximately 1,000-plus different buildings,” the notice says. “These include headquarters, HMCTS offices, courts, probation offices, prisons, and specialist print centres. All of these users require printing services in a variety of ways and against a number of use cases.”