European Social Fund Provision 2014-20 (Skills Support to the Unemployed, Support for Young People who are NEET or At risk of becoming NEET, Community Grants and Skills Support for the Workforce)

A Tender Notice
by EDUCATION AND SKILLS FUNDING AGENCY — EUROPEAN SOCIAL FUND PROCUREMENT

Source
OJEU
Type
Contract (Services)
Duration
17.5 month
Value
£18M
Sector
PROFESSIONAL
Published
21 Jun 2021
Delivery
18 Oct 2021 to 31 Mar 2023
Deadline
23 Jul 2021 11:00

Concepts

Location

Coventry

Geochart for 2 buyers and 0 suppliers

Description

The ESFA, acting as a Co-Financing Organisation for the European Social Fund (‘ESF’), is procuring education and training services to meet priorities identified by Local Enterprise Partnerships (LEPs) area European Structural and Investment Funds Sub-Committees. As a Co-Financing Organisation, the ESFA provides match funding at Priority Axis level utilising sources of funding as match for ESF funded activity. These contracts support activity to increase participation in the labour market and thereby improve social inclusion and mobility by delivering education and training that supports the needs of employees and local employers. Specifically, these contracts provide for the supply of Skills Support to the Unemployed, Support for Young People who are NEET or At risk of becoming NEET, Community Grants and Skills Support for the Workforce.

Lot Division

1 IP1.2 LEP South London Support for Young People who are NEET or At risk of becoming NEET
  • Value: £2M

Investment priority for this procurement is: Investment Priority 1.2 Sustainable Integration of Young People into the Labour Market. Resources are being used in this investment priority to focus on helping young people, to participate in the labour market and learning. The ESFA is looking to procure organisations to deliver education and training services to support young people who are not in education employment or training (NEET) or At risk of becoming NEET.

Award Criteria
Readiness to deliver 12.5
Management and reporting 12.5
Engaging with and meeting the needs within the whole lot area 50.0
Meeting the needs of participants and employers 25.0
Volumes and values _
2 IP1.2 LEP North and East London Support for Young People who are NEET or At risk of becoming NEET
  • Value: £5M

Investment priority for this procurement is: Investment Priority 1.2 Sustainable Integration of Young People into the Labour Market. Resources are being used in this investment priority to focus on helping young people, to participate in the labour market and learning. The ESFA is looking to procure organisations to deliver education and training services to support young people who are not in education employment or training (NEET) or At risk of becoming NEET.

Award Criteria
Readiness to deliver 12.5
Management and reporting 12.5
Engaging with and meeting the needs within the whole lot area 50.0
Meeting the needs of participants and employers 25.0
Volumes and values _
3 IP1.2 LEP South East Support for Young People who are NEET or At Risk of Becoming NEET
  • Value: £3M

Investment priority for this procurement is: Investment Priority 1.2 Sustainable Integration of Young People into the Labour Market. Resources are being used in this investment priority to focus on helping young people, to participate in the labour market and learning. The ESFA is looking to procure organisations to deliver education and training services to support young people who are not in education employment or training (NEET) or At risk of becoming NEET.

Award Criteria
Readiness to deliver 12.5
Management and reporting 12.5
Engaging with and meeting the needs within the whole lot area 50.0
Meeting the needs of participants and employers 25.0
Volumes and values _
4 IP1.2 LEP SEMLEP Support for Young People who are NEET or At risk of becoming NEET
  • Value: £1M

Investment priority for this procurement is: Investment Priority 1.2 Sustainable Integration of Young People into the Labour Market. Resources are being used in this investment priority to focus on helping young people, to participate in the labour market and learning. The ESFA is looking to procure organisations to deliver education and training services to support young people who are not in education employment or training (NEET) or At risk of becoming NEET.

Award Criteria
Readiness to deliver 12.5
Management and reporting 12.5
Engaging with and meeting the needs within the whole lot area 50.0
Meeting the needs of participants and employers 25.0
Volumes and values _
5 IP1.4 North Eastern Community Grants
  • Value: £1M

Investment priority for this procurement is: Investment Priority 1.4 Community Grants. The Services to be procured are for the management and running of a community grant programme funded by ESF. The ESFA wishes to make ESF Community Grants available in the form of small grants (up to GBP 20 000) to third sector and other small organisations for the purpose of mobilising disadvantaged or excluded unemployed and inactive people to enable their progress towards employment. Organisations that access grants need to be well placed to reach excluded individuals facing barriers, which hinder their access to mainstream provision Grants will: — engage with marginalised individuals and support them to re-engage with education, training, or employment, — will support a range of activities aimed at assisting the disadvantaged or excluded to move closer to the labour market by improving their access to mainstream ESF and domestic employment and skills provision; and — will provide support to the hardest to reach communities and individuals, especially those from deprived communities, to access employment or further learning and training.

