Home Office UKVI Secure English Language Testing (SELT) Market Engagement Event

Name: Home Office UKVI Secure English Language Testing (SELT) Market Engagement Event
Start: 2023-08-16T14:00:00
End: 2023-08-16T15:30:00
Location: Online

2pm – 3.30pm 16 August 2023 Online

** IMPORTANT: In order to attend this event, the Home Office requires suppliers to sign a Non-Disclosure Agreement.**

On Wednesday 16 August (14:00–15:30) techUK is delighted to be hosting the Home Office, acting through UK Visas and Immigration (UKVI), as the department reviews options for a potential future procurement of Secure Testing Services (STS) for the provision of a Secure English Language Testing (SELT) service in the UK and the rest of the world.

Home Office immigration policy establishes an English language requirement that customers are required to evidence. As such, completing a SELT to an agreed standard, may be required from individuals before applying for entry clearance from outside the UK to enter the UK, or gaining leave to remain to extend their stay in the UK, or for Settlement in the UK, or for naturalisation as a British Citizen.

The SELT assesses a customer's competency in speaking and listening and dependent on the route of entry, reading and writing English, between levels A1 to C1 of the Common Education Framework of Reference for Languages (CERF). Tests are taken under UKVI-prescribed secure conditions where secure relates to:

Processes to verify the identity of the customer;
Ensuring that it is only the validated customer who takes the test and does so under exam conditions with an appropriately trained invigilator to eliminate the ability to cheat;
Ensuring results are not released until the provider has completed additional verification checks to ensure that collusion and fraud have not taken place; and
Ongoing audits, both internal and via external independent auditors, of the physical test points, processes and delivery systems in order to ensure that the security and integrity protocols are being strictly adhered to.

Approximately 160,000 customers in the UK took the test in the period April 2022 to March 2023 inclusive with a further 490,000 across 136 countries, outside the UK. Additional information on the service can be found here.

The tests are currently delivered as concession agreements split into two lots, UK and Rest of World.

The Home Office are seeking input from the market to build a business case to support this re-procurement and inform the specification to ensure that the service is delivered with the highest current levels of security, integrity and customer satisfaction. This market data gathering will include but not be limited to testing the feasibility of potential procurement options and the market's capacity, capability, and insight.

In order to seek this market input we will be inviting suppliers to participate in a Request for Information (RFI), accompanied by a virtual supplier event. The RFI will launch before the end of July and responses will be requested by 12:00 British Summer Time on Thursday the 31st of August.

This virtual supplier event will enable respondents to gain an overview of the service and ask clarification questions, aiding their understanding of the potential requirements, before completing the RFI.

** IMPORTANT: In order to attend this event, the Home Office requires suppliers to sign a Non-Disclosure Agreement. Please follow the instructions below:

To be given access to the NDA, you must send an EOI to [email protected], as per the instructions on the PIN.
Upon receipt of the signed NDA, you will also be able to access the RFI.
The fully signed NDA must have been received by 12:00 on Monday 14 August in order to receive the invite for this event.
It is the Home Office's intention to record this event and make it available on request to those that intend to respond to the RFI but could not attend, or do not return a signed NDA in time.
In addition to signing up to attend this event via the booking button on this page, any organisation intending to submit an expression of interest must be registered as a supplier with the Home Office eSourcing Portal. To register, visit the portal's login page at https://homeoffice.app.jaggaer.com/web/login.html. Technical assistance on the use of the eSourcing Suite can be accessed via the same website.