CCS Permanent Recruitment 2 Tender Overview

General Information about the Framework

This framework covers the supply of permanent, fixed term appointments and inward secondments throughout the UK to UK public sector bodies including central Government (and their arms-length bodies and agencies) and non-departmental public bodies as well as the wider public sector and NHS for clinical recruitment and general recruitment (non-clinical roles), volume campaigns, RPO, strategy and planning services, talent development services and technology services.

The scope of roles and grades for each lot is as follows.

Lot 1 – Clinical Recruitment covers:

• Clinical and social care (including nursing and midwifery, medical and dental, social care and other clinical.
• AfC grades 1-9 and VSM (and equivalents).
• Medical bands:  FY1, FY2, Registrar (ST1/2), core medical training, Registrar (ST3+), dental core training, speciality doctor, staff grade, associate specialist, consultant (and equivalents).

Lot 2 – General Recruitment covers:

• Civil service grades:  AA, AO, EO, HEO, SEO, Grade 7 and Grade 6 (and equivalents).
• NHS grades:  AfC bands 1-7, NP1-F1, NP2-F2, NP3-ST1-2.
• Wider public sector:  Local government CSP1-43, senior officers 1 & 2, principal officers 1-7.

You do not need to be able to provide services for all role types within the lots you are bidding for.  You do not need to be able to cover all geographies

The contract will run for up to 4 years (24 months with the 0ption to extend for 2 periods of 12 months – 2+1+1).

The number of successful agencies for each lot will be:

• Lot 1 – Clinical Recruitment – 50 agencies.
• Lot 2 – General Recruitment (Non Clinical) – 100 agencies.

Critical Timescales

At this stage of the bid you need to pay particular attention to the deadlines for asking clarification questions and submission:

• Deadline for submission of clarification questions – 5pm, 27th September 2021.
• Deadline for CCS to provide responses to clarification questions – 5pm, 4th October 2021.
• Deadline for submission of the bid – 3pm, 12th October 2021.
• Issue of intention to award:
  • Lot 1 – 13th January 2022.
  • Lot 2 – 21st April 2022.
• Framework award:
  • Lot 1 – 26th January 2022.
  • Lot 2 – 4th May 2022.

Registration & Accessing the Documents

To access the documents, you must first register on the following link:  https://crowncommercialservice.bravosolution.co.uk/web/login.html

You can then follow the instructions in the documents and on the portal.

Clarification Questions

Questions, clarifications and queries must be asked BEFORE 5pm on 27th September 2021.  Questions asked after this deadline will not be answered.

Questions must be asked through the portal as this is the only way that the CCS will communicate with bidders.  Once logged into the portal, you will be able to ask clarification questions by clicking on the “Messages” tab and then clicking to “Create Message”.

Try to ensure the question is specific and clear, and don’t include your company’s identity in the question as the full question and corresponding answer will be published on the portal for all bidders to see.

You will need to check the portal regularly to access messages in your inbox to access the clarification questions that have been asked together with the CCS’s responses.  You should also keep an eye on the inbox after the bid has been submitted in case you are asked to clarify aspects of your bid (within set timescales).

Criteria

To qualify for this framework, the tender specifies that you must meet ALL of the following mandatory requirements:

