Partnership Opportunity with TCHC on ‘Building Better Opportunities’ (BBO) Programme

Expression of Interest (EOI)The European Social Fund (ESF) is part of the European Structural and Investment Funds (ESIF) Growth Programme for England in 2014-20. Together with the European Regional Development Fund and part of the European Agricultural Fund for Rural Development, ESF will be delivered in an integrated package by Local Enterprise Partnerships (LEPs) across England.

The ESF will deliver three of the Growth Programme’s thematic objectives to:

Promote sustainable and quality employment and supporting labour mobility (Objective 8) Promote social inclusion, combating poverty and any discrimination (Objective 9), and Invest in education, training and vocational training for skills and life-long learning (Objective

10).

The activities funded by ESF complement or enhance support available through national programmes. They will also be tailored to the needs of individual LEP areas, as identified by their respective European Structural and Investment Funds strategies.

The BIG Lottery Fund (BLF) is matching funds from the ESF under Objective 9 to invest in local projects tackling the root causes of poverty, promoting social inclusion and driving local jobs and growth.

Following a successful 2-stage application process, The Consultancy Home Counties Limited (TCHC) has been awarded a grant by the BLF to deliver a partnership project as part of their ESF co-financed Building Better Opportunities (BBO) programme in the South East Midlands LEP (SEMLEP) area.

The project, ‘Enterprising People’, is to support over 250 people who are furthest away from work and to move them towards employment and self-employment.

The programme offers a tailored package of support to meet the needs of individuals. The ultimate aim is to support them into starting their own business, becoming self-employed or employed, enabling them to improve their circumstances.

Elements include individual assessment of participants; IAG; action planning; business start-up training and advice, covering business planning, market research and marketing; vocational training, as well as support through relevant ‘real work’ experience placements; confidence building; employability skills with a view to taking a step closer to securing employment, or accessing further education or training, where self-employment or business start-up is not the right option for the participant.

Who is eligible for this project?The project will have a specific focus on those people from within the SEMLEP area who are out of work, furthest from the labour market and people who are most at risk of social exclusion. This includes, but is not limited to:

people with few or no qualifications; people who are long term unemployed; people with mental and physical health problems; people with Learning Difficulties and/or Disabilities; carers for children or a dependent adult; homeless people; people over 45;

women returning to the labour market after a break in employment; people with English language needs and/or from migrant communities.

Led by TCHC, the project is delivered through a partnership, which offers a wide variety of support to participants to cover all aspects of the service.

For instance, some partners recruit and support the participant through an end-to-end delivery model, addressing all required service elements, whilst others support the participant with childcare (where needed), work experience, business plan review and mentoring.

TCHC has designed the programme to be flexible as possible to address individual needs and removing barriers to an individual’s progression, whilst focussing on achieving agreed project outputs and outcomes.

To strengthen TCHC’s local delivery across SEMLEP, there is now an opportunity for suitable delivery organisation with experience and a strong track record of supporting the above target groups to join TCHC’s ‘Enterprising People’ partnership.

We are seeking applications from organisations who can deliver a service to individuals in ‘Luton, Bedford, Milton Keynes. Providing high quality business start-up advice and support and practical guidance helping individuals think strategically about their future. Includes providing individuals with real work placement opportunities enabling individuals to explore their business start-up ideas and prepare them for realistic employment opportunities; bringing employers to the project to appraise business plans, provide advice on specialist subjects such as marketing, this element of the service will recruit those who are interested in self-employment and provide one-to-one advice and support with the primary aim of encouraging business start-up.

Potential delivery partners will contribute to the overall project targets of: Engaging 250 Participants of which:

45 will progress to employment/ self-employment; 45 will progress to further learning / training;95 will progress to job search from being economically inactive.

As a minimum, the selected partner will be expected to deliver to: 90 participants, of which a minimum of:

30 will progress to employment / self-employment;9 will progress into further learning or training.

The maximum budget available for this provision is £60,000 over a 28 months delivery period, ending in July 2019.

