Retail Services

HM Prison and Probation Service (HMPPS) Prison Retail Service provides approximately 80,000 prisoners with the means to order goods (fresh and frozen food, ambient food and non-foods e.g. toiletries) using their own funds. The contract is a key operational service in maintaining a stable environment and supports the HMPPS decency agenda, which focuses on normalising aspects of prison life to prepare eligible prisoners for release.

HM Prison and Probation Service (HMPPS) Prison Retail Service provides approximately 80,000 prisoners with the means to order goods (fresh and frozen food, ambient food and non-foods e.g. toiletries) using their own funds. The contract is a key operational service in maintaining a stable environment and supports the HMPPS decency agenda, which focuses on normalising aspects of prison life to prepare eligible prisoners for release.

The current solution is provided as part of a nationally managed service providing wholesale goods, logistics/fleet, rehabilitation of prisoners and the management of multiple workshops. At the time of the ITT there will be 18 prison workshops but this is expected to rise over term of contract; these are located within prisons and utilise a minimum of 520 prisoners to pick, pack and despatch an estimated 66,000 orders a week.

This project is looking at the re-procurement of the service and would like to hear from interested parties capable of providing the wholesale goods and/or the management of multiple workshops.

The primary objective of the service is to meet the demands of the paying customer, providing a range of goods at prices comparable to that of convenience store retailers and responsive to the changing population demographics and external influences (e.g. healthy eating campaigns).

The service aims to deliver orders in a timely, efficient manner while ensuring that prison security policies (national or local) are never contravened.

A key aim of the service is that it is self-financing and that the service overheads are covered through the cost of sales. The service must not exploit the customer (prisoner) population and instead should be an opportunity both to play a key role in the operation of a prison environment whilst providing opportunities for re-skilling and resettlement on release (e.g. job interviews, offers of work).

The information contained in this notice is indicative of current thinking and subject to change.