Commission for research into social workers' Continuing Professional Development (CPD)

Every day, social workers support millions of people to improve their chances in life. Social Work England is a specialist body taking a new approach to regulating social workers in their vital roles. We believe in the power of collaboration and share a common goal with those we regulate - to protect the public, enable positive change and ultimately improve people's lives.

Social Work England was established under The Children and Social Work Act 2017 to be a new single-profession regulator for social workers in England. We are a Non-Departmental Public Body (NDPB), operating at arm's length from Government. We became the regulator on 2nd December 2019.

As an organisation we are committed to learning about social work and to gathering data and intelligence about the profession and people's experiences. We want to make a unique contribution to the evolution of regulation, inform our work as the new specialist regulator and provide a detailed picture of social work in England. Research forms a key aspect of this goal.

The objective of this procurement is to undertake a study into the Continuing Professional Development (CPD) social workers undertake in the first year of our regulation.

Instructions: To apply for these services, please download the Invitation to Tender (ITT) attached to this notice.

Full details around the application process are provided within the ITT document.

Upon providing notice of the intention to attend the drop-in session, Social Work England will provide Potential Providers with a Microsoft Teams Meeting Invite.

Clarification Questions: Social Work England have received questions from bidders in relation to this tender. In order for the bid process to be fair, open and transparent, please see the attachment for responses to all questions. Please note that this document will be updated on a frequent basis.

Budget Update: The ITT identifies that the maximum budget available for the provision of the required services is £29,000 (net). Potential Providers should note that the budget has now been increased to £34,000 (net). As advised in our response to clarification question 7 (please see the applicable attachments document); 'we would advise Potential Providers to still submit a proposal if their response is likely to be over the maximum budget identified (within reason). Our evaluation is made using the MEAT methodology (most economically advantageous tender) when scoring each bid; a mixture of price and non pricing questions'.

Please note - We have a video recording available, of a drop-in session held between Social Work England & Potential Providers, which took place - 02.09.2020. If you wish to be sent a recording of this video, please email - [email protected]