006. mandatory work activity instructions for bidders final v0.1

8/3/2019 006. Mandatory Work Activity Instructions for Bidders FINAL V0.1

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RESTRICTED COMMERCIAL IN CONFIDENCE

MWA Instructions for Bidders 1 FINAL V0.1

Commercial Directorate

Employment Related Support ServicesFramework Agreement

Mini Competition for the Mandatory WorkActivity Programme

Instructions for Bidders


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ContentsPage No.

Contents 2

Glossary of Terms 3

1. General InformationIntroduction 4High Level Timetable 4Contract Period 5Briefing Events 5Questions & Answers 5Status of Tenders 6Consistency of Tender Information 6Amendments to Tender Documents 7Inducements and Collusion 7

Conflict of Interest 7Costs and Expenses 7Confidentiality and Freedom of Information 8Publication of Contract Documents 9Complaints Process 9Feedback on DWPs Procurement Processes 9Sub-contracting 9Off shoring 10

2. Tendering InstructionsThe Procurement Process 11Invitation to Tender Form 11Submission of Tenders 13

3. Tender Receipt and ComplianceTender Receipt and Compliance 14Security Plan 15Clarification Process 16Notification of Results 16Disclaimer 16

Appendix A Details on Labelling Attachments 18Appendix B Evaluation and 20Selection of Preferred Bidders


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Glossary of Terms

BravoSolutions Electronic e-tendering portal

DWP Department for Work and Pensions

FOIA Freedom of Information Act 2000

ItT Invitation to Tender

CPA(s) Geographic areas where Bidders have been appointed (these arealigned to the Framework Lots)

MEAT Most Economically Advantageous Tender

MWA Mandatory Work Activity


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1 GENERAL INFORMATION

Introduction

1.1 These instructions, together with the Mandatory Work Activity (MWA)

Specification and all other information, to which they refer, are designed to ensurethat all the organisations who are invited to tender are given the opportunity tocompete on a fair and equal basis for these contracts. You must provide all theinformation asked for in the format and the order specified.

1.2 You should read them carefully to ensure that you are properly informed of therequirement in order to prepare a detailed response.

1.3 Where you have been invited to participate in more than one CPA , one Invitationto Tender Form (ItT) must be completed for each CPA e.g. if you wish to tenderfor five CPAs then five separate ItT Forms must be completed and submitted.Please note you may only tender for CPAs within the geographical CPAswhere you were appointed to the Employment Related Support ServicesFramework.

CPA (aligned toFramework Lots)

CPA sub-divisions

CPA 1South East

Hampshire and Isle of WightThames Valley (Berkshire, Buckinghamshire, Oxfordshire),Kent, Surrey and Sussex

CPA 2

South West

Devon and Cornwall

Dorset and Somerset, Gloucester, Wiltshire, and Swindon,West of England

CPA 3London

Ealing, Hammersmith & Fulham, Brent, Harrow, Hillingdon,Hounslow, Richmond Upon Thames, Kingston Upon Thames,Wandsworth, Enfield, Kensington & Chelsea, Barnet, Camden,Westminster, Islington, Haringey, Hackney, Newham, TowerHamlets, Barking & Dagenham, Redbridge, Havering, WalthamForest, City of London, Croydon, Bexley, Lambeth, Bromley,Greenwich, Lewisham, Southwark, Merton, Sutton

CPA 4East of England

Bedfordshire and Hertfordshire, Cambridge and SuffolkEssex, Norfolk

CPA 5East Midlands Nottinghamshire, Derbyshire, Lincolnshire and RutlandLeicestershire and Northamptonshire

CPA 6West Midlands

Birmingham and SolihullBlack Country, Coventry and Warwickshire, Staffordshire, TheMarches

CPA 7North West

Cumbria and Lancashire, Merseyside, Halton, GreaterManchester Central, Greater Manchester East and WestCheshire and Warrington

