INVITATION TO TENDER

TENDER SPECIFICATION DOCUMENT

Delivery of learning and development opportunities for leaders, managers

and those involved with governance in the Education and Training Sector

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Contents 1 General Instructions .................................................................................................................. 2

1.1 Confidentiality .......................................................................................................................... 2

1.2 Costs and Expenses .............................................................................................................. 2

2. Background ............................................................................................................................. 2

2.1 The Education and Training Foundation ............................................................................. 2

2.2 The rationale for this project ................................................................................................. 4

3. Project Outline ............................................................................................................................... 5

3.1 Project details .......................................................................................................................... 5

3.2 Project management .............................................................................................................. 7

3.3 Outputs, outcomes and impact of the project .................................................................... 8

3.4 Duration and value of contract ............................................................................................ 10

3.5 Tender Timelines .................................................................................................................. 10

4. TUPE ......................................................................................................................................... 11

5. Assessment Criteria ............................................................................................................. 11

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1 General Instructions This document is designed to ensure that all proposals are given equal and fair consideration. It is important that you provide all the information asked for.

Data, deliverables and outputs that result from commissioned projects may be published. Decisions on what will be published, when, and through what mechanisms will be determined at a later date, which may be within or beyond the contracting period.

Commissioned projects need to ensure high levels of quality assurance and demonstrate that they embrace diversity and promote equality of opportunity.

Please contact info@elmag.org.uk should you require a different format or need to discuss

accessibility requirements.

1.1 Confidentiality

This tender documentation should be regarded as confidential and as such should not be shared with others.

Tenderers should not:

attempt to obtain any information about other tenderer’s submissions before the submission date;

make any arrangements with another organisation(s) about whether or not they should apply, or about their or your proposal (unless planning to tender as a consortium or partnership)

Failure to comply with these conditions may disqualify your proposal.

1.2 Costs and Expenses

Tenderers are not entitled to claim any costs or expenses that may be incurred in preparing the tender whether or not your proposal is successful.

2. Background The Education and Training Foundation (see www.etfoundation.co.uk for more information) has recently contracted with a delivery partnership to run the ELMAG programme – ‘Excellence in Leadership, Management and Governance’. Part of this programme involves managing the commissioning of learning and development opportunities for leaders, managers and those involved in governance in the Education and Training sector. This ITT has been developed by the ELMAG partnership, in collaboration with the Foundation.

2.1 The Education and Training Foundation

The Education and Training Foundation was established on 1 August 2013 with an overarching remit to improve professionalism and standards in the education and training

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system. The Foundation’s central responsibility is to ensure learners’ benefit from the development of a well-qualified, effective and up-to-date workforce supported by good leadership, management and governance.

The key education and training priorities for the Foundation have been identified and are shown in the Operational plan1, which is available from the Foundation Website: http://www.et-foundation.co.uk/wp-content/uploads/2014/03/2014-16-Operational-plan-June-2014-FINAL.pdf and align to the Foundation’s critical success factors.

This Operational plan is divided into four thematic blocks reflecting the Foundation’s key priority areas of activity:

1. Professional Standards and Workforce Development;

2. Vocational Education and Training (VET);

3. Leadership, Management and Governance;

4. Research and Innovation.

Within the Operational Plan 2014-2016 there is a commitment to ensuring that all leaders, managers and those involved with governance in the education and learning sector will fully reflect the diversity of our society, and will be working for providers rated either outstanding or good by Ofsted and fully involved in informing local, regional and national business strategy. The Foundation wants to create a leadership, management and governance online facility that is shaped by the system, reflects the innovative work already happening, equips leaders, managers and those involved with governance to navigate the challenges and maximise the opportunities within the education and training system.

Much of the institutional leadership in the sector is good or excellent and the Foundation’s activity in this priority area is to build on this, to share excellence and synthesise effective practice for broader use. There is a wide range of models of governance and of leadership within the system – the Foundation recognises this and the unique position of many providers in their local area. Each has a role to determine the educational character of their own institution. But there are large challenges ahead, both practical and strategic, and driven by the system itself, from Government and by economic and social trends. Practical challenges include developing appropriate responses to public spending decisions and the changes to maths and English teaching. Leadership is the key which unlocks success.

The strategic challenges are bigger. The long-heralded move to an ‘employer-led system’ is gaining speed with Apprenticeship reforms leading the way. The system is likely to be facing an irreversible move away from being direct recipients of public funding and towards operating more fully in a market place, seeking investment and purchases from individuals and employers. Colleges and providers are also identifying and facing the challenges of ensuring responsiveness to their local communities, promoting social mobility and local economic growth, and enabling young people and adults to fulfil their potential within their

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learning and training organisations. It is also increasingly pressing that we increase the diversity of senior leaders and support the quality of access and opportunity to the workforce at all levels. Internally, talent management and succession planning are equally significant, as is the willingness of governing bodies and boards to define excellence. It is essential that governing bodies and boards ensure they have the appropriate skills and capacity for self-scrutiny and challenge and these are reviewed and refreshed regularly to safeguard the current and future success of their organisations. All these challenges mean that boards and leadership models should assess their capacity and readiness to adapt and to rise to the level of the best and beyond, whilst also seeking renewal and insights from outside our sector.