If you are interested in working with TCHC on this project, please complete the sections in this document and return the completed document to:

amanda.montague@tchc.net no later than 5pm on Friday, 17 March 2017.

Requirements TCHC will seek to work with organisations that can deliver an end-to-end service or elements of this programme. Partners should have existing infrastructure to deliver in the specified SEMLEP areas.

Particular emphasis will be put on the proven ability of partner organisations to deliver self-employment, business start-up and/or micro-coaching support to participants from disadvantaged groups to help them establish and sustain their own business/social enterprise.

Assessment Criteria and Methodology

TCHC will select appropriate partner organisations by applying a fair and transparent process in line with EU Procurement Regulations and adhering to the Merlin Standard Code of Conduct. Completed applications will be assessed by TCHC’s business development and delivery teams. They will be subject to a formal qualitative evaluation using the methodology and criteria as outlined below.

TCHC will identify appropriate partner organisations that are able to demonstrate the required capacity, delivery capabilities and geographic coverage. Successful and unsuccessful providers will be notified.

Weighting

Scores will be weighted in terms of importance as per the table below:

Section Scores 0-10 Weighting

1. Experience, Track Record & Key Strengths

25%

2. Local Infrastructure, Capability & Capacity

25%

3. Contribution to this opportunity

25%

4. Quality Assurance, Inspections & Grades

15%

5. Financial Information 10%

NB: 1. All received EOI forms that score 0 (zero) on any of the scored sections will automatically be eliminated from the process and not be considered further.

Organisations who have previously applied to TCHC under the BBO programme are welcome to apply again.

Company Information

Organisation:

Name/Job Title of main Contact:

Contact email:

Contact telephone/mobile number(s):

Website Address:

Address:

Company Registration Number:

UKPRN:

VAT registration number (if applicable):

Organisation status (plc, ltd, charity, etc.):

Names of Directors:

Years of Trading:

Resources

How many staff does your organisation employ (including associates)?

How many staff members hold relevant qualifications (e.g. IAG) and at what level (including volunteers)?

Names of experienced staff that will deliver this project (please confirm that you agree to submit their CVs if requested)

Permanent delivery location (& address) in the areas relevant to this contract

Number of staff based at location (please specify wheter they are admin/support staff, IAG, trainers etc)

Number of participants who can be comfortably accommodated at delivery location

Facilities available at location

Delivery Experience

Please provide a short description of your organisation, including your background and what you feel are your key strengths relevant to the delivery under the ‘Building Better Opportunities’ programme – including any particular specialism that you bring to a partnership (maximum 500

words)

Please provide a short description of local networks and links to other services, stakeholders, referral partners that would be relevant for participants on this project (maximum 500 words)

Do you have any direct experience of delivering support activities to ESF target groups, e.g. business start-up/self-employment support, accredited and non-accredited skills or employability training or any other provision (incl. counselling, mentoring & coaching) to help individuals to overcome social exclusion and enter into/re-enter and progress in work?

Yes/No (If yes, please complete the table below)

Contract start + end dates

Programme overview Targets Targets achieved(% of original target)

Total funding value

Starts Training completed

Jobs

If you have NOT previously delivered any similar provision, please provide information of any other experience relevant to this opportunity (maximum 500 words)

Please provide information on customer groups that you have previously worked with, e.g. Black and Minority Ethnicity (BME), learners with a disability or learning difficulty, older learners, ex-offenders, lone parents, migrants with English language needs etc. and what specific arrangements you have made to accommodate these (maximum 500 words)

Proposed delivery

For this project, who would be your specific target group, bearing in mind that eligibility criteria require that participants must be unemployed or economically inactive. Specific focus on those furthest from the labour market and most at risk of social exclusion. How will you support participants in disadvantaged areas and those under-represented in the labour market (e.g. BME, Over 50, Mental Health, Disabilities, Migrants, NEETs) (maximum 500 words)

Please provide us with an indication of the proposed number of participants you would be able to support within this project and what outputs and outcomes (see above) you would be able to deliver.

