Section one: Contracting authority
one.1) Name and addresses
Money and Pensions Service
Borough Hall, Cauldwell Street
Bedford
MK42 9AP
Contact
Carol Hilaire
Telephone
+44 2081324012
Country
United Kingdom
Region code
UKI7 - Outer London – West and North West
Justification for not providing organisation identifier
Not on any register
Internet address(es)
Main address
one.3) Communication
The procurement documents are available for unrestricted and full direct access, free of charge, at
Additional information can be obtained from the above-mentioned address
one.4) Type of the contracting authority
Body governed by public law
one.5) Main activity
Other activity
Money and Pensions Guidance
Section two: Object
two.1) Scope of the procurement
two.1.1) Title
MaPS - Strategic Evaluation Partner 2025
two.1.2) Main CPV code
- 73000000 - Research and development services and related consultancy services
two.1.3) Type of contract
Services
two.1.4) Short description
MaPS wishes to appoint a Strategic Evaluation Partner (please refer to section 11.2.4 of this notice for more information on this requirement).
MaPS are looking to run a procurement exercise via the Crown Commercial Service Framework named Research and Insights (framework reference RM6126).
Please see the following link to the framework:
https://www.crowncommercial.gov.uk/agreements/RM6126
If you are interested in bidding for this contract and are not currently a registered supplier on this framework, then please request additional information via email:
commercial@maps.org.uk (placing SEP in the header).
Suppliers who are not currently on Framework RM6126 may also wish to consider collaborating with the suppliers who are already on this framework.
MaPS are holding a supplier engagement event on the 11th July 2024 between 11am - 12noon via a Webinar (please refer to section 11.2.14 of this notice for details on how to register for this session).
two.1.6) Information about lots
This contract is divided into lots: No
two.2) Description
two.2.2) Additional CPV code(s)
- 73000000 - Research and development services and related consultancy services
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
1. Introduction: Money and Pensions Service
We are an arm's-length body, sponsored by the Department for Work and Pensions, with a joint commitment to ensuring that people throughout the UK have guidance and access to the information they need to make effective financial decisions over their lifetime. We deliver this across five core functions.
We are funded by levies on both the financial services industry and pension schemes.
More information about MaPS can be found on our website, including our research pages where we publish the reports from all our evaluation studies See: www.maps.org.uk/category/research
2. Background: Evaluation at MaPS
One of MaPS' five organisational 'Principles and Values' is that we are evidence-led. We invest in the creation of robust evaluation evidence so that we can improve the reach and effectiveness of our services, support the design and development of new initiatives, and identify what works best to improve people's financial wellbeing.
Our starting points for any evaluation we carry out are:
• That we reflect the guidance set out in HM Treasury's Magenta
Book.
• That we use the principles set out in our Evaluation Toolkit as
far as possible - leaning towards a Theory-based, 'Realist'
approach that helps us understand what works and how, for
who and in what circumstances.
See: http://www.fincap.org.uk/en/articles/evaluation-toolkit-overview
• That we use our outcomes frameworks when measuring
financial wellbeing outcomes.
See: https://www.fincap.org.uk/en/articles/outcomes-frameworks-and-question-banks
• And, that we are proportionate in our choice of methods,
something we explored in a joint publication with New
Philanthropy Capital, 'Balancing Act: A Guide to Proportionate
Evaluation', which is part of our Evaluation Toolkit.
See: http://www.thinknpc.org/resource-hub/balancing-act-a-guide-to-proportionate-evaluation/
As well as using evidence to improve our own services, we share what we learn for the benefit of others - so they can be clear about what works to improve people's financial wellbeing and can use that evidence to inform their work.
3. The requirement
We are seeking a Strategic Evaluation Partner (SEP) to deliver multiple evaluations for MaPS, on a call-off contract between January/February 2025 until March 2028. We expect the SEP to carry out most or all of our evaluation work, which we envisage being between three and six evaluations per year, with a range of length, methods, scope and complexity - plus a number of smaller projects including scoping studies and literature and evidence reviews. We have described the range of evaluations we might commission in paragraph 4, to give a sense of the work that the Strategic Evaluation Partner might undertake.