2.2 The rationale for this project

From research previously commissioned by the Foundation (see http://www.et-foundation.co.uk/supporting/support-governors/ and also http://www.et-foundation.co.uk/supporting/support-leaders-managers ) it is clear that there is no comprehensive or coherent learning and development offer across all levels of leadership, management and governance in the education and training system While there is a great deal of leadership and management training and development available there is little that is contextualised- specific to the education and training sector. Searching for learning and development opportunities requires looking at multiple websites and the need to try and make comparisons about content, impact, quality and value for money. For smaller providers taking time out of the working week and cost can be significant barriers. For aspiring leaders, managers and those involved with governance it is difficult to determine what opportunities exist that would support progression in their careers. For organisations wishing to fund learning and development opportunities, it is important to know which opportunities will have the required impact on organisational improvement and performance, though that often isn’t clear. Neither is it clear how qualifications of people from outside the sector equate and could be applied within our sector. Lack of diversity within our leadership, management and governance is well documented and means that we are not fulfilling and utilising the full potential and talent that exists in the sector. The online brainstorming exercise carried out as part of the Leadership Conversation highlighted the challenges in designing and delivering leadership development that moves from effecting incremental change to creating transformational change. Responses highlight on the one hand the demand for development support to meet current needs to deal with current challenges, while on the other also highlighting the need to do things differently by offering opportunities to develop new thinking skills, by legitimising reflection, simulation and experiential learning and cross –sector and/or non-hierarchical development opportunities in order to help us plan and shape the future for the sector.

The challenge therefore, and the objective of the wider ELMAG programme, is to provide the learning and development opportunities that support leaders, managers and those involved with governance to effectively do their jobs, to progress within their careers and to meet the challenges and opportunities of the future, and to provide a coherent and comprehensive overview of those opportunities in ‘one place’.

This current opportunity to tender is about commissioning delivery of learning and

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development opportunities for leaders, managers and those involved with governance that may eventually be signposted from the online facility. Commissioned projects will need to focus on quality provision, which demonstrates responsiveness to sector need and value for money. All delivery will need to take place before the end of March 2015.

3. Project Outline

3.1 Project details

We know that the timescale for this project is tight. Approximately £500,000.00 (inclusive of VAT) is available to commission the delivery of learning and development opportunities for leaders, managers and those involved with governance in the Education and Training sector in England. We expect to award between 5-25 successful bids. Large scale bids will be considered where there is strong evidence of considerable impact and benefits; on this basis, a smaller number of larger bids may be awarded. Delivery of learning and development opportunities will need to address the following points:

1. Development opportunities aimed at any leaders, managers or those involved in

governance across the wider education and training sector. This may include

established and experienced senior leaders, governors, or people who are newly

appointed and on the first rung of management. Opportunities could be aimed at

staff at a specific level or in a specific role such as Finance or HR. Opportunities

may also be aimed at mixed groups of staff with various levels of experience,

offering participants the opportunity to be exposed to a diversity of thought and

views.

2. Development opportunities aimed at staff from across the wider sector. If

opportunities are offered to staff from a specific part of the sector you will need to

explain why you think this is important.

3. All development opportunities must be accessible and inclusive to all. Please show

how you will ensure that there are no barriers to participation and how you will seek

to recruit people from under-represented groups in the workforce and how they will

be supported. It is also important that you show how equality and diversity will be

embedded within the subject matter of the development opportunity. We expect all

delivery partners to have the competence and confidence to do this, and to show

how they will achieve this. This might involve utilising the expertise of equality and

diversity experts or by working in partnership with equality groups.

4. Participants on the development opportunities should be encouraged to sign up to

the Leadership Register (http://www.leadershiplearning.org.uk/~leadreg/index.php).

Please show how you will do this and how you could make this an integral part of

the development opportunity.

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5. The timescale of this project (all development opportunities must be completed by

March 31st 2015) is very tight. Some training opportunities may be short enough to

be offered in full and completed within the timescale. However, we envisage that

some development opportunities will be a taster or module of a longer development

opportunity. Please explain whether the opportunity you are proposing to deliver is

a complete opportunity or whether it is a part of a longer programme. If it is part of a

longer programme, please explain how you could scale the opportunity up if it was

to be commissioned in full in the next financial year if further funding permits.

