REQUEST FOR QUOTATION FOR SYSTEMS LEADERSHIP TRAINING PROGRAMME

INTRODUCTION

GENERAL REQUIREMENTS

The Council invites quotations for the provision of systems leadership training to support Changing Futures, a programme intended to address multiple disadvantage and the systemic challenges it presents throughout the County and Peterborough.

The purpose of this training is to empower recipients to understand and navigate the increasing complexity of multiple disadvantage, upskilling them to develop and implement systemic interventions to multiple disadvantage and its manifestations within Cambridgeshire and Peterborough.

The Council’s detailed requirements are defined in Part 2 - Specification.

Please take care in reading this document in particular the Specification; In the event of any questions or queries in relation to this Request for Quotation (RFQ), please contact the buyer via the method stated below.

The Council reserves the right to:
carry out due diligence checks on the awarded bidder, including but not limited to credit checks such as Dun & Bradstreet, valid and sufficient insurances as required;
credit checks
amend the conditions of Contract attached in Appendix 3
abandon the procurement process at any stage without any liability to the Council; and/or
require the bidder(s) to clarify its quotation in writing and if the bidder(s) fails to respond satisfactorily, this may result in the bidder(s) not being selected.
Review any bids that appears to be abnormally low or unsustainably high in cost and reserve the right to reject such bid(s) without further evaluation or clarification.

For technical support when using the Procurement Portal, please contact the Proactis support desk:
Email: ProContractSuppliers@proactis.com
Telephone: 0330 005 0352
This facility is available Monday to Friday, 09:00 to 17:30

Alternatively, you may use the electronic ticket logging system which can be found here.

BACKGROUND

The Council provides county-wide services to all its citizens, has numerous statutory responsibilities, including in respect of the provision of education, and supports blue light services, the health sector, charities, and other local Authorities.

The Council’s strategic objectives are to provide a good quality of life for everyone living in the county, creating thriving places for people to live and give the best start for Cambridgeshire’s children.

Please see website www.cambridgeshire.gov.uk

Overall Purpose/Outcome

The Council invites quotations for the provision of systems leadership training to support Changing Futures, a programme intended to address multiple disadvantage and the systemic challenges it presents throughout the County and Peterborough.

The purpose of this training is to empower recipients to understand and navigate the increasing complexity of multiple disadvantage, upskilling them to develop and implement collaborative, partnership-led responses to multiple disadvantage and its manifestations within Cambridgeshire and Peterborough.

The proposed training will build off and align with previous systems leadership training undertaken within Cambridgeshire and Peterborough. This has resulted in the creation of forums that bring together local stakeholders to utilise system leadership and thinking principles in looking at multiple disadvantage.

The outcome will be 48 people receiving training in three cohorts of 16. Those trained will be ready to confidently identify and address complex situations arising from multiple disadvantage, facilitate partnership working, apply systems thinking, and lead on systems change.

Further details can be found in the specification.



Value and Term of project

The contract will run until 31st March 2025 from the date of the commencement of services.

To be clear: this contract will terminate on 31st March 2025.

The implementation period will not be included in this term, and the Council will only start paying for the system from the commencement of the contract.

The estimated value of this contract if taken to its full term will be £40,000.

Bidders should be aware that bid received in excess of the value stated may result in the Bidder’s whole submission being rejected.

PROCUREMENT TIMETABLE

The timetable below is Indicative and its subject to change

Request for Quotation Issued 7th May

Deadline for Clarification Questions 17th May

Deadline for Quotation Responses deadline will be at 23:59 31st May

Quotation Evaluation – week commencing 10th June

Contract Award (estimated) W/C 24th June

Contract Commencement (estimated) W/C 24th June

Contract End Date (estimated) 31st March 2025

QUTOTATION CLARIFICATION AND RESPONSES

Any queries about this document, the procurement process, or the proposed contract itself, should be submitted via the ProContract messaging area.

Should you wish to take part in the procurement process please complete the response document and Pricing Sheet and return via ProContract messaging area by the deadline stated in the Procurement Timetable.

All compliant bid submissions will be considered held OPEN for the duration of ninety (90) days from the date of close of this Request to Quote opportunity.

INSURANCE LEVELS
The successful bidder will be required to have in place by the commencement date of the contract, the following levels of insurances:

Public Liability insurance with a limit of indemnity of not less than Two Million Pounds [£2,000,000] in relation to any one claim or series of claims.

