Passport to £££: Home Office adds £216M to travel doc contract before a single bid's been placed
The Home Office has increased the value of its upcoming passport production contract from £360 million to £576 million over 12 years, raising the annual cost to £48 million and delaying the start date to August 2028. The contract, which has not yet received any bids, now reflects higher production volumes of eight million passports annually. The department also disclosed a £5.88 million direct award to IBM for biometric system support due to proprietary technology constraints.
- ▪The Home Office increased the passport manufacturing contract's total value from £360 million to £576 million over 12 years.
- ▪The contract start date has been delayed from September 2027 to August 2028, with the tender notice postponed to November 2026.
- ▪HM Passport Office now issues about eight million passports annually, up from seven million previously stated.
- ▪The current passport contract with Thales began in April 2018 and is valued at £262 million over 11.5 years.
- ▪The Home Office will pay IBM £5.88 million for biometric system software and support services from May 2026 to April 2028 under a non-competitive contract.
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Security Passport to £££: Home Office adds £216M to travel doc contract before a single bid's been placed Start date pushed back a year, annual cost up a third, and UK's now handing out eight million passports a year SA Mathieson Fri 1 May 2026 // 09:15 UTC The Home Office has increased the annual value and overall duration of its new passport production contract, increasing it to a total of £576 million as it starts a third round of engagement with suppliers. The department’s first engagement notice for the Provision of Passport Manufacturing and Personalisation Services contract last July included an estimated total value of £360 million including VAT over 10 years or £36 million a year.
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