6. Previous projects funded by the Foundation have identified a number of

development needs across the sector. These include, but are not limited to:

Financial management

Performance management

Business acumen and development of new business models

Entrepreneurialism

Employer engagement

Use of technology

Governance beyond FE Colleges

Coaching

Succession planning and talent development

Strategic planning and forward thinking

This is not an exhaustive list and we are keen to hear about other ideas for training and development. You will need to explain why you are offering the training and development opportunity, providing clear evidence of the need for it. In addition to supporting leaders, managers and those involved in governance to successfully meet the short term imperatives of their roles we also want them to develop the skills to be forward looking and to realise and meet the challenges and opportunities facing the sector over the next 10-15 years. This may mean that things need to be done differently, more innovatively and seeking solutions from beyond the sector.

7. It is the overall intention of the Foundation that development opportunities are

offered that are affordable and sustainable. Therefore we want to develop

opportunities that are full cost, low cost as well as no cost to the sector. There will

be some opportunities considered a priority for the sector that will be subsidised,

but there will be other opportunities that organisations should be prepared to pay

for. We know that it is not a level playing field and some parts of the sector may be

able to afford to pay for more than other parts. There may also be groups of staff

that need to be prioritised. It may be appropriate to offer bursaries to some types of

providers or to some groups of staff. You will need to explain how you will cost and

price the opportunity you are offering, what funding you are seeking to run the

development opportunity and how this opportunity could be sustained in the future.

8. All development opportunities must demonstrate outcomes and impact. This might

include factors such as

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the personal and career development of the participants,

changing leadership or management behaviours

organisational performance.

Proposals will need to define clear outcomes and impact the opportunity you are offering will have and how you expect to show and evidence them within the timescale.

3.2 Project management

The Foundation will retain overall management of this contract and in working closely with the ELMAG partnership want to ensure that a flexible and agile approach to providing and creating learning and development opportunities is taken. Project management of commissioned projects will be the responsibility of the ELMAG partnership.

Bids can be submitted by single organisations or by consortia/partnerships. In the latter case, bids must have a Lead Organisation which accepts liability for members of the partnership. For all partnerships, full details of each partner must be provided, together with information on their role. Please state in your bid if the Lead Bidder or any member of the partnership has applied for or are in receipt of any funding for similar work, and provide relevant details

Bidding organisations/Lead organisations will be responsible for:

managing and being accountable for the funding, including retaining evidence and audit trails of expenditure

assuring the quality of activity and resources developed

collecting key data relating to equality and diversity criteria (all successful

organisations will need to collect data on the participants involved in their provision,

including equality and diversity and social mobility). An equality and diversity

monitoring form has been developed which all successful bidders will be expected

to use.

ensuring all project deliverables and outcomes are met

submitting interim and final reports

engaging with assessors from the ELMAG programme and the Foundation

complying with all relevant legislation.

Organisations/partnerships may submit more than one bid if these are materially different. In commissioning projects we wish to ensure value for money, a spread of awards across the sector and the country, a clear focus on delivery of results and effective management of each project.

Successful organisations will need to submit regular updates to the lead organisation of the ELMAG partnership, including an interim report at the end of February 2015 and a full report at the end of March 2015. A template for these reports will be provided. The right to withhold, withdraw or reclaim funding is reserved, should progress towards the stated outputs and deliverables not be met.

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Successful organisations will need to comply with the quality processes of the ELMAG partnership – this will include regular communication from the programme quality team, as well as possible visits from the ELMAG team and the Foundation to review provision; successful organisations will also need to collect key impact and quality information, including E and D data. Full information will be provided when contracts are awarded.

Intellectual property rights (IPR) of all resources and course content developed as part of commissioned projects will remain with the Foundation. Commissioned organisations will have the right to develop and deliver under licence any courses for the duration of the contract. The ultimate right to select commissioned organisations stays with the Foundation.

The timescale is tight and it is a risk to the Foundation and the ELMAG partnership that leadership, management and governance development opportunities are not delivered by the end of March 2015. In your tender you will need to say how you plan to market, recruit and deliver the learning and development opportunity within the timescale. Information provided in your tender response will form the basis of your contract should your proposal be successful.

3.3 Outputs, outcomes and impact of the project

The table below indicates the high level outputs, outcomes and impact we expect to see from the overall ELMAG programme. In your tender submission you will need to demonstrate how you expect to contribute to these, what key performance indicators you would set and by when. We expect to see targets set on take up, differentiated across different parts of the sector. Importantly we want to see strategies and targets set for ensuring participation in learning and development opportunities across the nine protected characteristics and how you expect to achieve this. We also want to see where bold and innovative approaches can produce the outcomes and impacts we want to achieve.

Some of the outcomes and impacts will not be realised within the duration of this tender but the tender response should indicate how the work undertaken and outputs achieved within the timescale of the project will generate demand across the sector and create a direction of travel that will support the achievement of those outcomes and impacts.