CPA 8Yorkshire andHumber

West Yorkshire, South Yorkshire, North East Yorkshire and TheHumber

CPA 9North East Northumbria, South Tyne and Wear Valley, Tees Valley


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CPA 10Scotland

Ayrshire, Dumfries, Galloway and Inverclyde, Edinburgh,CPAhian and Borders, Forth Valley, Fife and TaysideGlasgow, Highlands, Islands, Clyde Coast and GrampianLanarkshire and East Dunbartonshire

CPA 11

Wales

North and Mid Wales, South West Wales, South Wales Valleys,

South East Wales

1.4 The CPA Preference Form is a separate document which is part of the overallsuite of ItT documents. Please complete this Preference Form to indicate whichCPAs you wish to bid for. If you are only bidding in one CPA you must alsocomplete the form. This form must be returned by the 16 February 2011 to;[email protected]

High Level Timetable

1.5 Set out below is the proposed procurement timetable. This is intended as a guideand, whilst DWP does not intend to depart from it, DWP reserves the right to doso at any time.

ItT issued 14 February 2011

Mandatory Work Activity Event 17 February 2011

Deadline for Tender Questions 22 February 2011

Final Distribution of Questions andAnswers

24 February 2011

Deadline for Receipt of Tenders 28 February (noon)

Service Commencement Spring 2011

Contract Period

1.6 Referrals under the MWA contract will be made until March 2015 with the lastcustomer starting on a placement on or before the 31 March 2015. There willbe a further 4 week period for Providers to carry out their service deliveryobligations as outlined in the this document.

1.7 Contracts will have a common end date of 1 April 2015

Mandatory Work Activity Events

1.8 There will be a MWA briefing event on 17 February in Birmingham.

1.9 For the benefit of any organisation unable to attend the event, DWP will publishthe presentation slides on the Supplying DWP website together with full details of
mailto:[email protected]:[email protected]:[email protected]


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any questions raised and the answers that were provided, within 3 working daysof the event.

Questions and Answers

1.10 This ItT is being provided on the same basis to all bidders. DWP will not enterinto any discussion of the requirements with individual organisations at this stage.

1.11 All questions should be submitted in writing via the Bravosolution message facilityResponses will be returned via Bravosolution.

1.12 If DWP considers any question or requests for clarification to be of relevance tobidders generally, both the question and the response will be made anonymousand circulated in the form of a Question and Answer (Q&A) log to all tenderingorganisations. If a question is specific to your organisation then you should notify

DWP. If DWP intends to make a specific question into a generic one then it willinform you before sharing the question and response with all bidders and you willhave an opportunity to withdraw the question.

1.13 If you deem a question to be commercially confidential, then you should indicatethat you believe that to be the case. DWP will consider this and if in agreement,will exercise due discretion in handling the question and limiting the circulation ofthe answer(s) to your organisation. However DWP shall not be bound by anystatement from you that certain information is commercially confidential.

1.14 The last date for bidders to submit questions is 12 noon on 22

February 2011.

1.15 DWP will endeavour to provide a response to all questions within three workingdays. You will be sent the final Q&A log on the 24 February 2011. This shouldgive you sufficient time to finalise your tender before submission.

Status of Tenders

1.16 DWP does not undertake to accept any Tender and reserves the right to rejectthe whole (or any part) of any Tender. DWP reserves the right to reject a Tender

if you propose to add to or substitute any terms or conditions which are atvariance with, or inconsistent with, DWPs terms and conditions, or areotherwise unacceptable to DWP. For the avoidance of doubt, DWP will onlyconsider comments on the Additional Requirements highlighted in the OrderForm. Amendments to the Framework Agreement and Standard Call-OffContract terms & conditions will not be considered.

Please note, the Additional Requirements are being finalised andwill be issued by Friday 18th February 2011.

1.19 Your Tender should remain open for acceptance for a period of not less than six

months after the due date for the return of Tenders.


