Tewkesbury School ~ Tender for HR and Payroll Services.

Tewkesbury School is a large co-educational secondary school which opened in September 1972. There are circa 1 700 students, including over 350 in the Sixth Form. There are circa 200 teaching and support staff employed by the School.

The contract will commence on 1.1.2018 for an initial period of 3 years, with the opportunity to extend by a further term at the governor's discretion (up to a maximum of 6 years in total). There is no TUPE of staff within the expected scope of this procurement exercise.

Tewkesbury School already holds Academy status, however this contract may, within the term of the initial contract, be extended to include other secondary and primary schools that may be brought within scope of a newly formed Multi-Academy Trust. A capability for bespoke management Key Performance Indicator (KPI) reporting is therefore required, at both individual site and at a consolidated MAT level.

The HR and payroll services are currently provided via Gloucestershire County Council. This is the first time the service has been subjected to a competitive tender exercise. The scope of the service required has been described as 'both electronic payroll processing and flexible HR "cradle to grave" employee support'.

Initial high-level requirements that have been identified include the following:

- System compatibility with current school finance and HR reporting systems;

- Robust system stability, data security, controlled access, data backup and disaster recovery processes and procedures;

- Project management during contract mobilisation, which shall parallel process prior to full operational launch;

- Remote help-desk support and initial on-site training for HR staff and school employees;

- Onsite and remote electronic access by employees, to personal HR and6 payroll documentation and school policies;

- Structured management reviews for the continuous improvement and refinement of the support service;

- Access by authorised school HR specialists to the HR and payroll system, for management and reporting purposes.

The successful Supplier will be expected to deliver a concise and detailed method of management reporting at the end of each month thus updating the senior management team within Tewkesbury School on the contract performance through agreed KPIs.

We are seeking a suitably experienced Supplier who has current experience of working within the secondary school or HE / FE marketplace, ideally with a strong operational base within the Midlands, thus allowing for adequate contract support.

The projected value of the service for the current year, for Tewkesbury School alone, is 30 000 GBP, although an additional set-up and system installation cost is anticipated, if migrating to a new service provider.

Additional information: Interest in the selection process should be expressed via email only to [email protected] clearly stating within this email which contract / notice you are referring to. Please also provide, as a minimum, a contact name, full company postal address and telephone number.

The Selection Questionnaire and associated documents can be obtained at: http://www.litmuspartnership.co.uk/project/tewkesbury_school

The closing date for receipt of the Selection Questionnaire is 21.7.2017 (12:00). Suppliers are required to ensure that documents are obtained and returned to The Litmus Partnership Limited, by email to [email protected] by the above closing date and time.

Documents in respect of economic / financial standing (where indicated in the Selection Questionnaire) shall be returned to The Litmus Partnership Limited, by email to [email protected] by the above closing date and time.

It will be the Supplier's responsibility to obtain any necessary documents in order to submit a response by the closing date and time.

The contracting authority reserves the right not to award any or part of the contract which is the subject of this Contract Notice and reserves the right to terminate the procurement process at any time.

The contracting authority will not be liable for any costs incurred by those expressing an interest in tendering for this contract opportunity.

The contracting authority will consider variant bids, evaluating them (so far as the variant or the evaluation of the variant is in the opinion of the contracting authority practicable) on the same basis as a conforming bid, but shall not be obliged to accept any such bid in preference to a conforming bid even if the variant bid scores more highly. No variant will be considered unless the bidder simultaneously submits a conforming bid.