Published date: 11 December 2023

Last edited date: 12 December 2023

Closed early engagement


Closing date: 5 January 2024

Contract summary

Industry

  • Administrative educational services - 75121000

Location of contract

North East, North West, Yorkshire and the Humber, East Midlands, West Midlands, East of England, London, South East, South West

Procurement reference

tender_354472/1292404

Published date

11 December 2023

Closing date

5 January 2024

Contract is suitable for SMEs?

Yes

Contract is suitable for VCSEs?

Yes

Description

This notice is intended to:
Inform the market of a potential future procurement of an accreditation service called "Care Leavers Accreditation Scheme for Higher Education (HE) and Future Education (FE) providers" by advertising 10x 1-hour supplier and buyer 1-2-1 market engagement webinars via Microsoft Teams on Monday 8th January and Wednesday 10th January 2024. Please see annex 1 for available 1-2-1 slots that can be found within the attachment section within SSQ_469.

The purpose of the webinars is to engage with interested parties and suppliers (i.e potential providers, partners or sub-contractors) that believe they have the capacity and capability to provide market insight on elements of this service to support the potential future delivery model of this contracted service.

In the "Stable Homes, Built on Love" implementation strategy, that was published in February 2023, the Department for Education committed to introducing an accreditation scheme for higher and further education providers which sets standards for the support we expect them all to provide to care leavers. Since then, we have worked closely with experts from across the care, Higher Education (HE) and Further Education (FE) to explore different options for delivering this commitment. These webinars are an opportunity to build on previous engagement and build our understanding of options for how an accreditation scheme could work in practice.

It is expected that the contract(s) will be awarded to a single legal entity for the entirety of the service provision.

How to engage:
The 1-2-1 sessions are available to individual suppliers/trade associations, partners or subcontractors. 10x 1-2-1 slots are available; therefore, allocation of these slots will be on a first come first served basis and will be limited to 1 slot per supplier organisation.

Interested parties can register for the event by contacting https://education.app.jaggaer.com/web/login.htm with the following information:
a. Organisation
b. Attendees -max number of 2 persons attending from the interested party
c. Contact details

During the 1-2-1 sessions DfE representatives would like to gain further market insight on 6 themes covering the following:
a. The attractiveness of the commercial opportunity e.g. Do you think there is a need for this in the current market? What are your expectations for the contract term?
b. The components of accreditation (eligibility, evidence, ratings, renewal)
c. Contracting arrangements e.g. Concession Contract vs Service Contract agreements
d. Barriers to entry e.g. appetite from the HE/FE providers
e Risk
f. Implementation lead time to setting this scheme up

All information shared during the market engagement stage is indicative and subject to continued development and will be treated in commercial confidence.

More information

Previous notice about this procurement

Project_7982 Care Leavers Accreditation Scheme 1-2-1 Early Market Engagement Event CNF

  • Early engagement
  • Published 11 December 2023

About the buyer

Address

Sanctuary Buildings, Great Smith Street
London
SW1P 3BT
England

Email

rachael6.davies@education.gov.uk