Published date: 4 September 2017

This notice was replaced on 30 December 2017

This notice does not contain the most up-to-date information about this procurement. The most recent notice is:

Awarded contract (published 30 December 2017)

Closed opportunity - This means that the contract is currently closed. The buying department may be considering suppliers that have already applied, or no suitable offers were made.


Contract summary

Industry

  • Research and development consultancy services - 73200000

Location of contract

South West

Value of contract

£15,000 to £20,000

Procurement reference

552/310/4000

Published date

4 September 2017

Closing date

29 September 2017

Contract start date

23 October 2017

Contract end date

30 April 2018

Contract type

Service contract

Procedure type

Open procedure (below threshold)

Any interested supplier may submit a tender in response to an opportunity notice.

This procedure can be used for procurements below the relevant contract value threshold.

Contract is suitable for SMEs?

Yes

Contract is suitable for VCSEs?

No

Description

The Office for Fair Access (OFFA) wish to place a contract for a principal investigator (PI) to undertake research and produce guidance regarding the targeting of disadvantaged and under-represented pupils from different ethnic groups through access, student success and progression activities. This is in order to improve OFFA and the sector's understanding of the challenges associated with this work, and provide practical solutions as to how these challenges might be overcome across the student lifecycle.
The contract is for:
• reviewing current practice across the sector and identifying examples of effective practice
• carrying out in depth analysis of case studies identified from the sector review to champion examples of effective practice in the targeting of students from under-represented and disadvantaged ethnic backgrounds
• identifying the key challenges institutions are facing in relation to this work and collating this in a final report
• producing a written piece of practical guidance for the sector on how to effectively target students from under-represented and disadvantaged ethnic backgrounds, which will:
o identify the key challenges institutions face in targeting their access, student success and progression activities at students of different ethnicities
o develop possible solutions to these challenges
o demonstrate the benefits to students and institutions in effective targeting of access, student success and progression activities.
The long term goal of this project is to both challenge and support the sector to do more to address the differences in participation, outcomes and progression that persist between students from different ethnic backgrounds that can be masked by the overarching label of "Black and minority ethnic (BME)".
Depending on the allocation of future funding, OFFA aims to develop a second phase of this project in which the developed methodology is piloted in institutions.

More information

Attachments

About the buyer

Contact name

Claire Forkner

Address

HEFCE
Stoke Gifford
BS34 8SR
England

Email

c.forkner@hefce.ac.uk