Over the past year Clinks has been working closely with His Majesty’s Prison and Probation Service (HMPPS) to share the experiences and challenges the sector faces during the probation commissioning processes.

The Clinks team have been working tirelessly behind the scenes to make improvements to the systems and processes under the Probation Services Dynamic Framework (DF) as well as implementing other useful tools to support organisations to engage in competitions. This blog is intended to provide an overview of the changes and will continue to be used as a platform to update the sector about ongoing changes.

The Dynamic Framework is a system which organisations can qualify onto to bid for/apply for contracts and grants to deliver rehabilitation and resettlement services. The framework is one of the main opportunities for voluntary organisations of all sizes to deliver services through the probation system. The Dynamic Framework will exist until 2027, although this could be extended to 2030. More details about the Probation Service and the commissioning processes can be found on our probation services page.

Informative videos

A series of video resources are being produced to provide helpful guidance on engaging with future commissioning processes. The first video will focus on providing hints and tips on the requirements within the bidding process and should be published in the next few weeks. The next video will focus on the grants process. There is also a video planned around the Dynamic Framework, however this will be produced once all of the upcoming changes are implemented.

If you have a suggestion for a future video, please email support@clinks.org

Probation Services Dynamic Framework Changes

The Probation Services Dynamic Framework is a mix of a framework agreement and an electronic system which allows providers to join at any time and sign up to terms and conditions for future contracts. This provides an open market for the Ministry of Justice (MoJ) to access pre-qualified suppliers when a new opportunity becomes available.

There has been a lot of feedback provided via surveys, events, and reports and these have been accounted for in the plan to improve the DF. Some changes have already been made and others will be rolled out over the next six months. It is expected that all changes will be implemented no later than August 2023.

Changes to date

Procurement documents, such as the specification and financial model have been streamlined. It is hoped this will simplify the detail contained in the documents and ensure they are proportionate for the size and value of the competition, with the aim of making the bidding process easier regardless of the capacity or size of the organisation.

Changes to be made in the next few months

Over the next few months HMPPS intend to make a number of changes to the Dynamic Framework which will require some downtime and the Jaggaer portal being offline. During this time organisations will not be able to make changes to their accounts. These will be communicated via the Jaggaer portal as well as Light Lunch.

The case studies and service description requirements, needed to onboard for a particular service category (e.g. emotional wellbeing), have been streamlined and there are plans to introduce a “statement of sustainability”. This document should give providers more flexibility in how they respond to the Selection Questionnaire in a single question and will replace the current case study/service description requirement. This aims to assist both new suppliers and those already onboarded who wish to add new categories to their selection questionnaire submission.

The financial onboarding process will be revised for the £100,000 - £1 million threshold, adopting a new simplified system. This will mean that HMPPS will use a credit referencing agency to measure the financial health of organisations, putting less burden on providers.

Engagement with the Ministry of Justice

The MoJ Commercial Team have started to hold online drop-in sessions twice per month. These are open to new and existing providers to meet the team and ask any questions they may have around the Dynamic Framework. The dates for the sessions will be issued at the start of each month via the Jaggaer portal.

A monthly newsletter is also being developed which will provide information and updates in relation to the Dynamic Framework and this will be shared through the Jaggaer portal.

HMPPS Dynamic Framework Simplification Event – 13 June, online

This event will be used to discuss the impact of the upcoming changes, including the new documentation and processes, as well as the impact this will have on the Jaggaer portal. In order for the changes to be made on the portal there will be a down time period of up to two weeks. This will be between 24 July and 31 July (inclusive). Communication on the portal during this time will also not be possible but this should not cause any issues as there will not be any live tenders during this period.

Crucially for organisations, any in process selection questionnaires must be completed prior to the down period or the information will be lost. This will not affect existing providers who have already onboarded onto the Dynamic Framework but would affect providers who are in the process of re-qualifying onto an additional service category. To ensure that applications are not lost, the last date for new Selection Questionnaire applications will be 10-07-2023. Applications, using the streamlined process, can then resume from 01-08-2023.

Find out more and book your place here - Simplification of the Probation Dynamic Framework Event (clinks.org) - and keep up to date on future Clinks events on our events page.

Next Steps

Clinks recognises that there is a lot of information for organisations to understand and engage with and we will continue to work alongside HMPPS to ensure there is an ongoing feedback loop.

There is a recognition that the simplification process will never be complete, and there is a commitment to exploring feedback throughout the life of the Dynamic Framework. If you have any queries, concerns or ideas about any future activity which would enable your organisation to engage in commissioning processes, please email support@clinks.org