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1.20 A Call-Off Contract will not exist and work may not commence until a formalcontract has been signed and dated by DWP and by the Framework Providersuccessful in this competition. Details on the process for awarding Call-OffContracts are included at clause 7 of the Framework Agreement.

Consistency of Tender Information

1.21 It is your responsibility to ensure that the information you provide remainsconsistent throughout the competition. Under no circumstances will you bepermitted to make any amendments to your completed Tender after the closingdate.

1.22 You should notify us promptly, via the MWA mailbox detailed at paragraph 1.11,of any perceived ambiguity, inconsistency or omission in this ItT, any associateddocuments or information issued to you during the procurement process.

Amendments to Tender Documents

1.23 At any time prior to the deadline for the receipt of Tenders, DWP may modify theItT and any documents included in it including the Additional Requirements ofthe Call-Off Contract terms & conditions by amendment. In order to give biddersreasonable time to take the amendment into account in preparing their Tenders,DWP may, at its discretion, extend the deadline for the receipt of Tenders.

Inducements and Collusion

1.24 Offering an inducement of any kind in relation to this competition will disqualifyyour organisation from being considered and may constitute a criminal offence.Also, you must not try to obtain any information about any other organisationsproposal(s) before the completion of this competition, or make anyarrangements with anyone else about how or whether they should participate.

1.25 Direct or indirect canvassing of any Ministers, public sector employees or agentsby your organisation concerning this requirement, or any attempt to procureinformation from any Ministers, public sector employee or agent concerning thisItT may result in your organisations disqualification from consideration for this

requirement.

Conflict of Interest

1.26 If your organisation is bidding both individually and as part of one or moreSpecial Purpose Vehicles (SPVs), any potential risk arising regarding a conflictof interest will be the responsibility of your organisation and the otherorganisation(s) concerned.

Costs and Expenses


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1.27 You will not be entitled to claim for any costs or expenses that you may incur inpreparing and or submitting your Tender(s) to DWP. This applies whether or notyour organisation or any other organisation is successful. It also applies to anyadditional cost your organisation may incur as part of this competition if DWPterminates, modifies or amends the requirements.

1.28 DWP reserves the right to suspend or cancel this procurement without liability, ifcircumstances should arise that would make this necessary. Additionally, if theFramework Agreement has not been signed by a particular FrameworkProvider by the Framework signature deadline, you will not be on theFramework and therefore will not be eligible to submit a bid.

1.29 Under no circumstances will DWP be liable for any costs or expenses borne byany potential subcontractors, providers or advisers in relation to this Tenderprocess.

Confidentiality and Freedom of Information

1.30 DWP may disclose detailed information relating to Tenders to DWPs officers,employees, agents, advisers or co-commissioners, subject to the duty to protecteach organisations commercial confidentiality in relation to its Tender.

1.31 DWP also reserves the right to disseminate information that is materiallyrelevant to the procurement to all bidders, even if the information has only beenrequested by one organisation, subject to the duty to protect each organisationscommercial confidentiality in relation to its Tender.

1.32 DWP is committed to open government and to meeting our responsibilitiesunder the Freedom of Information Act 2000 (FOIA). All information supplied byorganisations as part of this competition will be treated as commercial inconfidence until the tender assessment process has been completed and allcontracts awarded. Subsequently, DWP may be required to disclose informationsubmitted by tendering organisations in response to a request received underFOIA. DWP may also be required to disclose details of unsuccessful Tenders.

1.33 DWP may decide to include certain information in the publication scheme, whichDWP maintains under FOIA. If your organisation considers that any of the

information included in your Tender is commercially sensitive, then you mustclearly identify it and explain (in broad terms) what harm may result from itsdisclosure if a request is received, and the period of time that is applicable tothat sensitivity.

1.34 Where information is identified as commercially sensitive, DWP will endeavourto maintain confidentiality. You should note however that even whereinformation is identified as commercially sensitive, DWP may still be required todisclose it under FOIA. In this case, DWP would contact your organisation todiscuss any such request that is made prior to public disclosure.

