Tender

Framework for the Provision of Apprenticeship Training and End Point Assessment - March 2022 Update - Existing providers must resubmit

  • SALISBURY NHS FOUNDATION TRUST

F02: Contract notice

Notice identifier: 2022/S 000-005521

Procurement identifier (OCID): ocds-h6vhtk-031c2d

Published 1 March 2022, 10:24am



Section one: Contracting authority

one.1) Name and addresses

SALISBURY NHS FOUNDATION TRUST

ADDRESS

Salisbury

SP2 8BJ

Contact

Simon Dennis

Email

simon.dennis@nhs.net

Telephone

+44 1722336262

Country

United Kingdom

NUTS code

UK - United Kingdom

Internet address(es)

Main address

https://nhs.bravosolution.co.uk/nhs_collaborative/web/login.html

Buyer's address

https://nhs.bravosolution.co.uk/nhs_collaborative/web/login.html

one.3) Communication

The procurement documents are available for unrestricted and full direct access, free of charge, at

https://nhs.bravosolution.co.uk/nhs_collaborative/web/login.html

Additional information can be obtained from the above-mentioned address

Tenders or requests to participate must be submitted electronically via

https://nhs.bravosolution.co.uk/nhs_collaborative/web/login.html

one.4) Type of the contracting authority

Body governed by public law

one.5) Main activity

Health


Section two: Object

two.1) Scope of the procurement

two.1.1) Title

Framework for the Provision of Apprenticeship Training and End Point Assessment - March 2022 Update - Existing providers must resubmit

Reference number

S10353

two.1.2) Main CPV code

  • 80000000 - Education and training services

two.1.3) Type of contract

Services

two.1.4) Short description

This Framework was established in February 2021 to replace the previous Dynamic Purchasing System operated by Salisbury NHSFT.

This Framework operates at two levels - Level One, where any suitably qualified and eligible provider can submit details of all the apprenticeships they offer, and employers can then either direct award or, via Salisbury, conduct a further competition against their local needs. Level Two will be a smaller number of providers for a specific standard, appointed via a Further Competition, using a higher selection criteria published with each ITT.

Both levels of listing are open across all our eligible public and third sector organisations. Level Two listed providers can be selected either by employer direct award or a further competition amongst those listed.

Any Provider applying to the Framework must meet all the pass/fail criteria listed on the Response Document, and must only submit responses via Salisbury's Bravo procurement portal.

All Providers must agree to the Framework terms and conditions published on the Bravo portal - amendments to those Terms will not be made for specific providers.

Interested providers must complete the relevant submission on Salisbury's Bravo procurement portal in order to be considered. Please note the final selection of providers to award is a decision for employers and this Framework does not represent a spend commitment by any organisation.

Please note this is an annual refresh - if you are an existing provider, you MUST resubmit using the template on this issue, including updating previous learner achievement data. Providers who do not respond to this Update will no longer be listed on the Framework.

Additionally, if you are a provider who has only previously responded / been awarded under a profession specific procurement (reference numbers beginning C1546...) you must also submit a response to this Framework in order for that earlier award to remain valid. This excludes awards under C2099 (Advanced Clinical Practice), C2443 (Nursing and Midwifery), and C2593 (Paramedic).

This Requirement is for the March 2022 opening of the Framework, to allow for the following :

1 - Existing providers to update their course listing (using the Excel document issued on the Bravo portal only)

2 - New providers to apply to join the Framework

3 - Existing providers to advise of changes in their status, e.g. contact details or Ofsted rating.

Do I need to respond to this opening?

Yes - New provider applying to join

Existing provider adding new programmes

Existing provider with changes in details / Ofsted rating

Existing provider who's course data (achievement rates, etc) have changed

Existing provider with no changes to courses offered (update achievement data)

Please note we have added a "course weblink" column to the response spreadsheet, to enable providers to direct employers to further information. Existing suppliers with no other changes do not need to add this, it is not a mandatory field, but employers may select providers offering such information instead.

two.1.6) Information about lots

This contract is divided into lots: No

two.2) Description

two.2.3) Place of performance

NUTS codes
  • UKC - North East (England)
  • UKD - North West (England)
  • UKE - Yorkshire and the Humber
  • UKF - East Midlands (England)
  • UKG - West Midlands (England)
  • UKH - East of England
  • UKI - London
  • UKJ - South East (England)
  • UKK - South West (England)

two.2.4) Description of the procurement

This Framework was established in February 2021 to replace the previous Dynamic Purchasing System operated by Salisbury NHSFT.

