Business and management consultancy and related services

Tender description

As part of its quality assurance arrangements the NAO commission’s independent quality assurance reviews of the technical rigour, methodological robustness, quality of argumentation and presentation of evidence in its published non-financial audit and VFM reports. Examples of reports are available on our website www.nao.org.uk. The NAO requires the following quality reviews to be carried out: — a total of 12 reviews per year of individual NAO products (number to be shared between the successful suppliers). The NAO intends to award two or three contracts for this quality assurance work, the exact allocation of which products to be reviewed will be at the discretion of the NAO. As part of its quality assurance arrangements the NAO commission’s independent quality assurance reviews of the technical rigour, methodological robustness, quality of argumentation and presentation of evidence in its published non-financial audit and VFM reports. Examples of reports are available on our website www.nao.org.uk. The range and variety of types of our outputs is continually evolving. Over the life of the contract the NAO is expecting to develop further the range of VFM products it produces. This is so the NAO can ensure it continues to be best placed to promote accountability, meet the needs of Parliament and help improve public services at a time when they face unprecedented challenges. The non-financial audit and VFM quality assurance arrangements may need to develop at the same time to ensure they remain fit for purpose. In the light of this, the service providers will need to take a flexible approach to fulfilling the requirements of the contract and will need to respond effectively to feedback provided by the NAO. The NAO requires the following quality reviews to be carried out: — a total of 12 reviews per year of individual NAO products (number to be shared between the successful suppliers). Reviews of individual NAO products — these reviews generate a written report, commenting against an agreed set of criteria, within four weeks from receipt by you of an electronic version of the NAO draft report. The NAO intends to award 2 or 3 contracts for this quality assurance work, the exact allocation of which products to be reviewed will be at the discretion of the NAO. Each contract will consist of product reviews of 4-6 (depending on number of successful suppliers, minimum of 2, maximum of 3 suppliers) published non financial audit products per year, plus or minus 1, within 4 weeks of receiving each one, using an agreed set of evaluative criteria. The Contractor will be required to conduct reviews of individual NAO products working to an agreed set of evaluative criteria and to discuss conclusions of the reviews with NAO study teams and senior staff as required.