Employer's Liability insurance with a limit of indemnity of not less than Five Million Pounds [£5,000,000] in relation to any one claim or series of claims.

Professional Indemnity insurance with a limit of indemnity of not less than One Million Pounds [£1,000,000] in relation to any one claim and in the aggregate in any one period of insurance.

EVALUATION OF QUOTATIONS

Any bids not compliant or completed fully will be discarded. Based on the information provided by bidders, each compliant submission will be evaluated based on the following criteria:

Award Criteria Questionnaire Weightings

The Award Criteria Questionnaire carries a total weight of 100%. This is split between the following sections:
Price (30%)
Quality (70%)
Pricing

The Bidder with the lowest overall compliant price will be awarded the full score of 30%. All other bids will be scored in accordance with the following calculation:

=Price Weighting-((Your submitted price-lowest submitted price)/(Your submitted price))x 100

For example, if the price evaluation carries 30% of the overall marks and there are three tenders priced at £35,000, £32,500, and £30,000 scores would be as in the following table.

Bid Price Price Calculation Price score
Bidder 1 £30,000.00 =30% (lowest compliant price) 30
Bidder 2 £32,500 =30-((32,500-30,000)/32,500)*100 22.30
Bidder 3 35,000.00 =30-((35,000-30,000)/35,000)*100 15.71

This example is based on a 30% price weighting where the lowest compliant price is £30,000.

The above example is for illustrative purposes only and all scores have been rounded to two (2) decimal places.

Bidders who receive a minus score will be given a ‘ZERO’ (‘0’) score for the purpose of this procurement process.

In the event of a tie between two or more bids, the Council will award the contract to the bid with the Highest Quality score.

Evaluation Method (Award Criteria Questionnaire)

An initial examination will be made to establish the completeness of submitted quotes reserving the right to disqualify any quotes which is incomplete.

Information submitted by Bidder in response to this document may be subject to further clarification questions by the Council.

All quality questions will be scored independently by Evaluators.

The Bidder’s response to each question will be evaluated and scored a maximum of 10 marks as per the table below unless otherwise stated in the response document:

The Quality Questions will be scored using the following scale:
Quality Responses
Bidders’ responses to each question will be scored out of a maximum of ten (10) marks as per the table below:

Score Commentary
0 Very weak or no answer
2 Poor
4 Satisfactory
6 Good
8 Very good
10 Exceptional

The evaluators will score using the marks as described above, with NO ODD marks being used.

The evaluated mark will be divided by 10 and multiplied by the sub weighting (%) of the question, to give a final score (%) for each question.

For example, if the sub weighting for the question is 20% and the bidder is marked a ‘2’, their final score (%) for that question will be:

2/10 X 20 = 4%

Bidders should note that each score will be based on the information provided in response to that specific question, evaluators will consider whether all parts of the question have been answered in sufficient detail to give a clear understanding of how well the contract will be delivered

Please note the word limit for each question, and this is the total word limit for the entire question not where there are individual sub questions.


PART 2 - Specification
Scope

The requirement is a programme of system leadership training intended to support Changing Futures, an initiative intended to address multiple disadvantage and the systemic challenges it presents throughout the County.
The proposed training will build off and align with previous systems leadership training undertaken within Cambridgeshire. This has resulted in the creation of forums that bring together local system actors/participants to utilise system leadership and thinking principles in looking at multiple disadvantage.

The outcome will be 48 people receiving training in three cohorts of 16. Those trained will be ready to confidently identify and address complex situations arising from multiple disadvantage, facilitate partnership working, apply systems thinking, and lead on systems change.


Service Requirements

The service required is a programme of systems leadership training. This training supports Changing Futures, a programme intended to address multiple disadvantage and its manifestations across the County.

Changing Futures seeks to nurture system transformation, developing a learning ecosystem in which stakeholders from across the system relating to multiple disadvantage come together to share their distinct perspectives, experiences and knowledge: collectively exploring, creating and testing partnership-led interventions intended to navigate multiple disadvantage’s complexity.

A previous programme of system leadership training resulted in a cohort of six ‘change agents’: stakeholders from diverse areas of the system landscape upskilled with system thinking and leadership capabilities, an understanding of their practical application, and facilitation training to convene and lead groups focussed on the activities noted in 2.2 (called ‘Change Forums’).

