Updated 12 December 2011

Framework for the Provision of Employment Related Support Services

Latest information

We are pleased to announce that we have now completed the selection process for the ERSS Framework and have made our Award Decision. The names and contact details of the organisations that have been selected as Preferred Suppliers in each of the Lots can be found through the link below.

Preferred suppliers (192KB) – updated 12 December 2011

The Work Programme was the first contract to be called off the Framework. Please refer to the Work Programme page for further information.

• The Comprehensive Spending Review and the Work Programme
• List of organisations/SPV/Consortia who have submitted bids (560KB) in respect of the Framework for the Provision of Employment Related Support Services.
• Question and Answer Brief (amended 21 September 2010) (192KB) Final version - Please note that the original response given to question 190 was incorrect and has now been amended.
• Employment Related Services Association Meeting - 9 September (15KB)

DWP placed an advertisement on the website on 29 June 2010, subsequently published in the OJEU. The advertisement and supporting prospectus (which can be found here Work Programme - DWP) outlined the main features of the Framework, the high level requirements of suppliers successful in gaining a place on the Framework and invited organisations to express an interest in being part of the competition. The closing date for organisations to express an interest was 30 July 2010.

The Invitation to Tenders were issued on Monday 23 August 2010. The following documents are published for your information.

• Specification (1MB)
• Supplementary Information Pack (61KB)
• Framework ItT - Security Plan Guidance (112KB)

The Framework Terms and Conditions and Schedule 4-Call-Off Terms and Conditions. NB these Terms and Conditions remain in draft and DWP reserves the right to make amendments to them.

• Terms and conditions (325KB)
• Schedule 4 (345KB)

Background

The Coalition: our programme for government', published on 12 May 2010, set out a number of major welfare to work reforms, including a core integrated welfare to work programme and a number of measures designed to support people to find employment.

These measures are designed to help in the Government's key aims of fighting poverty; supporting the most vulnerable and helping people break the cycle of benefit dependency.

The Work Programme will be the first in a much reduced raft of national programmes for the Department for Work and Pensions, (DWP). It will offer more personalised support capable of dealing with complex disadvantages faced by customers. Suppliers will be expected to manage potentially large flows of customers within locations.

DWP will establish a framework for the provision of employment related support services, (hereafter referred to as the Framework). The Framework will last for a period of four years and is intended as the default vehicle for sourcing all DWP employment related support services.

A framework is an umbrella agreement setting out the terms and conditions for subsequent call-offs, but which places no obligations, in itself, on the contracting authority to purchase any services. The Framework in itself is therefore not a contract; contracts are only formed when services are called off under the Framework.

Using a Framework offers a number of commercial and operational advantages for the Government and for delivery partners compared to traditional contracting methods.

The Framework will be a more effective and responsive tool for Government with the potential to create administrative savings and allow us to respond to economic and policy conditions more swiftly. It will simplify and reduce the time and cost involved for those delivery partners on the Framework in bringing their services to market, for example by cutting out the duplication of effort created by participation in multiple, separate procurement competitions.

The Framework will also help the Government drive up performance and value for money, by, for example enabling us to move packages of work to the best performing delivery partners.

Additionally, the Framework will be accessible to other contracting authorities, as identified in the advert and subsequent OJEU, creating efficiencies across the wider public sector.The Framework will last for four years but contracts let under it may be for a longer term, if justified. Once established, no further organisations will be accepted onto the Framework.