1.35 If you consider that any of the information included in your Tender iscommercially sensitive, please identify this information in the ItT Form and


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explain what harm may result from disclosure if a request is received, and thetime period applicable to that sensitivity. You should be aware that, even whereyou have indicated that information is commercially sensitive, DWP might berequired to disclose it under FOIA or as part of the Government's transparencyarrangements.

1.36 DWP acknowledges that some elements of your Tender may be covered by theData Protection Act 1998 and therefore may be exempt from disclosure underFOIA.

Publication of Contract Documents

1.37 The Government has set out the need for greater transparency across itsoperations to enable the public to hold public bodies and politicians toaccount. This includes commitments relating to public expenditure, intendedto help achieve better value for money. DWP, in this case, is obliged topublish ItT documents for contracts with a value over 10,000. In addition,Providers and those organisations looking to bid for public sector contractsshould be aware that if they are awarded a new contract with a value of over10,000, the resulting contract will be published. In circumstances where it isjustified, redactions will be made to contracts before they are published inorder to comply with existing law and for the protection of national security.

1.38 The Specification, ItT form and the Terms & Conditions will be published andviewable to the general public atwww.businesslink.gov.uk/ContractFinder

Complaints Process

1.39 DWP has published a commercial complaints process for use during competitiveprocurement. It comprises the documents listed below, which can be viewed at:

http://www.DWP.gov.uk/supplying-DWP/purchasing-in-DWP/DWP-commercial-complaints

DWPs Commercial Complaints process Information to accompany a commercial complaint DWPs Commercial Code of Practice Competitive Tendering

Feedback on DWPs Procurement Processes

1.40 DWP values feedback from existing and prospective providers, and alwayslooks to improve procurement processes and customerproviderrelationships. Details on giving feedback can be found at:

http://www.dwp.gov.uk/supplying-dwp/purchasing-in-dwp/feedback/

Sub-contracting
http://www.businesslink.gov.uk/ContractFinderhttp://www.businesslink.gov.uk/ContractFinderhttp://www.businesslink.gov.uk/ContractFinderhttp://www.dwp.gov.uk/supplying-DWP/purchasing-in-DWP/DWP-commercial-complaintshttp://www.dwp.gov.uk/supplying-DWP/purchasing-in-DWP/DWP-commercial-complaintshttp://www.dwp.gov.uk/supplying-dwp/purchasing-in-dwp/feedback/http://www.dwp.gov.uk/supplying-dwp/purchasing-in-dwp/feedback/http://www.dwp.gov.uk/supplying-DWP/purchasing-in-DWP/DWP-commercial-complaintshttp://www.dwp.gov.uk/supplying-DWP/purchasing-in-DWP/DWP-commercial-complaintshttp://www.businesslink.gov.uk/ContractFinder


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1.41 In line with DWPs Code of Conduct and the Merlin Standard it is arequirement that bidders have agreements in principle in place for all sub-contractors referenced within the tender for the Mandatory Work Activity. Anannex is provided in the ItT Form to capture this information. These agreements(and the contracts that will follow) must adhere to the requirements of the Code of

Conduct and the Merlin Standard. DWP reserves the right to contact any of thesub-contractors included in your Tender. Details on DWPs Code ofConduct andthe Merlin Standard can be found at:

http://www.dwp.gov.uk/supplying-dwp/what-we-buy/welfare-to-work-services/subcontractingwithdwp.shtml;

http://www.dwp.gov.uk/docs/merlin-standard.pdf;and,http://www.dwp.gov.uk/docs/sub-contracting-merlin-guidance.pdf

Offshoring (including Landed Resources and Nearshoring)

