Section one: Contracting authority
one.1) Name and addresses
Department for Education
Sanctuary Buildings, 20, Great Smith Street
London
SW1P 3BT
ESFAprocurement.help@education.gov.uk
Telephone
+44 00000000
Country
United Kingdom
NUTS code
UK - United Kingdom
Internet address(es)
Main address
one.4) Type of the contracting authority
Ministry or any other national or federal authority
one.5) Main activity
General public services
Section two: Object
two.1) Scope of the procurement
two.1.1) Title
Multi Lot: School Resource Management Advisers, Accreditation and Chief Financial Officer Mentoring procurements - Contract numbers con_10111, con_10112, con_10113, con_10114
two.1.2) Main CPV code
- 80000000 - Education and training services
two.1.3) Type of contract
Services
two.1.4) Short description
School Resource Management Advisers Programme
Since 2017 ESFA has developed the role of School Resource Management Advisers (SRMAs)
to provide direct support to academy trusts and local authorities to help them identify
opportunities to improve their approach to resource management. This is part of ESFA’s
overarching objective to help improve outcomes for pupils by schools getting the best value
from their resources.
SRMAs are sector experts, such as practicing school business professionals or head
teachers with specific expert knowledge in resource management. Each SRMA has to go
through an accreditation process to ensure they have the appropriate skills and knowledge
to carry out the role. ESFA currently has contracts in place for the accreditation and supply
of SRMAs through to August 2021.
Due to the success of the programme to date, we are looking to ensure the continued supply
of SRMAs though to August 2024. ESFA wishes to contract with up to four organisations for
the supply of a minimum of 50 Accredited Persons, to deliver a total of 200 Accredited
Persons across the framework per year over the next three years. This will involve both the
continued supply of SRMAs already accredited and the recruitment and training of new
SRMAs to support the programme. The contracts will commence in September 2021 once
the current contracts have ended.
The second procurement opportunity seeks one organisation to develop and deliver a
consistent induction service and a robust accreditation process for all SRMA candidates that
are sourced by the sourcing supplier(s). This will build on the process already developed with
the current contractor and will also involve the development of a new training element for
SRMA candidates. This contract will also commence on 1 July 2021.
Chief Finance Officer Mentoring Pilot
In addition to the above, we now wish to complement this programme with a Chief Finance
Officer (CFO) mentoring pilot by providing longer term support to academy trust CFOs
working in some of the most challenging situations; those in trusts in intervention or with
some financial difficulties, those in trusts that are growing and those that are new to the
sector. The duration for this contract will be 14 months, from 1 July 2021.
ESFA will work with a Supplier who will identify, recruit, screen, induct and manage a
minimum of 50 individuals (mentors) to fulfil the CFO mentoring programme. The supplier
will oversee the mentoring process, ensuring the relationships are on target and will work
with ESFA to unblock any issues. The Supplier will also lead on developing an evaluation for
the pilot, working closely with ESFA to agree the best way to do this.
By providing sustained support, a CFO mentoring programme can play a key role in building
capacity and capability for effective financial management within the academies sector.
Results from this pilot will provide an indication of emerging outcomes and the effectiveness
of the programme and will inform any decision as to whether we will scale up the pilot in the
future.
two.1.6) Information about lots
This contract is divided into lots: Yes
two.1.7) Total value of the procurement (excluding VAT)
Value excluding VAT: £1,136,020.75
two.2) Description
two.2.1) Title
Chief Financial Officer Mentoring Pilot
Lot No
1
two.2.2) Additional CPV code(s)
- 80000000 - Education and training services
two.2.3) Place of performance
NUTS codes
- UK - United Kingdom
two.2.4) Description of the procurement
1) In the 2017/18 academic year, ESFA piloted the use of School Resource Management
Advisers (SRMAs). SRMAs have become a core strand of the wider School Resource
Management portfolio supporting DfE’s overarching objective to help schools improve
outcomes for pupils and promote social mobility by getting the best value from all their
resources. The SRMA programme has supported this strategy by developing capacity within
schools through providing them with a sector expert to help identify opportunities to
improve the management of their resources. The SRMA programme has been hugely
successful to date and we now wish to complement this with a Chief Finance Officer (CFO)
mentoring programme.