This Framework operates at two levels - Level One, where any suitably qualified and eligible provider can submit details of all the apprenticeships they offer, and employers can then either direct award or, via Salisbury, conduct a further competition against their local needs. Level Two will be a smaller number of providers for a specific standard, appointed via a Further Competition, using a higher selection criteria published with each ITT.

Both levels of listing are open across all our eligible public and third sector organisations. Level Two listed providers can be selected either by employer direct award or a further competition amongst those listed.

Any Provider applying to the Framework must meet all the pass/fail criteria listed on the Response Document, and must only submit responses via Salisbury's Bravo procurement portal.

All Providers must agree to the Framework terms and conditions published on the Bravo portal - amendments to those Terms will not be made for specific providers.

Interested providers must complete the relevant submission on Salisbury's Bravo procurement portal in order to be considered. Please note the final selection of providers to award is a decision for employers and this Framework does not represent a spend commitment by any organisation.

Please note this is an annual refresh - if you are an existing provider, you MUST resubmit using the template on this issue, including updating previous learner achievement data. Providers who do not respond to this Update will no longer be listed on the Framework.

Additionally, if you are a provider who has only previously responded / been awarded under a profession specific procurement (reference numbers beginning C1546...) you must also submit a response to this Framework in order for that earlier award to remain valid. This excludes awards under C2099 (Advanced Clinical Practice), C2443 (Nursing and Midwifery), and C2593 (Paramedic).

This Requirement is for the March 2022 opening of the Framework, to allow for the following :

1 - Existing providers to update their course listing (using the Excel document issued on the Bravo portal only)

2 - New providers to apply to join the Framework

3 - Existing providers to advise of changes in their status, e.g. contact details or Ofsted rating.

Do I need to respond to this opening?

Yes - New provider applying to join

Existing provider adding new programmes

Existing provider with changes in details / Ofsted rating

Existing provider who's course data (achievement rates, etc) have changed

Existing provider with no changes to courses offered (update achievement data)

Please note we have added a "course weblink" column to the response spreadsheet, to enable providers to direct employers to further information. Existing suppliers with no other changes do not need to add this, it is not a mandatory field, but employers may select providers offering such information instead.

Supplier Eligibility

In order to be approved onto the Framework, providers must :

• Be fully registered on the Register of Approved Training Providers (where offering apprenticeship training provision) and/or the Register of End Point Assessment Organisations (where offering end point assessment). Organisations with a current rating of "Requires Improvement" or "Inadequate" may not apply.

• Provide (for all programmes) at least one resit per module free of charge, and one retake at End Point Assessment (regardless of appointed EPAO where not integrated)

• Where an Ofsted rating has been issued, this must be Grade 1 (Outstanding) or Grade 2 (Good). Where an Ofsted Monitoring Report has been issued, this must be either for Significant Progress or Reasonable Progress.

• Organisations experiencing a reduction in their Ofsted rating / visit to a rating below the above criteria will be suspended from the Framework until their Ofsted rating meets the criteria above.

• Organisations without a current Ofsted rating / visit may still apply but must meet all other quality criteria.

• Providers must, for each Apprenticeship they are wishing to be listed for, provide details of starts / completions / success and attrition on their Framework Response form. Any provider with more than 50% of their starts on an Apprenticeship who fail to complete that Apprenticeship will not be listed for that standard.

• No Providers offering a cost above the ESFA funding band for the apprenticeship will be listed for that Apprenticeship.

• Where a Standard requires Professional Body approval to deliver, the Provider must either (a) have that approval in place at the time of submitting that Standard onto the framework, or (b) be reasonably expecting to gain that approval before the next scheduled opening of the Framework. Where neither of these criteria can be fulfilled, the Provider must wait until the next opening of the Framework to submit that Standard. Where employers / regions run a Further Competition for that standard, providers may respond with a roadmap to professional body accreditation acceptable to the Employers.

• University providers must agree not to use UCAS points as selection criteria for any programme, and must work with employers to accept prior or experiential learning, and bridging programmes, in order to accept learners onto programme.

Regional / National Delivery

The Framework Response document asks for delivery locations of any face to face / physical delivery of training. Two criteria apply for selection onto the Framework :

• "National" delivery may only be selected by a Provider where they either have a physical location in all of the seven regions listed, or where they will deliver training within every region (e.g. at employer location) without requiring the learner to travel to a location outside of the region in which they are employed.

• If a provider requires learners to travel to any location, for any part of the Apprenticeship training, then the provider will only be listed as delivering in that location.