The systems leadership training programme required would build off and align with the previous training, creating more system change agents to influence and transform the landscape around multiple disadvantage to a system oriented approach.

To fulfil this ambition, the proposed programme would require a further 48 ‘change agents’ upskilled and active within the County.

These ‘change agents’ would be trained in three cohorts of 16 people. This would be done in sequence, with the first cohort trained during July-October, the second cohort trained during October-January, and the third cohort trained during January-March. There is some flexibility with these dates and cohorts may overlap if necessary and capacity permits. All training should, however, be completed by 31st March 2025.

For evaluation purposes, a ‘change agent’ would be an individual who has successfully completed the training programme and evidenced understanding of the theory and practice of systems thinking and leadership as it relates to multiple disadvantage. This could be provided through, but is not limited to, participation in or creation of further Change Forums, attendance at peer network meetings (‘Change Agent Networks), exercises or activities undertaken as part of the programme, or working with Changing Futures’ Systems Leadership, Learning and Development Manager. The Changing Futures Programme Team will ultimately decide on whether the evidence threshold for the creation of a change agent has been met.

The delivery of the programme should also reflect the principles of system leadership and thinking and, when needed, exercise emergence, flexibility and reactivity to accommodate diversity of learners and learning styles, ensuring inclusivity and equity in participation: best practice would indicate a trauma informed approach.

Consequently, a knowledge of systems practice, including systems thinking, leadership, and theory, and the ability to practically apply this knowledge to the complexity of multiple disadvantage is essential, as is a willingness to align with progress to date from Changing Futures.

Assistance in building networks or communities of practice to amplify the ability and reach of change agents to be heard and advocate for systems thinking and leadership throughout Cambridgeshire and Peterborough would be desirable.

Contract management

The Council will require the successful bidder to meet at a frequency agree by the Contract Manager at award of the contract.

This will be to monitor, discuss, but not limited to:
how the contract is performing
any issues that have arisen
discuss any maintenance or servicing that is required on the system

The draft KPIs identified within this RFQ are subject to review/change. It is the council’s intention to work with the successful bidder to review/adapt these indicators following contract award and throughout the contract terms as it may be required.

Subcontracting Arrangements

The Council believes that this solution does not require the need for subcontracting arrangements.

Mobilisation Plan

The successful tenderer would be expected to meet with the Changing Futures team prior to contract initiation to discuss their mobilisation plan, outlining any activities and planning necessary prior to commencement of the contract (for example, cohort recruitment strategies and materials).

Modern Slavery, Child Labour and Inhumane Treatment

Tackling modern slavery requires everyone to be vigilant and active in addressing this issue effecting our communities. The Council will expect as a minimum, that all Bidders comply in full with the Morden Slavery Act where necessary, and have in place sufficient policies, procedures and systems.

Equality, Diversity and inclusion

Ensuring that all in the UK have equal access, and can contribute, to society, The Council will expect as a minimum, that all Bidders comply in full with the Equality Act and all regulations relating to Equality, Diversity and inclusion, where necessary, and have in place sufficient policies, procedures and systems.

Data Protections and UK General Data Protection Regulations

It is not expected that personal data would be collected in the course of this contract. In the event that such data is captured, Cambridgeshire County Council expect all bidders to abide by UK GDPR legislation.
Any breaches, suspected or otherwise, must be reported to the Council as immediately and in any event within 72 hours.


Payment schedule

To ensure the payment process is smooth and simple for both parties, the Council operates a purchase order system.

This will be issued by the Contract Manager at the start of the contract.

No invoice will be paid without a valid and current purchase order.

All invoices must state the purchase order number and be sent to CCC.invoices@cambridgeshire.gov.uk.

Where a clear payment schedule is not agreed based on milestones with the Contract Manager, all invoices will be paid in arrears and within a thirty (30) day period.

Where a clear payment schedule based on agreed milestones with the Contract Manager, the Contractor must meet the milestones as agreed, and the quality to the satisfaction of the Contract Manager.

Upon confirmation from the Contract Manager, the Contractor should issue an invoice against the issued purchase order for payment.

Please Note and to be clear there will be no pre –payment or a form of a deposit made by the Council.