Published date: 28 August 2015

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.


Closing: 14 September 2015

Contract summary

Industry

  • Evaluation consultancy services - 79419000

Location of contract

B15 2TT

Value of contract

£18,000 to £20,000

Procurement reference

SC3052/15

Published date

28 August 2015

Closing date

14 September 2015

Contract start date

1 October 2015

Contract end date

31 January 2016

Contract type

Service contract

Procedure type

Open procedure

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

Contract is suitable for SMEs?

Yes

Contract is suitable for VCSEs?

Yes

Description

Background to the HiTech Rail Project:

The HiTech Rail project accessed £1,373,598 funding from the West Midlands ERDF 2007-2013 Programme which is match-funded by other sources (£2,633,895 total project value).

The three year project began on the 1st of December 2012 and is due to complete on the 31st of December 2015. The project is led by the University of Birmingham with the Rail Alliance as a strategic delivery partner. The key beneficiaries will be West Midlands SMEs who are either currently part of the railway supply chain or have the capability to join the supply chain.

Background and Rationale to Final Evaluation Report of the Project:

All ERDF projects are required to undertake a final evaluation of their activity, which is to be compiled in a report. ERDF's approach to project evaluation has been designed to:

• help projects robustly demonstrate their achievements
• enable projects to identify and share best practice which will help to improve performance across the programme
• provide project-level evidence that supports the evaluation of the programme as a whole that collectively demonstrates to a range of audiences the performance, achievements and impact of the projects that have been delivered
• inform the development of any future programmes
• help projects plan and implement successful exit strategies.

The report will contain an executive summary as well as detail on how effective the project activity has been in achieving its objectives. It will also look at the reasons for its success/failure as well as commenting on the cost effectiveness of the project and any differences between what was forecast at the outset and what was delivered. This will enable key learning points to be drawn out and associated recommendations clearly stated.

Dissemination of project outputs, outcomes and impact is a crucial component of the evaluation process and will enable findings to be fed back to those individuals and organisations with an interest in the project. Given the novelty of the project and complexities of accurately quantifying the economic impact of R&D activities, we anticipate there will be wider learning outcomes for other projects and policy. The Executive Summary will be a key dissemination product as it will provide the reader with an overview of all the key aspects including: objectives, activities, financial outturn, achievements and lessons learned. It is anticipated that the summary will be circulated to:

• Internal audiences - Project Facilitator; Technology Transfer Specialists; Project Management Team.
• External audiences - Project beneficiaries; regional brokerage organisations; regional universities; Technology Strategy Board; Research Councils; Railway Industry Association; Department for Transport.

Key Aims of the Evaluation Project:

The specific aims of this impact evaluation are to:
• Undertake a robust assessment of wheth...

More information

Links

Additional text

In order to be able to submit tenders against University of Birmingham projects, you will first need to register with the University's e-tendering portal which you can find at https://in-tendhost.co.uk/universityofbirmingham/aspx/Home.

As stated on the website and repeated below:
• To gain full access to this web site you must register your company / organisation using the Register option.
• During registration, you should enter the classification of project that you will be interested in. (For information - the evaluation for Hi-Tech Rail Project is recorded against Classification R : Professional & Bought-In Services)
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• Once you have received your Login Information, select the Login option.

When there is a relevant tender that you wish to express an interest in, please do so as outlined below:
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• Once you have registered and expressed an interest, you will be able to access the tender documentation and decide if you wish to submit a tender in line with the specification.

Once you are registered, please address any queries using the Correspondence function within the e-tendering portal as the University may need to share any clarifications with all suppliers to ensure fairness and transparency.


Is a Recurrent Procurement Type? : No https://in-tendhost.co.uk/universityofbirmingham/aspx/

About the buyer

Contact name

Paul Markham

Address

Edgbaston
Edgbaston
Edgbaston
B15 2TT
United Kingdom

Telephone

0121 415 8807

Email

p.markham@bham.ac.uk