• This does not affect the ability of Employers to select those providers, regardless of where the Employer is based, if they are able to support their learners travelling to the Provider's location.

two.2.5) Award criteria

Price is not the only award criterion and all criteria are stated only in the procurement documents

two.2.7) Duration of the contract, framework agreement or dynamic purchasing system

End date

28 February 2025

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: No


Section three. Legal, economic, financial and technical information

three.1) Conditions for participation

three.1.1) Suitability to pursue the professional activity, including requirements relating to enrolment on professional or trade registers

List and brief description of conditions

Supplier Eligibility

In order to be approved onto the Framework, providers must :

• Be fully registered on the Register of Approved Training Providers (where offering apprenticeship training provision) and/or the Register of End Point Assessment Organisations (where offering end point assessment). Organisations with a current rating of "Requires Improvement" or "Inadequate" may not apply.

• Provide (for all programmes) at least one resit per module free of charge, and one retake at End Point Assessment (regardless of appointed EPAO where not integrated)

• Where an Ofsted rating has been issued, this must be Grade 1 (Outstanding) or Grade 2 (Good). Where an Ofsted Monitoring Report has been issued, this must be either for Significant Progress or Reasonable Progress.

• Organisations experiencing a reduction in their Ofsted rating / visit to a rating below the above criteria will be suspended from the Framework until their Ofsted rating meets the criteria above.

• Organisations without a current Ofsted rating / visit may still apply but must meet all other quality criteria.

• Providers must, for each Apprenticeship they are wishing to be listed for, provide details of starts / completions / success and attrition on their Framework Response form. Any provider with more than 50% of their starts on an Apprenticeship who fail to complete that Apprenticeship will not be listed for that standard.

• No Providers offering a cost above the ESFA funding band for the apprenticeship will be listed for that Apprenticeship.

• Where a Standard requires Professional Body approval to deliver, the Provider must either (a) have that approval in place at the time of submitting that Standard onto the framework, or (b) be reasonably expecting to gain that approval before the next scheduled opening of the Framework. Where neither of these criteria can be fulfilled, the Provider must wait until the next opening of the Framework to submit that Standard. Where employers / regions run a Further Competition for that standard, providers may respond with a roadmap to professional body accreditation acceptable to the Employers.

• University providers must agree not to use UCAS points as selection criteria for any programme, and must work with employers to accept prior or experiential learning, and bridging programmes, in order to accept learners onto programme.

three.1.3) Technical and professional ability

Selection criteria as stated in the procurement documents


Section four. Procedure

four.1) Description

four.1.1) Type of procedure

Open procedure

four.1.3) Information about a framework agreement or a dynamic purchasing system

The procurement involves the establishment of a framework agreement

Framework agreement with several operators

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

31 March 2022

Local time

12:00pm

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: 28 February 2025

four.2.7) Conditions for opening of tenders

Date

1 April 2022

Local time

9:00am


Section six. Complementary information

six.1) Information about recurrence

This is a recurrent procurement: Yes

Estimated timing for further notices to be published: Next update after this opening will be September 2022 to allow for new Ifate published standards to be added.

six.2) Information about electronic workflows

Electronic ordering will be used

Electronic invoicing will be accepted

Electronic payment will be used

six.3) Additional information

Framework Scope & Eligible Organisations

The Contracting Authority expressly reserved the right (i) not to award any contract as a result of the procurement process commenced by publication of this notice; and (ii) to make whatever changes it saw fit to the content and structure of the tendering competition; and in no circumstances will the Contracting Authority be liable for any costs incurred by the candidates.

The awarding of a place on the Framework does not mean that there is any guarantee of subsequent contracts being awarded. Any expenditure, work or effort undertaken prior to contract award is accordingly a matter solely for the commercial judgement of potential suppliers. Any orders placed under this Framework will form a separate contract under the scope of this Framework between the supplier and the specific requesting other contracting body. The Contracting Authority and other contracting bodies utilising the Framework shall only use electronic portals during the life of the agreement.

Any values that have been provided are only an estimate. We cannot guarantee to suppliers any business through this framework agreement.

The Framework has been established by Salisbury NHS Foundation Trust, for use by the following bodies (and any future successors to these organisations):

The following Contracting Authorities are entitled to place Orders:

Salisbury NHS Foundation Trust and all bodies listed below :

Central Government Departments, Local Government and Public Corporations :

https://www.gov.uk/government/organisations

Please note Central Government departments may be subject to Government Digital Service approval before using the Framework Agreement.