By commissioning a SEP, we hope to carry out our programme of evaluation with greater agility - enabling us to begin evaluations more quickly, or earlier in the programme development cycle. We want the SEP to improve consistency across the evaluations we conduct and to support the strategic building of evidence across multiple projects that they deliver. We want a close, ongoing relationship with the SEP to help us raise the quality of our evaluation work and we want the SEP to be a proactive partner in helping us to think about how we do this - challenging us to achieve the best possible evaluation quality and helping us to identify ways to improve key resources such as our Evaluation Toolkit and Evidence Hub.
4. Evaluation at the Money and Pensions Service:
One of MaPS' organisational 'Principles and Values' is to be evidence-led. We invest in the creation of evaluation evidence so that we can improve the reach and effectiveness of our services, support the design and development of new initiatives, and identify what works best to improve people's financial wellbeing. We also share what we learn with others - so they can understand what works to improve people's financial wellbeing and use that evidence to inform their work.
We could divide our evaluation work into two broad categories:
1. Evaluating our own services: helping us to understand how our
services work, where they can be improved, and the outcomes
and impact they achieve.
2. Evaluating funded pilot and pathfinder projects: to build our
evidence base, including pilots to test new interventions, and
'pathfinders' to test at greater scale or in different contexts.
The types of evaluation we commission range in purpose, method and complexity, for example:
• Experimental and Quasi-Experimental Trials: Pension\ Wise:
Stronger Nudge: a randomised control trial to understand the
impact of a pilot, and therefore suitability for national rollout.
Talk Learn Do evaluation: a financial capability intervention for
parents: a quasi-experimental trial to understand the impact
and processes of the Talk Learn Do (TLD) intervention,
providing the basis for subsequent pathfinder projects
exploring how to embed and scale TLD. See: http://www.maps.org.uk/2020/07/16/pension-wise-the-stronger-nudge/
See: https://maps.org.uk/en/our-work/talk-learn-do#Evaluation-of-Talk-Learn-Do
• 'Pathfinder' evaluations: The Savings & Credit Pathfinders
Programme, Embedding Talk Learn Do in Wales, Teacher
Training Pathfinder in Wales. These projects tested promising
evidence from earlier studies, or in different contexts. They
typically involved outcomes measurement plus process
evaluation to help us understand engagement, or how to
embed interventions in existing structures and services. See:
http://www.maps.org.uk/2021/06/17/the-savings-and-credit-pathfinder-programme-evaluation-report/
See:http://www.maps.org.uk/2020/12/17/talk-learn-do-evaluation-in-wales/
• Pilot evaluations: The Children & Young People Innovation and
Evaluation Programme funded seven interventions that were
either brand new, or existing but not yet evaluated, to fill gaps
in our knowledge. The evaluations focused on intervention
development and processes, with light-touch outcomes
measurement. Prize-Linked Savings and Smarter Signposting
to Pensions Guidance were funded through our Financial
Capability Lab, a multi-year partnership with the Behavioural
Insights Team to test innovative ideas to improve financial
wellbeing. See:http://www.maps.org.uk/2022/03/11/children-and-young-people-innovation-programme-evaluation/
See: http://www.maps.org.uk/2022/06/15/developing-saving-habits-through-prize-linked-savings-accounts/
See: http://www.maps.org.uk/2021/12/03/smarter-signposting-to-pensions-guidance/
• MaPS programme evaluations: Money Guiders pilot
programme evaluation is a process evaluation of a MaPS
service pilot, aiming to tell us how different programme
components were working and engaging with the target group
of money guidance practitioners, with agile 'real-time' learning
to enable us to adjust the pilot as it was running.
See: http://www.maps.org.uk/2022/01/26/money-guiders-programme-evaluation-headline-report/
5. Timings
We intend to publish the Invitation to Quote in September 2024 . We expect the SEP to be on board in January or February 2025 until March 2028.
two.2.14) Additional information
SUPPLIER ENGAGEMENT SESSION
MaPS is holding a supplier engagement webinar event on Thursday 11th July 2024 between 11am - 12noon via MS Teams.
To attend this event; please register using the following link:
Many thanks
two.3) Estimated date of publication of contract notice
28 February 2025
Section four. Procedure
four.1) Description
four.1.8) Information about the Government Procurement Agreement (GPA)
The procurement is covered by the Government Procurement Agreement: No