2) SRMAs provide short term (5 to 10 days) support to trusts and local authorities to help
them make best use of their budgets. A CFO mentoring programme would complement the
SRMA programme by providing longer term support to academy trust CFOs working in the
most challenging situations; those in trusts in intervention, those in trusts that are growing
and those that are new to the sector.
3) A strong system of financial management and control, driven by the CFO, is essential in
ensuring good financial health in any academy trust. We know that new CFOs or those
working in trusts in financial difficulty face particular challenges and a mentor can support
these leaders as they set up systems or bring about better financial performance within their
trust.
4) A CFO mentoring pilot would help us accurately determine how mentoring can support
and develop academy trust CFOs and explore the value of launching a substantive scheme
for the 2022/23 academic year.
5) ESFA would like to prioritise participants as mentees who fall into the following
categories:
i. CFOs of those trusts that have been identified as being in financial difficulty or not
following administration/procedures associated with good financial governance, for example
trusts that appear on the list of published late financial returners for the last two consecutive
years; and
ii. CFOs who are new to post and/or inexperienced in the academies sector
two.2.5) Award criteria
Price
two.2.11) Information about options
Options: No
two.2.13) Information about European Union Funds
The procurement is related to a project and/or programme financed by European Union funds: No
two.2) Description
two.2.1) Title
Supply of SRMAs
Lot No
2
two.2.2) Additional CPV code(s)
- 80000000 - Education and training services
two.2.3) Place of performance
NUTS codes
- UK - United Kingdom
two.2.4) Description of the procurement
1. The role of the Accredited Person will be to support academy trusts and local authority
maintained schools who have come to the ESFA’s attention as requiring support to improve
their financial health. Accredited Persons will take a holistic view of the school’s/trust’s
financial situation, including consideration of the following issues:
1.1 Human resources: Effective curriculum delivery, workforce planning and wider use of staff
and leadership time through the use of Integrated Curriculum and Financial Planning (ICFP);
1.2 School management and governance: financial management and challenge across the
senior leadership team and board of governors;
1.3 Resources: Procurement (including, for example, consideration of National Deals,
schools’ buying strategies etc.), value for money, capital finance and estate management.
2. Accredited Persons will support effective resource management by providing independent
and impartial advice to schools and trusts on how to maximise resources in order to maintain
and improve educational outcomes for all pupils, including those with SEN. Accredited
Persons should take into account the nature of the school, i.e. whether it is academy or
maintained, MAT or SAT, mainstream, special or Alternative Provision, primary or secondary,
and whether it is a faith school.
3. In the most serious cases, an Accredited Person shall be required to support a school or
trust to develop a viable budget plan by examining its financial planning and proposed
spending plans. As part of this, the Accredited Person will be expected to consider whether
the trust or school uses an ICFP approach and, if so, how this is carried out. This includes
identifying whether it uses ICFP diagnostic tools and models and how.
4. In cases where the school or trust is in a less serious financial position or already in good
financial health, the Accredited Person shall be required to make recommendations on how
the school or trust can further improve its approach to financial management to ensure every
possible resource is being directed to the areas that have greatest impact on educational
outcomes. Again, a part of this will be determined by the school or trust’s approach to ICFP.
5. Where the trust or school does take an ICFP approach, the Accredited Person shall work
through the key metrics to identify options that could potentially deliver improvements in
the way staff are deployed. Where the trust or school does not, the Accredited Persons shall
help it introduce ICFP into its planning processes as well as suggesting other options for
improvements.
6. In most instances, Accredited Persons will be expected to carry out a ‘follow-up’
deployment to the same setting at least six months after report submission. The purpose of
this deployment will be to check on progress against the recommendations.
7. All Accredited Persons must carry out a minimum of two deployments per year (from the
date of their accreditation) to maintain their accredited status.
two.2.5) Award criteria
Price
two.2.11) Information about options
Options: No
two.2.13) Information about European Union Funds
The procurement is related to a project and/or programme financed by European Union funds: No
two.2) Description
two.2.1) Title
Accreditation of SRMAs
Lot No
3
two.2.2) Additional CPV code(s)
- 80000000 - Education and training services
two.2.3) Place of performance
NUTS codes
- UK - United Kingdom
two.2.4) Description of the procurement
1. ESFA currently has contracts in place for the accreditation and supply of SRMAs through
to August 2021. Due to the success of the programme to date, we are looking to contract
with one organisation for the development and delivery of induction and accreditation panels
and complementary training.