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Delivery of development opportunities

Outputs Outcomes Impact

A range of national

and regional

opportunities

delivered, that are

modular and

delivered by a

range of

approaches with

equality and

diversity

embedded.

Co-created and

co-delivered

learning and

development

opportunities.

Accredited

opportunities

available

Opportunities for

work-shadowing

and industrial

placements

Opportunities

created for fast-

tracking non-

sector applicants

Tool to support

reflective

professional and

teams through

personalised

learning and

development plan.

High volumes of

take-up and use of

the opportunities,

proportionate

across the sector

Participants report

beneficial effect of

course on their

career

development and

progression

Innovation in

course content

and delivery

Equal access

resulting in equal

outcomes across

the wider system

in leadership,

management and

governance

Value for money,

financially

sustainable and

affordable support

and development

opportunities that

demonstrate

return on

investment.

High performing leadership, management and governance individuals and teams

Improved leadership, management and governance across the education and training system as evidenced by Ofsted grades.

Greater diversity in

leadership,

management and

governance across the

9 protected

characteristics

More organisations

equipped to meet the

challenges facing the

system with regard to

reductions in public

sector funding cuts,

skills growth, use of

technology and greater

employer engagement

A financially

sustainable model of

providing CPD

opportunities to

leaders, managers and

those involved in

governance from

across the system that

results in growth in

delivery and up-take of

learning and

development.

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3.4 Duration and value of contract

Contracts will be awarded by the lead organisation of the ELMAG partnership and will cover the period 1 February – 31 March 2015. All delivery will need to be completed by the end of March 2015. The total available budget for commissioned provision is £500,000, inclusive of VAT. We expect to award between 5-25 successful bids. Large scale bids will be considered where there is strong evidence of considerable impact and benefits; on this basis, a smaller number of larger bids may be awarded. Commissioned organisations will sign a contract agreement with the lead organisation of the ELMAG partnership. The right to withhold, withdraw or reclaim funding from commissioned organisations is reserved, should the stated outputs and deliverables not be met.

3.5 Tender Timelines

The indicative timeline for key milestones and deliverables of the project are set out in the table below. You must indicate how you would manage the project to ensure that these timelines are met.

Bids can be submitted by single organisations or by consortia/partnerships. A Google Doc has been created to facilitate information sharing among organisations interested in exploring possible partnerships. Please see http://goo.gl/forms/WS5c0ZkbAX.

The Tender Response Document for this ITT is available on the ETF website –

http://www.et-foundation.co.uk/bids-tenders/excellence-leadership-management-

governance/. This document is available in Word format. Please contact

Activity Time

Invitation to Tender (ITT) issued on ETF website 18 December 2014

Register interest (email info@elmag.org.uk) 10am 9 January 2015

Submit questions (email info@elmag.org.uk) 10am 9 January 2015

ITT responses to be received (email info@elmag.org.uk ) 10am 19 January 2015

Assessment and appraisal of Tender Response Documents (TRDs)

19-23 January 2015

Interviews (if necessary) 26 January 2015

Contract awarded 27 January 2015

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info@elmag.org.uk should you require a different format or need to discuss accessibility

requirements.

4. TUPE TUPE is unlikely to apply to this Programme/Project.

5. Assessment Criteria Tender submissions will be assessed using the award criteria and weightings below.

Response area

Key criteria What we want to see

Max Scor

e

Weighting

Delivery plan and rationale

A well thought through rationale for

the proposed programme, clearly

based on sector needs

Realistic plans for programme

delivery, ensuring completion of all

delivery by 31 March 2015

Allocation of high quality resources

and staff

Well defined target audience; clear

recruitment processes and targets

Ideas on how provision could be

scaled up beyond the end of March

2015 if further funding permits?

5 5

Outcomes and impact

Well-defined outcomes and impact

and a clear explanation of how these

will be measured

How high quality provision will be

ensured

5 5

Innovation Innovative aspects of the provision

(e.g. creative delivery/engagement

processes, use of technology and/or

approaches to costing models)

4 4

Equality and Diversity

Strong understanding of relevant

issues

Excellent approach to ensuring full

accessibility and inclusion and

embedding equality and diversity and

social mobility

Clear approaches, as appropriate, to

5 4

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target under-represented groups

Price and Added Value

How provision gives participants and

the wider sector excellent return on

investment

Demonstration of clear added value

Opportunities for scaling up to achieve

economies of scale in this phase of

activity

5 4

Business Selection Criteria

Pass / Fail

157-197 Buckingham Palace Road, London, SW1W 9SP t: 0203 740 8280 www.etfoundation.co.uk

The Education and Training Foundation is a company registered in England Registered address: 157 -197 Buckingham Palace Road, London, SW1W 9SP

Company registration number: 08540597

Registered Charity Number: 1153859