Accounting services

Tender description

The Department for Education (DfE) secured agreement from Parliament to remove the academy sector from its consolidation boundary from the financial year 2016-2017 and to prepare a separate standalone annual report and accounts (ARA) for the academy sector for the academic year 2015/16 onwards – the academies sector annual report and accounts (SARA). The Department for Education has secured, through open competition, an organisation to assist in the production of the SARA. The existing contract expires on 8.12.2018, and the Department is seeking to secure an organisation to assist with the future production of the SARA. A new contract will commence May/June 2018, leading to services commencing by November 2018. The contract is likely to require the delivery of services for 3 years to November 2021 with extension options included. It is anticipated that the value of the contract will be approximately 5 000 000 GBP for an initial 3-year term, increasing in line with extension options. The Department for Education (DfE) secured agreement from parliament to remove the academy sector from its consolidation boundary from the financial year 2016-2017 and to prepare a separate standalone annual report and accounts (ARA) for the academy sector for the academic year 2015/16 onwards — the academies sector annual report and accounts (SARA). The Department for Education has secured, through open competition, an organisation to assist in the production of the SARA. The existing contract expires on 8.12.2018, and the Department is seeking to secure an organisation to assist with the future production of the SARA. A new contract will commence May/June 2018, leading to services commencing by November 2018. The contract is likely to require the delivery of services for 3 years to November 2021 with extension options included. It is anticipated that the value of the contract will be approximately 5 000 000 GBP for an initial 3-year term, increasing in line with extension options. Please note these figures do not include VAT that may be applicable. The SARA for the year ended 31.8.2016 can be found here: — https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/academies-consolidated-annual-report-and-accounts-2015-to-2016 Initially, the core services (subject to ongoing development of requirements) are likely to include, but not limited to: a) Providing technical accounting analysis, support and advice on the aggregation of Academy Trust annual accounts b) The development and implementation of an end to end process (to be automated where practicable), which aggregates over 3 100 separate sets of financial data through to delivery of the financial statements and supporting notes within the SARA c) Facilitate the collection and collation of Academy Trusts’ accounting data, to support the Department in meeting its financial reporting requirements. It is expected that this will be best achieved through the development/utilisation and maintenance of online data collection tools Additionally: d) Detailed project planning support to inform SARA production e) Liaising with several internal and external stakeholders such as the Department, National Audit Office and Academy Trusts f) Other ad hoc technical accounting advice over the duration of the contract in relation to the Department’s financial reporting requirements