So the much awaited ESPO Strategic HR Services Tender has now been published, and we’re all ploughing through about 300 pages of specification, ITT documents, terms & conditions, and submission questions. As we’ve already been commissioned to work on this by a number of clients, we thought it would be helpful to share our overview of the contents of the tender documents to help recruitment agencies understand the requirement quickly and easily.
ESPO’S CUSTOMERS
Local Authorities; and certain
- Central government agencies and ministries
- NHS and emergency (blue light) services
- Schools, academies, colleges and universities
- Registered charities
- Registered social landlords
Customers can buy under the contract either via direct call-off or by running a further competition.
LOTTING STRUCTURE
Lot 1 – Executive & Managerial Interim Recruitment
- Lot 1a – Admin, HR & Business Support
- Lot 1b – Blue Light & Emergency Services
- Lot 1c – Commercial (Finance, Procurement & Legal)
- Lot 1d – Education
- Lot 1e – Health & Social Care
- Lot 1f – IT, Digital, Media & Marketing
Lot 2 – Executive and Managerial Permanent Recruitment
- Lot 2a – Admin, HR & Business Support
- Lot 2b – Blue Light & Emergency Services
- Lot 2c – Commercial (Finance, Procurement & Legal)
- Lot 2d – Education
- Lot 2e – Health & Social Care
- Lot 2f – IT, Digital, Media & Marketing
Lot 3 – Multi-role Temporary Recruitment (temporary, entry level staff across relevant sectors).
Lot 4 – Multi-role Permanent Recruitment (cross sector entry level staff on a permanent basis).
Lot 5 – Assessment & Testing Services
Lot 6 – Outplacement & Career Transition Services
Lot 7 – HR Business Process Outsourcing
- Lot 7a – Recruitment Process Outsourcing
- Lot 7b – Absence Management
- Lot 7c – Payroll Management
- Lot 7d – Administration of Employment Contracts
- Lot 7e – Discipline and Grievance Management
- Lot 7f – Administration of New Starters/Leavers
- Lot 7g – HR Development and Consultancy
- Lot 7h – HR Professional Support and Helplines
- Lot 7i – Statutory Employment Checks
You can bid for as few or as many lots as you wish, however ou must be able to supply ALL regions as specified below (i.e. you cannot bid for just selected regions):
- North East
- North West
- Yorkshire & Humber
- East Midlands
- West Midlands
- East of England
- London
- South East
- South West
- Northern Ireland
- Scotland
- Wales
They are likely to select 5-10 suppliers for each lot (or sub-lot where relevant).
KEY DATES
Closing date for clarifications – 9th March
Closing date for submission of tenders – 19th March
Contract award – 20th April
Contract start – 1st May
SCORING & EVALUATION
There are two stages:
Stage 1 – The equivalent to the SQ which incorporates a number of selection criterial to assess general suitability as a potential service provider. ESPO will only review your responses to stage 2 if you pass all of the elements of this stage. These are predominantly pass/fail questions and will include:
- Compliance with mandatory & discretionary exclusions
- Economic & financial standing
- Technical & professional ability, relevant experience and contract examples (You will be required to provide details of up to 3 contracts to underpin referencing from any sector where the work has been performed in the last 3 years).
- Modern slavery
- Insurance
- Quality & contract management (this section also requires you to complete 3 qualitative questions of 250 words each relating to monitoring contract performance, approach to contractual dispute resolution and complaints handling)
- Health & safety
- Environmental management
- Compliance with equality legislation
- Business continuity (this section requires you to complete 4 qualitative questions relating to risk management including events that could affect your ability to deliver the services, your response to such events to minimise the impact on customers, how you prevent these events from happening and how you ensure continuity of supply from suppliers).
- Confirmation that you meet the minimum/core specification
- Confirmation of agreement to the terms & conditions
Stage 2 – Award criteria which involves method statements and pricing to identify the most economically advantageous tenders
- There is a limit of approximately 1,000 words per method statement. You must state the number of words you have used under each response.
- There are two generic method statements that relate to framework management and adding value respectively. You only need to answer these questions once, irrespective of the lots you are applying for.
- There are 2 method lot specific method statements that relate to service provision and methodology & approach. These need to be answered for each main lot (i.e. if you are applying for sub-lots within Lots 1 and 2, you would need to answer these questions twice – once for the bus-lots within Lot 1 and once for the sub-lots within Lot 2). If you are bidding for more than one sub-lot within a single Lot, you only answer these questions once and give an overarching response that demonstrates your general suitability across all of the sub-lots (see Clarification 1 in the Clarification Log for more detail).
- You must also complete the pricing schedule and provide a price for each item/element.
You must meet a minimum of 50% combined price and non-price scoring to be awarded a place on the framework
Weighting of price versus non-price:
- Lot 1 (& sub lots) – Price – 40% and non-price- 60%
- Lots 2-6 inclusive – Price – 30% and non-price- 70%
- Lot 7 (& sub lots) – Price – 40% and non-price- 60%
RETROSPECTIVE REBATE
1% of the total value of the business conducted by the service provider. Rebate payments will be payable quarterly and will be subject to vat at the prevailing rate. Suppliers will have to provide management information prior to ESPO raising an invoice for the rebate.
SUBMISSON
You must submit all schedules in Part B, namely:
- The Selection Questionnaire
- Response to the Specification
- Pricing Schedule
- Freedom of Information Exclusion Schedule
- Tendering Declaration
- Submission Checklist
For questions that do not apply, you must either put N/A or if you don’t know the answer put N/K.
Figures should be written in full (e.g. £4,000,000 and not £4m)
References will not be taken up prior to contract award, but may be taken up thereafter.
You are not required to submit certificates and copies of policies prior to award, but will be required to do so within 3 working days of a request thereafter.
REQUIREMENTS & ADDITIONAL INFORMATION
The ESPO contract requires the following:
- Nominated Account Manager and Deputy
- Suitable structure and level of resource
- Contract review meetings with the customer and with ESPO
- Office hours of 9.00am-5.30pm Monday-Friday and an answering service or electronic means of contact to provide a 24/7 point of contact
- Specific timescales for implementation for the service from contract award to the customer specified go live date
- Temp to perm FOC after 14 continuous weeks of assignment
- Dedicated non-premium rate telephone line which is charged at local rate or lower
- Monthly invoicing (may be consolidated invoices or split by department)
- Payment terms 30 days from receipt of a valid invoice
- Configurable and comprehensive management information in the format agreed with the customer (in a format that can be exported into Microsoft Office applications)
- Evidence of effective contract management
- Briefing meetings with the customer to gain comprehensive understanding of requirements
- Application available in different formats (e.g. braille, large print, minicom, applications in audio tape / CD format and on different coloured paper)
- 6-monthly review meetings
- Insurances required – employers liability – £10 million, Public liability/products liability – £10 million and professional indemnity – £2 million
- Employment checks referred to in the T&C – verification of ID, right to work, registration & qualification checks, employment history, reference checks, criminal record checks and occupational health checks
- KPIs:
- 100% of complaints responded to within 2 working days of receipt of the complaint and 98% resolved or have an agreed action plan in place within 10 working days.
- MI to be provided by 7th of each month and 11 of 12 monthly reports must be correct.
- Invoicing to be 98% accurate each month.
So that’s it……ESPO in a nutshell! If you’re interested in this opportunity, why not register your interest and download the documents for yourself. Click HERE to view the tender notice.
The reality is that it’s a fairly complex procurement, so if you’re struggling, why not give us a shout on 01688 400319 or email fiona@bruntonbidwriting.co.uk.