MoJ puts Prisoner Telephony Service replacement on hold yet again

The UK Ministry of Justice (MoJ) will pay telco BT £94.6 million plus VAT to keep its in-cell Prisoner Telephony Service (PTS) going for another 54 months after repeatedly pushing back procurement of its replacement.

On March 2, the ministry announced a bridging agreement under which BT will continue to provide the PTS to prisons in England and Wales from June 1, 2027 – the current contract's expiry date – to November 30, 2031.

The ministry says it needs the time to buy and set up its replacement, the Prisoner Integrated Communications Service (PICS), which will allow monitored voice calls, messaging, and possibly video calls through digital devices.

The department was courting potential suppliers in February 2023, but in November that year, the MoJ said it was pausing the project to allow "a further period of discovery."

In April 2024, it published a prior information notice for PICS with an ...