Education and training services

Tender description

DfE is considering procurement of organisations including employers, local authorities and providers in Leeds City Region, Heart of the South West and D2N2, to test the delivery of a new training model to provide specialist digital skills training in the first instance to fill digital skills shortage vacancies. The partnerships should design and deliver approximately 12 week training courses to provide a pipeline of individuals linked to guaranteed interviews with employers. As part of the proposal, employers will be expected to show what cash or in-kind contribution (including guaranteed interviews as a minimum) they will make. We anticipate that at least 75 % of all trainees will move into a new job or role. A virtual supplier event will be held on 21 July to provide more detail and a chance to ask questions about the opportunity. ‘Important’ The procurement will be run using DfE's Education and Children's Social Care (ECSC) Dynamic Purchasing System (DPS). We aim to award up to 3 contracts (1 per area) to partner organisations consisting of local employers, digital/ICT training providers, local authorities and the FE sector to evidence digital skills shortage vacancies and design and deliver approximately 12 week training courses to provide a pipeline of individuals to fill those roles (when possible we will expand to include other technical skills).The partnership will be linked into local networks and intelligence; if these links are not demonstrated bids will not be successful. A successful bid will show how: • employers are represented and leading on what training is delivered; • employers have set out their recruitment needs; • guaranteed interviews are secured as an outcome; • there is cash and/or in-kind support from recruiting employers; • how underrepresented groups and those with protected characteristics will be engaged and recruited to the training programmes; • participants recruited will be adults 19+ in work or recently unemployed; • proposed costs of training are determined, including how costs could be reduced through scaling up, whilst maintaining quality; • % alignment with apprenticeship occupational standards where available; • training will be delivered flexibly around other commitments including work, job seeking and caring; • participating organisations and individuals will commit to participate in user research and evaluation. Bids must detail the cash and/or in-kind contribution that employers will make, examples could include work experience or support with CVs, interview skills and other interpersonal skills — we are interested in ideas around this. This model will deliver training that meets employer’s immediate needs in a pre-employment phase, de-risking the recruitment process for them. We are interested in partnerships that have expertise and experience across all the following qualifying criteria: — building and maintaining employer networks; — designing training solutions that meet employer requirements (expected level 3-5 equivalent); — able to demonstrate a track record of high-quality training delivery; — track record of recruiting suitable trainees using open, transparent and fair methods; — flexible delivery to suit individual needs and current conditions; — management practises to track and report trainee destination at various time points for evaluation purposes; — management practises to co-ordinate employer’s guaranteed interviews and report on outcomes for evaluation purposes. We will not accept bids from organisations where both of the following are true: (a) they do not have experience across all of these essential areas individually; (b) they are unwilling to form a partnership or consortia to cover all of these essential areas collectively. We are keen to understand how these training courses align with occupational standards where available and encourage bids to describe the alignment. We anticipate that any successful provider(s) will deliver from December/January 2020 expect delivery to last approx. 12 weeks. The funding available to each area will depend on proposals from bidders, it will be calculated on how many people they would train to meet the demand they have identified. We anticipate that at least 75 % of all trainees will move into a new job or role. We wish to invite potential service providers to a market engagement online event on 21 July 2020. We are keen to explore market potential, appetite, and best practice. At the event, DfE will outline its aims and objectives for employer demand led digital training. The event will be an opportunity for potential service providers to share their opinion and expertise on how we could deliver the model and to help DfE to understand how its aims could be achieved. We would encourage organisations of any size with the necessary expertise to join in. The event will include an information session and a Q&A session and will be recorded and made available for a limited time.