Local Authorities (England and Wales)

https://assets.publishing.service.gov.uk/government/uploads/system/uploads/attachment_data/file/791684/List_of_councils_in_England_2019.pdf

National Parks Authorities

https://www.nationalparks.uk/about-us

Educational Establishments in England and Wales, maintained by the Department for Education including Schools, Universities and Colleges listed :

https://www.compare-school-performance.service.gov.uk/schools-by-type?step=default&table=schools®ion=all-england&for=secondary

Police Forces listed by the College of Policing, plus Police Scotland and Police Service of Northern Ireland

https://www.college.police.uk/About/Copyright_Licensing/Pages/Home-Office-police-forces.aspx

Police Forces and Special Police Forces in the United Kingdom, and/or Police and Crime Commissioners (as defined by the Police Reform and Social Responsibility Act 2011) and/or the Police Authorities (as defined in the Police Act 1964, Police Act 1996, Serious Organised Crime and Police Act 2005, Police and Justice Act 2006, Police, Public Order and Criminal Justice (Scotland) Act 2006), and other relevant legislation for the constituent parts of the United Kingdom, for their respective rights and interests

Fire and Rescue Services in the United Kingdom

http://www.fireservice.co.uk/information/ukfrs

http://www.nifrs.org/areas-districts/

http://www.firescotland.gov.uk/your-area.aspx

NHS Bodies England

http://www.nhs.uk/ServiceDirectories/Pages/AcuteTrustListing.aspx

http://www.nhs.uk/ServiceDirectories/Pages/CCGListing.aspx

http://www.nhs.uk/ServiceDirectories/Pages/MentalHealthTrustListing.aspx

http://www.nhs.uk/ServiceDirectories/Pages/CareTrustListing.aspx

http://www.nhs.uk/ServiceDirectories/Pages/AreaTeamListing.aspx

http://www.nhs.uk/ServiceDirectories/Pages/SpecialHealthAuthorityListing.aspx

http://www.nhs.uk/ServiceDirectories/Pages/OtherListing.aspx

Hospices in the UK

https://www.hospiceuk.org/about-hospice-care/find-a-hospice?gclid=CPLU3cD7zdECFdaRGwodNeoDyw

Registered Social Landlords (Housing Associations)

https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/current-registered-providers-of-social-housing

Third Sector and Charities in the United Kingdom

http://www.charitycommission.gov.uk/find-charities/

http://www.oscr.org.uk/search-charity-register/

http://www.charitycommissionni.org.uk/charity-search/

Citizens Advice in the United Kingdom

http://www.citizensadvice.org.uk/index/getadvice.htm

www.cas.org.uk

http://www.citizensadvice.co.uk/

Any corporation established, or a group of individuals appointed to act together, for the specific purpose of meeting needs in the general interest, not having an industrial or commercial character, and (i) financed wholly or mainly by another contracting authority listed above in this section of this Framework Agreement;

(ii) subject to management supervision by another contracting authority listed above in this section of this Framework Agreement; or

(iii) more than half of the board of directors or members of which, or, in the case of a group of individuals, more than half of those individuals, are appointed by another contracting authority listed above in this section of this Framework Agreement

(iv) an association of or formed by one or more of the Contracting Authorities listed above in this section of this Framework Agreement

Entities which are not public sector bodies may also use the Framework Agreement if the Authority is satisfied that:

• such entity is calling-off goods and/or services directly, solely and exclusively in order to satisfy contractual obligations to one or more public sector bodies, all of which are entitled to use the Framework Agreement on their own account;

• all goods to be called-off by it are to be used directly, solely and exclusively to provide goods and/or services at sites occupied by such public sector body(ies); and

• it will pass the benefit of the call-off contract to such public sector body(ies) directly, in full and on a purely "pass-through" basis. Accordingly there must be no mark-up, management fee, service charge or any similar cost solely in relation to the supply of goods and/or services imposed on the relevant public sector body(ies), who must be able to benefit from the terms of the Framework Agreement in a like manner and to the same extent as if using the Framework Agreement on its/their own account.

Any 'bodies governed by public law' which under the Public Contracts Regulations 2015 means bodies that have all of the following characteristics

(a)they are established for the specific purpose of meeting needs in the general interest, not having an industrial or commercial character;

(b) they have legal personality; and

(c) they have any of the following characteristics:-

(i) they are financed, for the most part, by the State, regional or local authorities, or by other bodies governed by public law;

(ii) they are subject to management supervision by those authorities or bodies; or

(iii) they have an administrative, managerial or supervisory board, more than half of whose members are appointed by the State, regional or local authorities, or by other bodies governed by public law.

six.4) Procedures for review

six.4.1) Review body

The High Court, England & Wales

London

Country

United Kingdom