Project_6122 Education Advisers DPS Early Engagement Notice

The Department for Education (DfE) and the Institute for Apprenticeships and Technical Education (Institute) are seeking bidders to support ongoing work on our ambitious technical education reforms. This early engagement notice is not a call for competition and is a scoping exercise to determine whether the Department goes to market and is subject to Departmental governance controls.

This potential procurement exercise is to ensure that all our reform programmes have access to expert specialist advice and guidance needed to make them high quality, valuable to an employer-led system, and provide a world-class technical education system to students on behalf of DfE and the Institute.

We recognised that the work within the whole of the contract will cut across a wide range of policy areas in DfE and the Institute. Bidders will not be expected to have knowledge of all the areas as teach-ins will be provided. However, it will be beneficial for bidders to have good working knowledge of some of the areas listed below. The reform programme areas that you will be expected to work on are, but not limited to:

Apprenticeships: Following the Richard Review, reforms to the Apprenticeship programme have moved Apprenticeships from frameworks to standards. The introduction of Occupational maps, with clearly identified technical routes, form a central part of the Department's reforms to all post-16 technical education.

Higher Technical Qualifications (HTQs): Following the 2020 Higher Technical Education Reform consultation, a new, opt-in, HTQs approvals process has been launched, led by the Institute. The aim is to address the low uptake of high-quality qualifications at levels 4 and 5 and to better meet employer needs.

Post-16 Qualifications Review: Following the direction from the Wolf Review; the Sainsbury Panel's report, and the removal of qualifications from performance tables, the government introduced an ambitious plan to ensure that the Post-16 qualifications landscape is fit for purpose. This includes a review of ESOL qualifications at level 2 below and English and maths and digital "steppingstone" qualifications at level 1 and below.

T Levels: In the reforms outlined in the Post-16 Skills plan, the Government accepted all the recommendations of Lord Sainsbury's report on Technical Education. Subsequently, a programme to develop new T Levels was launched, phased over four years, with the first courses introduced in September 2020. To support young people's progression to T Levels, new T Level Transition programmes are being developed, delivery will be phased to align with the introduction of T Levels.

Additional information: Registering for the ECSC DPS: This potential procurement exercise would be conducted on the 'Education and Children's Social Care' Dynamic Purchasing System (ECSC DPS) Lot 1 Assessor Services (ECSC-01); you will need to be an approved member of the ECSC DPS prior to the issue of this opportunity, please be aware access to tenders that have been issued prior to you becoming an approved member of the ECSC DPS cannot be granted retrospectively.

In order to apply to join the ECSC DPS you will need to be registered on the Jaggaer system. Once registered please follow the guidance steps carefully as these will guide you through how to express your interest in the ECSC DPS, select the services your organisation can deliver and submit your application. You should allow at least six full working days for your application to join the ECSC DPS to be processed.

It is also crucial that you follow the guidance steps in order to select the ECSC-00 DPS category within your account profile. Submitted applications to join the DPS will not be considered unless this category has been selected.

The DPS is hosted on the Jaggaer platform, referred to as 'Jaggaer'.

Web-link to the DPS Information (registration guidance in the attachment area): https://www.contractsfinder.service.gov.uk/Notice/db987548-9c78-4581-ad0b-fabda89bbfec?_ga=2.193502829.1715083910.1650980523-2000517719.1625732602

Early Market Engagement Event: The Department for Education will be hosting an Early Market Engagement Event via Microsoft Teams on the 17th May 2022 from 15:30 - 17:00. This will be a short presentation by the Department and the remaining time dedicated for Q&A; the joining details are given below:

Telephone dial in details: Number: 44 20 3321 5238 PIN: 128401710#

URL (PLEASE COPY AND PASTE THE WHOLE URL LINK INTO YOUR WEB BROWSER): https://teams.microsoft.com/l/meetup-join/19:meeting_YzY1MjEyYzQtZDAzNC00NjA2LTg5YmUtMjM2OTNhOTlhOTli@thread.v2/0?context={"Tid":"fad277c9-c60a-4da1-b5f3-b3b8b34a82f9","Oid":"cc807693-2b13-435f-905f-3ab8d71ea97e"}