ID 3336901 DfE ApprenticeshipsNI 2021 Programme (Apps21)

Concepts

• belfast
• education and training
• department for the economy
• dfe
• dfe apprenticeshipsni
• apps21
• training programme
• new apprenticeship contract
• young person
• apprenticeships ni

Location

Belfast

Description

The Department for the Economy (DfE) is seeking contractors to provide a new Apprenticeship contract (Apps21) to commence in August 2021. Apprenticeships NI 2021 provides Level 2 and Level 3 apprenticeship training provision for employed people who are contracted to work a minimum of 21 hours or more per week. The programme provides an opportunity to work towards completing an industry approved apprenticeship framework at Level 2 and/or Level 3 including a relevant competence based qualification, a knowledge based qualification where appropriate to the apprenticeship framework, employee rights and responsibilities modules and essential skills if required. For apprentices aged 16-24 years (young person), the Client funds 100 per cent of the cost of off-the-job training under the programme. For apprentices aged 25 years and over (adult) funding is paid at a rate of 50 per cent of the young person’s rate for specific frameworks aligned to priority economic sectors.

Renewal Options

The award of contract is anticipated to be in July 2021.The contract will commence on 1 August 2021 for an Initial contract period of 2 years, where 2 years pertains to the period of recruitment of participants to the programme. There will be a run-off period following the initial contract period during which all contract provisions, terms and conditions will continue to apply. This is to accommodate the participant training entitlements set out in the Apps21 Operational Requirements. There will be options to extend the Initial contract period for a further 2 periods of up to and including 12 months each.

Award Criteria

CPV Codes

• 80000000 - Education and training services
• 80210000 - Technical and vocational secondary education services
• 80211000 - Technical secondary education services
• 80212000 - Vocational secondary education services
• 80310000 - Youth education services
• 80330000 - Safety education services
• 80340000 - Special education services
• 80500000 - Training services
• 80520000 - Training facilities
• 80521000 - Training programme services
• 80530000 - Vocational training services
• 80531000 - Industrial and technical training services
• 80531100 - Industrial training services
• 80531200 - Technical training services
• 80532000 - Management training services
• 80533000 - Computer-user familiarisation and training services
• 80533100 - Computer training services
• 80533200 - Computer courses
• 80540000 - Environmental training services
• 80550000 - Safety training services
• 80560000 - Health and first-aid training services
• 80561000 - Health training services
• 80570000 - Personal development training services

Indicators

• Bids should cover the whole contract.
• Options are available.
• Renewals are not available.
• Professional qualifications are sought.
• Award on basis of price and quality.

Other Information

The contractor’s performance on the contract will be regularly monitored. A contractor not delivering on contract requirements is a serious matter. It means the public purse is not getting what it is paying for. If a contractor fails to reach satisfactory levels of contract performance they will be given a specified time to improve. If, after the specified time, they still fail to reach satisfactory levels of contract performance, the matter will be escalated to senior management in Construction and Procurement Delivery (CPD) for further action. If this occurs and their performance still does not improve to satisfactory levels within the specified period, it may be regarded as an act of grave professional misconduct and they may be issued with a certificate of unsatisfactory performance and the contract may be terminated. The issue of a certificate of unsatisfactory performance may result in the contractor being excluded from all procurement competitions being undertaken by Centres of Procurement Expertise on behalf of bodies covered by the Northern Ireland Procurement Policy for up to 3 years. The Department for the Economy (the Client) will have its own procedures in place to monitor and review each contractor’s performance. The Client will use the outputs from these contract monitoring procedures to monitor and review the contractor’s performance.