Section one: Contracting authority
one.1) Name and addresses
ID 2642050 Department for the Economy
Adelaide House, 39-49 Adelaide Street
BELFAST
BT2 8FD
Contact
SSDAdmin.CPDfinance-ni.gov.uk
SSDAdmin.CPD@finance-ni.gov.uk
Country
United Kingdom
NUTS code
UK - UNITED KINGDOM
Internet address(es)
Main address
https://www.economy-ni.gov.uk/
Buyer's address
https://www.finance-ni.gov.uk/topics/procurement
one.3) Communication
The procurement documents are available for unrestricted and full direct access, free of charge, at
https://etendersni.gov.uk/epps
Additional information can be obtained from the above-mentioned address
Tenders or requests to participate must be submitted to the above-mentioned address
one.4) Type of the contracting authority
Body governed by public law
one.5) Main activity
Education
Section two: Object
two.1) Scope of the procurement
two.1.1) Title
ID 2642050 DfE - Skills for Life and Work Programme
Reference number
ID 2642050
two.1.2) Main CPV code
- 80000000 - Education and training services
two.1.3) Type of contract
Services
two.1.4) Short description
Skills for Life and Work professional and technical skills training provision will be offered to young people aged 16-17 (under 22 years for those with a disability and under 24 years for those from an in-care background) who normally will not possess a full level 1 qualification (defined as 4 GCSEs at grades D-G) and who have not yet gained full-time employment. Existing Training for Success contracts will expire on 31 July 2021 and an interim programme option (Skills for Life and Work) is therefore required to ensure continuity of training provision and to meet ongoing need of Entry Level/Level 1 skills provision amongst this cohort of young people. The overarching aim of this project is to ensure that a network of quality providers eligible to deliver Skills for Life and Work is in place from September 2021. It is anticipated that the Programme will be delivered by a mix of training organisations drawn from the non-statutory sector and FE statutory sector.
two.1.5) Estimated total value
Value excluding VAT: £59,900,000
two.1.6) Information about lots
This contract is divided into lots: No
two.2) Description
two.2.2) Additional CPV code(s)
- 80210000 - Technical and vocational secondary education services
- 80310000 - Youth education services
- 80500000 - Training services
- 80521000 - Training programme services
- 80530000 - Vocational training services
- 80531000 - Industrial and technical training services
- 80531100 - Industrial training services
- 80531200 - Technical training services
- 80570000 - Personal development training services
two.2.3) Place of performance
NUTS codes
- UKN0 - Northern Ireland
two.2.4) Description of the procurement
Skills for Life and Work professional and technical skills training provision will be offered to young people aged 16-17 (under 22 years for those with a disability and under 24 years for those from an in-care background) who normally will not possess a full level 1 qualification (defined as 4 GCSEs at grades D-G) and who have not yet gained full-time employment. Existing Training for Success contracts will expire on 31 July 2021 and an interim programme option (Skills for Life and Work) is therefore required to ensure continuity of training provision and to meet ongoing need of Entry Level/Level 1 skills provision amongst this cohort of young people. The overarching aim of this project is to ensure that a network of quality providers eligible to deliver Skills for Life and Work is in place from September 2021. It is anticipated that the Programme will be delivered by a mix of training organisations drawn from the non-statutory sector and FE statutory sector.
two.2.5) Award criteria
Quality criterion - Name: AC1 Teaching and Learning / Weighting: 25
Quality criterion - Name: AC2 Staffing / Weighting: 25
Quality criterion - Name: AC3 Resource Access / Weighting: 15
Quality criterion - Name: AC4 Leadership and Management / Weighting: 25
Quality criterion - Name: AC5 Partnerships / Weighting: 10
Cost criterion - Name: Payments from DfE - no pricing / Weighting: 0
two.2.6) Estimated value
Value excluding VAT: £59,900,000
two.2.7) Duration of the contract, framework agreement or dynamic purchasing system
Duration in months
12
This contract is subject to renewal
No
two.2.10) Information about variants
Variants will be accepted: No
two.2.11) Information about options
Options: Yes
Description of options
21.1. The Award of Contract is anticipated to be May 2021 with the Initial Contract Period of one year commencing in August 2021 (where ‘one year’ pertains to the period of recruitment of participants to the programme). There will be a run-off period following the Initial Contract Period during which all Contract provisions, terms and conditions will continue to apply. This is to accommodate the participant training entitlements set out in the Skills for Life and Work Operational Requirements. Service delivery cannot commence until the first Monday of the September following Contract commencement and the programme will close to new participant entrants after 31 July 2022. There will be options to extend the Initial Contract Period for a further two periods of up to and including 12 months each, and if the Contract is extended Skills for Life and Work will remain open to new participant entrants during the extension period. Participants recruited during the Initial Contract Period or the extension period will have a Skills for Life and Work training entitlement as set out in the Operational Requirements.
two.2.13) Information about European Union Funds
The procurement is related to a project and/or programme financed by European Union funds: No
Section three. Legal, economic, financial and technical information
three.1) Conditions for participation
three.1.3) Technical and professional ability
List and brief description of selection criteria
SC1 Company Experience. SC2 Use of Sub-Contractors. SC3 Qualification Requirements for Learning Delivery Personnel. SC4 Completion of Bid Spreadsheet
Section four. Procedure
four.1) Description
four.1.1) Type of procedure
Open procedure
four.1.8) Information about the Government Procurement Agreement (GPA)
The procurement is covered by the Government Procurement Agreement: Yes
four.2) Administrative information
four.2.2) Time limit for receipt of tenders or requests to participate
Date
18 February 2021
Local time
3:00pm
four.2.4) Languages in which tenders or requests to participate may be submitted
English
four.2.6) Minimum time frame during which the tenderer must maintain the tender
Tender must be valid until: 19 May 2021
four.2.7) Conditions for opening of tenders
Date
18 February 2021
Local time
3:30pm
Section six. Complementary information
six.1) Information about recurrence
This is a recurrent procurement: No
six.3) Additional information
The Contractor’s performance on the Contract will be regularly monitored. A Contractor not delivering on Contract requirements is a serious matter. It means the public purse is not getting what it is paying for. If a Contractor fails to reach satisfactory levels of Contract performance they will be given a specified time to improve. If, after the specified time, they still fail to reach satisfactory levels of Contract performance, the matter will be escalated to senior management in Construction and Procurement Delivery (CPD) for further action. If this occurs and their performance still does not improve to satisfactory levels within the specified period, it may be regarded as an act of grave professional misconduct and they may be issued with a Certificate of Unsatisfactory Performance and the Contract may be terminated. The issue of a Certificate of Unsatisfactory Performance may result in the Contractor being excluded from all procurement competitions being undertaken by Centres of Procurement Expertise on behalf of bodies covered by the Northern Ireland Procurement Policy for up to three years.. . The Department for the Economy (the Client) will have its own procedures in place to monitor and review each Contractor’s performance. The Client will use the outputs from these contract monitoring procedures to monitor and review the Contractor’s performance..
six.4) Procedures for review
six.4.1) Review body
The UK does not have any special review body with responsibility for appeal/mediation procedures in public procurement.
As above
Country
United Kingdom
six.4.3) Review procedure
Precise information on deadline(s) for review procedures
CPD will comply with the Public Contracts Regulations 2015 (as amended) and, where appropriate, will incorporate a standstill period (i.e. a minimum of 10 calendar days) at the point information on the award of contract is communicated to tenderers. That notification will provide full information on the award decision. This provides time for the unsuccessful. tenderers to challenge the award decision before the contract is entered into.