2. SRMAs were introduced in 2017 to provide direct support to academy trusts and local
authorities to identify opportunities to improve resource management. This is part of ESFA’s
overarching objective to help improve outcomes for pupils by schools getting the best value
from all of their resources.
3. In higher risk cases, SRMAs provide advice and support to address current or future
forecast deficits and in all cases they help trusts and schools identify opportunities to make
better use of their funding, enabling them to target resources where they have the most
impact on outcomes for children.
4. Prior to deployment, all Accredited Persons will have participated in an induction and
successfully completed an accreditation process led by an independent Accreditation Body.
Persons who were accredited before 31 August 2021 will automatically become Accredited
Persons for the purposes of this Contract and will not need further accreditation, assuming
they are still currently active SRMAs and have fulfilled the criteria set by ESFA to maintain
their accredited status. Accreditation will provide assurance to ESFA that the Accredited
Person can use the findings of their deployment (including analysis and discussions with
trust/school leaders) to develop appropriate recommendations, with costed savings, for the
trust/school to take to improve their approach to resource management.
5. Specific requirements of the role are set out in the ITT. All Potential Providers must
describe how they will deliver against each requirement.
two.2.5) Award criteria
Price
two.2.11) Information about options
Options: No
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 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
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.2.1) Previous publication concerning this procedure
Notice number: 2021/S 000-006302
Section five. Award of contract
Contract No
con_10111
Lot No
1
A contract/lot is awarded: Yes
five.2) Award of contract
five.2.1) Date of conclusion of the contract
1 July 2021
five.2.2) Information about tenders
Number of tenders received: 3
The contract has been awarded to a group of economic operators: No
five.2.3) Name and address of the contractor
ISBL Trading Ltd
Coventry
Country
United Kingdom
NUTS code
- UK - United Kingdom
The contractor is an SME
No
five.2.4) Information on value of contract/lot (excluding VAT)
Total value of the contract/lot: £56,375
Section five. Award of contract
Contract No
con_10112
Lot No
2
A contract/lot is awarded: Yes
five.2) Award of contract
five.2.1) Date of conclusion of the contract
1 September 2021
five.2.2) Information about tenders
Number of tenders received: 7
The contract has been awarded to a group of economic operators: No
five.2.3) Name and address of the contractor
ISBL Trading Ltd
Coventry
Country
United Kingdom
NUTS code
- UK - United Kingdom
The contractor is an SME
No
five.2.4) Information on value of contract/lot (excluding VAT)
Total value of the contract/lot: £635,862
Section five. Award of contract
Contract No
con_10114
Lot No
2
A contract/lot is awarded: Yes
five.2) Award of contract
five.2.1) Date of conclusion of the contract
1 September 2021
five.2.2) Information about tenders
Number of tenders received: 7
The contract has been awarded to a group of economic operators: No
five.2.3) Name and address of the contractor
North Yorkshire County Council
Northallerton
Country
United Kingdom
NUTS code
- UK - United Kingdom
The contractor is an SME
No
five.2.4) Information on value of contract/lot (excluding VAT)
Total value of the contract/lot: £191,463.75
Section five. Award of contract
Contract No
con_10113
Lot No
3
A contract/lot is awarded: Yes
five.2) Award of contract
five.2.1) Date of conclusion of the contract
1 August 2021
five.2.2) Information about tenders
Number of tenders received: 3
The contract has been awarded to a group of economic operators: No
five.2.3) Name and address of the contractor
Education Performance Improvement (EPI)
Melton Mowbray
Country
United Kingdom
NUTS code
- UK - United Kingdom
The contractor is an SME
Yes
five.2.4) Information on value of contract/lot (excluding VAT)
Total value of the contract/lot: £252,320
Section six. Complementary information
six.4) Procedures for review
six.4.1) Review body
Education & Skills Funding Agency
Coventry
Country
United Kingdom