• Provide a designated Account Manager and Deputy Account Manager to the Authority and each customer purchasing under the framework supported by sufficient resource to manage customer demands.
• Hold the Cyber Essentials certification or equivalent (ISO 27001) by no later than framework award. (NB the original requirement was for Cyber Essentials Plus for Lot 2 but this has been amended to just Cyber Essentials in the first set of clarifications).
• Meet financial risk criteria:
  • Have a D&B risk score of 40 or above – pass.
  • If you do not have a D&B risk score of 40 or above, you will need to provide accounts for the last 2 years for evaluation by the CCS.  If you cannot provide accounts, then you will need to provide:
    • A statement of turnover, profit and loss account/income statement, balance sheet/statement of financial position and statement of cash flow for the most recent period of trading.
    • A forecast financial statements and cash for the current year and a bank letter outlining the current cash and credit position and/or;
    • An alternative means of demonstrating financial status.
    • If you think you will struggle to meet the financial evaluation criteria of the CCS, you may provide a guarantee and the CCS will carry out this evaluation on a guarantor.
• Have the following insurances in place prior to the contract start date:
  • Employers Liability – £5m.
  • Public Liability – £5m.
  • Professional Indemnity – £1m.
• Provide references that demonstrate you have undertaken recruitment campaigns that show your ability to supply the relevant services within the lots you are bidding for during the 5 year period starting 1st April 2016 as follows:
  • Lot 1 – two relevant references (including contracting authority names, contact details, contract start and end dates and the type of staff provided).
  • Lot 2 – five relevant references of which one must be a volume hire where you have supplied 5 or more individuals (including contracting authority names, contact details, contract start and end dates and the type of staff provided).
• All lots – you must be capable of meeting the specification to enable you to answer the qualitative questions compliantly.
• Lot 2 ONLY – a case study to demonstrate your ability to work with customers and evidence understanding of their campaign requirements. Specifically this must include;
  • The process you used for understanding customer requirements.
  • The process you used for promoting the customer to the candidate market.
  • The process you used for ensuring that customer expectations were met and how the service was evaluated to ensure it continuously meets future needs.
• Be SID4GOV registered (not difficult to do!).

Documents to be Completed

You must complete the following documents:

• Attachment 2a – Selection Questionnaire (qualification envelope in the portal).
• Attachment 2b – Evidence of Previous Supply.
• Attachment 2c – Case Study (lot 2 only).
• Attachment 3 – Pricing Model (yellow cells).
• Attachment 4 – Information and Declaration Workbook (to be completed by any key subcontractors or consortium members).
• Attachment 6 – Consortia Details – ONLY if you are bidding as the lead member of a consortium.
• Attachment 7 – Key Subcontractor Details – ONLY if you intend to use key subcontractors (key subcontractors are people or organisations who directly contribute to your ability to provide the deliverables – it does not include people or organisations who supply general services to your business).
• Attachment 9 – Letter of Intent to Guarantee – ONLY if you need to nominate a guarantor.
• Attachment 11 – Supplier Specialisms.
• Attachment 12 – Regional Coverage.

The attachments in bold must be completed by everyone.  The attachments in standard text only need to be completed if you fit the conditions specified.

You should NOT upload attachments that have not been asked for by CCS.  Also do NOT cross reference your answers to other questions as each question is independently assessed.

Evaluation/Weightings

The weightings for each lot are:

• Lot 1 – quality 80% and price 20%.
• Lot 2 – quality 70% and price 30%.

 

BRUNTON BID WRITING SERVICES & PRICING

We are offering 2 service options for this tender:

 

OPTION 1 – TO OUTSOURCE THE FULL BID where we complete all of the questions on your behalf and upload all of the required documentation to the portal ready for your review and submission.

FOR ONE LOT	FOR BOTH LOTS
£5,000 + VAT	£6,500 + VAT

 

 

OPTION 2 – THE CONSULTANCY AND REVIEW SERVICE which includes:

1. A full review of all of the documentation relating to the bid (so we know the documents inside out and will be well positioned to give advice).
2. Ongoing review of the “clarification” questions and answers as they are published.
3. An initial consultation call to discuss what needs to be done (in particular the approach required for each of the qualitative questions and case study).
4. Unlimited telephone and email support throughout the bid period (until the submission deadline).
5. Maximum of 2 reviews of your draft responses to the qualitative questions and case study (using track changes and comments in Microsoft Word format) to help you to maximise your scores.
6. A review of all documents to be uploaded to the portal to ensure they have been completed fully and correctly.
7. A full review of the portal (once you have uploaded your bid) to ensure it is complete and compliant and that all attachments have been uploaded correctly.

FOR ONE LOT	FOR BOTH LOTS
£3,000 + VAT	£4,000 + VAT

 

For further information, please contact Fiona Brunton on 01688 400319 or email fiona.brunton@bruntonconsultancy.co.uk.