Notice to Providers
ESF Opportunities to Tender
7 September 2007
'How to get involved' section updated 21 September 2007
'Capacity building' section updated 24 September 2007
This notes tells you about some forthcoming opportunities to bid for a number of European Social Fund contracts. These will be advertised on 3 October 2007 under the European Social Fund section of this site.
If you are interested in these contracts I would encourage you to check our sites regularly to ensure you do not miss these tendering opportunities. In the meantime, I want to explain the approach we will take to this procurement exercise, how you can get involved and let you know where help is available with capacity building.
The European Social Fund
The European Social Fund (ESF) helps people improve skills and consequently their job prospects. Created in 1957, the ESF is the EU's main source of financial support for efforts to develop employability and human resources. It helps Member States combat unemployment, prevent people from dropping out of the labour market, and promotes training, to make Europe's workforce and companies better equipped to face new global challenges.
In 2007, a new programming period for the ESF will begin, aiming to respond more effectively to the challenges of the 21st century. For the beneficiaries of the ESF, this will mean better jobs and opportunities for all.
ESF funds for the next ESF programme (2007-13) will be made available during 2008. In England, programme funding of around £80 million and in Wales of up to £10 million may be available annually.
Contracts to deliver ESF funded provision will initially be for 3 years with an opportunity to extend for a further two. Contracts will run from April 2008 to March 2011. The objective of ESF priorities is to increase employment and to reduce unemployment and inactivity, tackling barriers to work faced by people such as:
- people with disabilities and health conditions;
- lone parents and other disadvantaged parents;
- older workers;
- people from ethnic minorities;
- people with low or no qualifications, and
- young people, particularly if not in education or training.
Approach to contracting
Our top priority is getting the best possible service and outcomes for our customers. The Department also aspires to the concept of competitive neutrality. This means that: “competition should be fair between different classes of market participants so that there is a level playing field between public, private, and voluntary sector providers of goods and services”.
These contracts will therefore be let following a fair and open competition in accordance with public procurement policy and EU regulations, using the DWP website to advertise these.
We will be taking a “prime contractor” approach to letting these contracts, using sub-contractors where appropriate. In some districts more than one contract may be available. The “prime contractor” approach is part of the Department’s contracting strategy, designed to reduce bureaucracy and to improve performance in helping jobless people into work through the programmes offered by Jobcentre Plus.
A two-stage approach to tendering will be taken involving the completion of standardised tendering documentation to ensure a consistent approach across the country. For the first stage of the process bidders will be asked to complete a Pre-qualification Questionnaire. Bidders who are successful at this stage will then be invited to complete detailed tendering documentation to tell us how they will fully meet the varied employment needs of all Jobcentre Plus’ customers. Through this process only those providers that are able to best demonstrate they are able to meet our requirements are asked to spend time completing detailed documentation.
How to get involved
The prime contractor approach enables bidders to either bid to deliver a range of provision using sub-contractors where it is appropriate, or to bid to deliver provision as a sole provider. Those who propose to deliver without using any sub-contractors or other partners must demonstrate that they have sufficient capacity and expertise to do so. It is in the interest of providers who do not wish to, or do not have the capacity, to bid as a prime provider to engage with larger providers. Equally it is in the interest of large providers to engage with suitable specialist organisations to enhance their delivery. Any arrangements that are made will of course be a commercial matter between the organisations involved. DWP do however require evidence that all potential partners and sub-contractors are aware of their roles and that they have agreed payment arrangements.
We will be holding a series of provider briefing events to explain our requirements more fully and to answer questions from potential bidders.
Details of these events are attached at Annex 2. Organisations who are interested in attending these events should complete the attachment at Annex 3 and return to ENGLAND.ESF2007-2013@DWP.GSI.GOV.UK by Wednesday 3 October. Questions about the events should also be directed to this email address. Organisations are asked to complete only one return detailing all the events they wish to attend, with a maximum of 2 people per organisation at each one. We will issue further event information including an agenda and directions to the events to the confirmed delegates.
Smaller providers may wish to partner other small providers to consider bidding as a consortium. In this case we expect the organisations involved to nominate one of their members as the lead partner. The lead partner would be solely responsible for submitting a single bid on behalf of the consortium. If the bid is successful DWP will enter into a joint contract with all the consortia members, but the lead partner is required to represent, and co-ordinate the activities of, the consortium as a whole throughout the life of the contract. Each member of the consortium would be accountable to DWP for its own performance.
Capacity building
You may be aware that the Government has increased domestic funding to engage the voluntary and community sector in the delivery of public services - for example through the Capacitybuilders and Futurebuilders initiatives. Further information on these initiatives can be viewed at www.capacitybuilders.org.uk and www.futurebuilders-england.org.uk.
The Office of the Third Sector in Cabinet Office is also working with a number of strategic partners to assist small organisations to build their capacity to compete for Government contracts. One such strategic partner is FaithAction who work with organisations that are delivering or seeking to deliver public services and help them to access funds, deliver contracts and create more effective partnerships with government at every level. More information on the resources available through FaithAction can be found at www.faithaction.net.
Annex 1 - Timetable
| Event | Date |
|---|---|
| PQQ published | 03/10/07 |
| PQQ Briefing Events | 08-19/10/07 |
| Return of PQQ | 02/11/07 (5 weeks) |
| Bid assessment complete | 30/11/07 (4 weeks) |
| Announcement of short-listed bidders in each district | 03/12/07 |
| ITT published | 03/12/07 |
| ITT Provider Workshops | 05-14/12/07 |
| Return of Tenders | 04/02/08 (9 weeks) |
| Tender Assessments complete | 14/03/08 (6 weeks) |
| Announcement of preferred bidder(s) in each district | 17/03/08 |
| PTC and Contract Award | 07/04/08 (3 weeks) |
| Contracts go-live | 23/06/08 (11 weeks) |