Award Criteria
Delivery model 50.0
Contract management 12.5
Quality assurance 12.5
Resourcing 25.0
Volumes and values _
6 IP1.4 South East Community Grants
  • Value: £1M

Investment priority for this procurement is: Investment Priority 1.4 Community Grants. The Services to be procured are for the management and running of a community grant programme funded by ESF. The ESFA wishes to make ESF Community Grants available in the form of small grants (up to GBP 20 000) to third sector and other small organisations for the purpose of mobilising disadvantaged or excluded unemployed and inactive people to enable their progress towards employment. Organisations that access grants need to be well placed to reach excluded individuals facing barriers, which hinder their access to mainstream provision Grants will: — engage with marginalised individuals and support them to re-engage with education, training, or employment, — will support a range of activities aimed at assisting the disadvantaged or excluded to move closer to the labour market by improving their access to mainstream ESF and domestic employment and skills provision, and — will provide support to the hardest to reach communities and individuals, especially those from deprived communities, to access employment or further learning and training.

Award Criteria
Delivery model 50.0
Contract management 12.5
Quality assurance 12.5
Resourcing 25.0
Volumes and values _
7 IP2.1 Solent Skills Support for the Workforce and Support for Redundancy
  • Value: £3M

Resources are being used in this investment priority for people in the workforce and those who have been made redundant within the last three months who lack basic skills or qualifications needed for their career progression. This will facilitate business growth and innovation. The strands in IP 2.1 are: — skills support for the workforce, — skills support for individuals who are recently redundant (within the last three months) or at risk of redundancy.

Award Criteria
Readiness to deliver 12.5
Management and reporting 12.5
Engaging with and meeting the needs within the whole lot area 50.0
Meeting the needs of participants and employers 25.0
Volumes and values _
8 IP1.1 Worcestershire Skills Support to the Unemployed
  • Value: £1M

The ESFA is looking to procure an organisation to deliver education and training to support unemployed individuals with the right level of support, tailored to the needs of individuals and businesses in local labour markets. This will be the primary added value for ESF Activities include helping to identify the barriers individuals face in moving into work (including self-employment) and apprenticeships. Examples of such barriers include lack of confidence, recent work experience, basic skills, job-related skills, job-seeking skills, or other material barriers like debt, homelessness and substance misuse.

Award Criteria
Readiness to deliver 12.5
Management and reporting 12.5
Engaging with and meeting the needs within the whole lot area 50.0
Meeting the needs of participants and employers 25.0
Volumes and values _
9 IP1.1 York, North Yorkshire and East Riding (More Developed and Transitional) Skills Support for the Unemployed
  • Value: £852K

The ESFA is looking to procure an organisation to deliver education and training to support unemployed individuals with the right level of support, tailored to the needs of individuals and businesses in local labour markets. This will be the primary added value for ESF Activities include helping to identify the barriers individuals face in moving into work (including self-employment) and apprenticeships. Examples of such barriers include lack of confidence, recent work experience, basic skills, job-related skills, job-seeking skills, or other material barriers like debt, homelessness and substance misuse. The estimated contract value stated in this lot is the combined contract value for both more developed and transitional. This programme covers both more developed and transitional and one provider will be awarded two separate contracts for this lot. The combined values are set out within the additional information field below.

Award Criteria
Readiness to deliver 12.5
Management and reporting 12.5
Engaging with and meeting the needs within the whole lot area 50.0
Meeting the needs of participants and employers 25.0
Volumes and values _

CPV Codes

  • 80000000 - Education and training services

Indicators

  • Bids should cover one or more lots.
  • Bids should cover the whole contract.
  • Renewals are not available.
  • Award on basis of price and quality.

Other Information

There are 4 service streams in the procurement. In 3 of the service streams the successful contractors will directly deliver the services for; Skills Support to the Unemployed, Support for Young People who are NEET or At risk of becoming NEET, Community Grants and Skills Support for the Workforce. For the 4th service stream the successful Contractor will act as Managing Agent in relation to the assessment and distribution of Community Grants. There are 9 Lots; geographically based and Applicants may apply for any number of Lots but should note that full delivery of all services must commence on 18 October 2021 (the Service Commencement Date). Applicants should note that the provisions of EU Council Directive 2001/23/EC March 2001 (TUPE) may apply on award of the Contracts in any of the Lots. Further information is available at [insert reference to RMF] however; interested organisations should seek their own advice in relation to the application of TUPE. The ESFA offers no assurance in respect of the operation, effect or impact of TUPE on any of the contracts.

Reference

Domains