Please explain in which areas of SEMLEP you would focus your delivery and why (e.g. hotspots, identified need)

Please provide the rationale/justification for your approach and why you feel there is a need for the services/ activities proposed in your local area. Explain their added value. (maximum 500 words)

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How long will your proposed support last per individual and when could you start (i.e. readiness)?

References

Please provide us with at least 3 client references, including their names and contact details who TCHC may contact as part of this assessment process (You can attach these in a separate document).

Policies, Insurances & Finance

Health & Safety

Do you have a written Health and Safety at work policy (Yes/No)? N.B it is a legal requirement for 5 or more employees. If you do NOT have a policy, please explain why and how you ensure that health and safety is maintained at your workplace. (maximum 500 words)

Yes/No

Has your organisation during the last three years been prosecuted or had a notice served for contravention of the Health and Safety at Work act 1974 or associated regulations and/or has your organisation during the last three years been the subject of a formal investigation by the Health and Safety Executive or similar national body charged with improving health and safety standards? If Yes, please give details and explain the impact on the service delivered by your organisation (maximum 500 words)

Yes/No

Do you have a written Safeguarding policy (Yes/No)? The policy should, as a minimum, address the following:a) Set out what arrangements are in place to minimise risk

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b) Detail how customer health and safety will be ensured, andc) Detail provider security and confidentiality arrangements.If you do NOT have a policy, please explain why and how you ensure that the safeguarding of learners and employees is maintained at your workplace. (maximum 500 words)

Yes/No

Sustainable Development

Do you have a written Sustainable Development policy (Yes/No)? If you do not have a policy, please explain what steps your organisation is taking to deliver training in an efficient and environmentally sustainable way - specifically in relation to waste produced, energy efficiency, carbon emissions and sustainable transport. (maximum 500 words)

Yes/No

Data Security

Do you have a written Data Security policy (Yes/No)? If you do NOT have a policy, please explain how you ensure that personal information is protected and that data is stored and/or processed as part of this contract (maximum 500 words)

Yes/No

Equality and Diversity

Is it your policy as an employer to comply with your statutory obligations under current equal opportunities legislation (Yes/No)? N.B Your practice must not treat one group of people less favourably than others because of their race, gender, age, religion or belief, disabilities or sexual orientation in relation to decisions to recruit, train or promote employees. (maximum 500 words)

Yes/No

Does your organisation have a written Equality and Diversity policy (Yes/No)? If you do NOT have a policy, please explain why and how you ensure that your organisation meets statutory requirements?

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(maximum 500 words)

Yes/No

In the last three years, has any finding of unlawful discrimination been made against your organisation by any court, industrial tribunal or Equality Commission and/or (also during the last three years) has your organisation been the subject of a formal investigation by the Equality Commission on grounds of alleged unlawful discrimination? If Yes, please provide details and what steps you took as a consequence of the findings. Maximum 500 words)

Yes/No

Environmental Management

Does your organisation have a written Environmental policy in place (Yes/No)? If you do NOT have a policy, please explain why and how you ensure that your organisation meets statutory requirements? (maximum 500 words)

Yes/No

Has your organisation been prosecuted, in the last 3 years, for any environmental offence - or have any case pending? If ‘yes’ please give details and explain the impact on the service delivered by your organisation (for instance, has your company initiated any processes or actions in relation to improving your environmental performance. If so, please provide the details of the person responsible). (maximum 500 words)

Yes/No

Insurances and Finances

Please provide details of your insurances (e.g. Public Liability Insurance, Professional Indemnity Insurance) and the size of cover provided.

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Name of insurance Insurance Number Amount (£) Name of provider

Employer’s Liability

Public Liability

Professional Indemnity

Other

Please provide details of your company’s turnover and profit over the last 3 years. If necessary, TCHC may require further financial information.

Month

Year

In order to support TCHC’s due diligence process, please confirm that you would be prepared, if requested, to provide audited accounts of your organisation for the last three years or other financial statements. If not, please state the reasons for this.

Thank you!

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