Education and training services

Tender description

The matrix Standard was launched in 2002 and is the intellectual property of the Secretary of State for Education and is Crown Copyright. It quality assures the effective delivery of information, advice and/or guidance on learning and work. It promotes the delivery of high-quality information, advice and guidance and ensures organisations review, evaluate and continuously develop their service for their customers. The assessment and accreditation body will: — effective and efficient delivery of the matrix Standard assessment and certification process and maintain the integrity of the quality mark, — manage the register of the independent matrix practitioners and ensure that practitioners meet the conditions of registration on an annual basis, — provide training and support to ensure the continuous professional development of the independent matrix practitioners and assessment and accreditation bodies’ staff, — raise the profile of the standard and promote the it to organisations. This is a “concession” contract and any provider will need the service to be self-sustaining from the income generated from fees which they receive from customers who want to achieve the matrix standard. The fees paid are set by the Department. The current fees are 600 GBP per day exclusive of VAT (with a pro-rata payment per half/quarter day) plus a fee for the CIC (300 GBP exclusive of VAT in total for the 2 CICs). The average assessment lasts three days depending on the size of the organisation. The fee are paid before the assessment is carried out. Any travelling fees are paid for by the organisation who is being assessed. This is capped at 100 GBP per day on site. Assessments are carried out by independent, registered matrix practitioners. These are consultants who are recruited, trained and developed in line with a rigorous quality assurance process by the assessment and certification body. Practitioners pay an annual fee of 395 GBP to be on the register of assessors. We estimate the value of the contract over the next 3 years to be between 3 500 000 GBP and 4 000 000 GBP pounds and 5 000 000 GBP to 6 000 000 GBP over the possible 5 year period exclusive of VAT. The assessment and accreditation body process includes: — the effective and efficient delivery of the assessment and accreditation process to organisations who request assessment against the standard. The planning and delivery of the assessment process whilst providing good value for money for organisations who request assessment against the standard, — having in place robust quality assurance processes to ensure continuous improvement of the assessment and accreditation process including evaluation all aspects of the matrix standard, — provide information about the use of the quality mark and have systems in place to ensure organisations follow them and remove the quality mark if they decide not to be re assessed or fail to meet the standard, — provide training and development to ensure the assessment and accreditation bodies staff have a full understanding of the systems used, the assessment process and the matrix standard, — maintain the register of matrix practitioners to ensure practitioners have paid their annual registration fee, have relevant insurance and comply with CPD requirements, — quality assure the registered independent matrix practitioners and ensure they deliver consistent assessments and deliver high quality reports, — provide training and development to ensure practitioners have the skills and knowledge to assess organisation against the matrix Standard, — promote the matrix standard to organisations to increase uptake and expand the matrix Standard to a wider audience, — build and refresh an accessible bank of high-quality case studies from a wide range of sectors and organisations to show the benefits of the standard, — manage and maintain the matrix website to ensure the materials and contents are up to date to help organisations understand the assessment process and have access to materials explaining the standard, including case studies, — work with the DfE and key stakeholders to carry out a review of the matrix standard. This should take into account changes in the careers sector since the last review, to make sure it continues to provide a rigorous quality assurance framework to assess the delivery of information advice and guidance. Where appropriate, the outcome of the review should include links in the standards elements and criteria to the Gatsby Benchmarks and the Ofsted common inspection framework 2018/19, — provide accurate management information as necessary and required by the Department to enable it to manage the contract with the assessment and certification body.