1.42 DWP Data must not be processed outside the United Kingdom without theprior written consent of DWP and must at all times comply with the DataProtection Act 1998. Where Tenderers (and/or their sub-contractors) areproposing to host at or access Departmental systems, services or officialinformation outside of the United Kingdom, or to bring foreign nationals to theUnited Kingdom to provide IT-enabled services in delivery of the Contract,Tenderers must submit an application for approval together with their bid. Fulldetails and application template available on request [email protected]
http://www.dwp.gov.uk/supplying-dwp/what-we-buy/welfare-to-work-services/subcontractingwithdwp.shtmlhttp://www.dwp.gov.uk/supplying-dwp/what-we-buy/welfare-to-work-services/subcontractingwithdwp.shtmlhttp://www.dwp.gov.uk/docs/merlin-standard.pdf;andhttp://www.dwp.gov.uk/docs/merlin-standard.pdf;andhttp://www.dwp.gov.uk/docs/sub-contracting-merlin-guidance.pdfhttp://www.dwp.gov.uk/docs/sub-contracting-merlin-guidance.pdfmailto:[email protected]:[email protected]:[email protected]://www.dwp.gov.uk/docs/sub-contracting-merlin-guidance.pdfhttp://www.dwp.gov.uk/docs/merlin-standard.pdf;andhttp://www.dwp.gov.uk/supplying-dwp/what-we-buy/welfare-to-work-services/subcontractingwithdwp.shtmlhttp://www.dwp.gov.uk/supplying-dwp/what-we-buy/welfare-to-work-services/subcontractingwithdwp.shtml


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2 TENDERING INSTRUCTIONS

The Procurement Process

2.1 You should complete and return all Tender Documents in accordance with theseinstructions. Please note you may only bid for CPAs where you areappointed to the Employment Related Support Services Framework.

2.2 You must not alter any of the documents.

2.3 If you no longer wish to progress with your Tender (for all or any of the CPAs)please notify us in writing, giving an outline of your reasons for not progressing, tothe address given below:[email protected]

2.4 Bidders may not use these instructions, the MWA Specification nor any otherinformation or documents, to which they refer or any part thereof or anyclarifications provided relating to it for any purpose other than preparing theirresponse. Copyright and any other intellectual property rights in all documentationcontained within these instructions, the MWA Specification and any otherinformation or documents relating to this ItT and any other further informationsupplied to Bidders are fully reserved.

2.5 Once your Tender has been submitted, withdrawal notifications must be receivedin writing, and should contain an outline of your reasons for withdrawal, to theaddress given above.

2.6 Bidders who currently undertake, or have previously undertaken, work for DWPwill be evaluated purely on their response to the ItT. Prior knowledge orexperience of organisations will not form part of the evaluation.

Invitation to Tender Form

2.7 Please ensure that you read these instructions carefully and note all of theinformation in this section before you complete your Tender(s).

2.8 You will be evaluated against the answers you provide to each question. If youfail to answer any of the questions or fail to comply with these instructions, youmay be eliminated from the competition.

2.9 Tenders must be completed using Microsoft Word (version which is compatiblewith Word 97), in English, black typeface and in Arial font size 12. All acronymsand abbreviations, if used, must be fully explained.

2.10 You are advised to read the Pricing Proposal and Guidance for Completion forinformation on how to complete the Pricing Proposal Documentation. Your PricingProposal should be submitted in a version which is compatible with Excel 2002.
mailto:[email protected]:[email protected]:[email protected]


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2.11 You are also advised to read the Security Plan Guidance for information on howto complete the Draft Security Plan which will build on the information submittedduring the Framework competition.

2.12 You must submit your draft Security Plan (All Sections) to reflect the requirements

and delivery proposals of this Tender exercise. It must be submitted in Word andExcel in a format compatible with Word/Excel 97. Bidders are reminded that theSecurity Plan documents must be embedded within the Security Guidance.

2.13 You must submit a separate set of Annexes 1 5 of the ItT Form, Security Plan,Pricing Proposal Template and ItT Form for each CPA you wish to bid for.However your CPA Preference form, should only be submitted once.

2.14 The format of the Annexes, Security Plan, Pricing Proposal, CPA Preference formmust be as follows: -

Annex 1 (Sub-contractor declaration) PDF onlyAnnex 2 (Organisation Chart) PDF onlyAnnex 3 (Resource Plan) PDF OnlyAnnex 4 (Implementation Plan) - PDF onlyCPA Preference Form Word (use template provided) to be returned by 16February 2011Security Plan Word or ExcelPricing Proposal Excel (use template provided)Off-shoring template (if required)

Files in Project format will not be accepted.

2.16 It is important that you use correctly named document attachments whensubmitting your tender(s). The table at appendix A of these instructions illustratesthe exact format that bidders must use.

2.17 You should answer all questions using the templates provided, presenting them inthe same sequence and using the same question references. Please ensure allanswers are self contained with no cross-referencing. When assessing andscoring tenders evaluators will only consider the response given at each question,i.e. if information is provided in another part of the ItT Form it will be disregarded,for the purposes of evaluating and scoring responses to the specific part/question.

2.18 Responses must not exceed the pre-set margins and space allocation. Anyresponse in excess of these allocations will be ignored. The question and thepage limit instructions are provided.

2.19 You can use the space allocation provided however you wish in order to provide aclear response. Therefore, bullets, tables, graphs and charts in support of yournarrative are all permitted. Narrative must remain in Arial font size 12, the onlyexception permitted is where this is not practicable for illustrative graphs or charts.

2.20 You must be both explicit and comprehensive in your response as this will be the

single source of information on which your Tender will be scored and ranked.Evasive, unclear or hedged responses will be discounted in evaluation. Failure


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to provide the required information, provide a satisfactory response to anyquestion or supply documentation referred to in the questions may mean that yourorganisation is eliminated from the competition.

2.21 Please ensure that all Tender information supplied is given the correct label (see

Appendix A). Annexes which include charts/graphs must be legible and beattached to the correct CPA tender response.

2.22 Only information provided as a direct response to the ItT will be evaluated.Information that forms part of general company literature or promotionalbrochures will not form part of the evaluation process and should not besubmitted.

2.23 DWP reserves the right to validate the information declared to assist in theevaluation of Tenders.

Submission of Tenders

2.24 DWP will be administering this stage of the procurement process electronicallyvia thedwp.bravosolution.co.ukportal.

2.25 The benefits to Framework Providers include:

Access 24 hours a day, 7 days a week and 365 days a year anywhere inthe world via the internet;

Eliminates postal, printing and storage costs;

Structured process and online questionnaires help you achieve compliantresponses;

Electronic approach means a faster process with less time spent onadministration.

2.26 Support available to help you to understand and use the system includes:

Toll-free helpdesk, available Mon-Fri 8am to 6pm (UK time in Englishlanguage only);

Help guides.

2.27 Please note that BravoSolution is the eSourcing managed service provider forthe Department for Work and Pensions portal; should you have any queries,please contact BravoSolutions dedicated supplier helpdesk by calling 0800 0112470 or emailing [email protected].

2.28 The Mandatory Work Activity ItT Form with all the annexes and attachmentsincluding the draft Security Plan, Pricing Proposal, CPA Preference form must besubmitted via the BravoSolution e-tendering portal no later than the closingdeadline of noon28th February 2011.
https://dwp.bravosolution.co.uk/web/login.shtmlhttps://dwp.bravosolution.co.uk/web/login.shtmlhttps://dwp.bravosolution.co.uk/web/login.shtmlmailto:[email protected]:[email protected]:[email protected]://dwp.bravosolution.co.uk/web/login.shtml


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2.29 Please allow sufficient time to submit your forms, as it will not be possible foryou to upload any further information after this time. IT problems within yourown system will not be considered reasonable grounds for late submission.

2.30 The information or text contained within this ItT (including its Annexes) and

your response, any variation of them and any formal interchange ofcorrespondence or information, may be incorporated, whether by reference orotherwise, into any subsequent agreement that DWP may enter into forprovision of the services as contemplated by this ItT.

2.31 Responses will be received on the understanding that the bidder accepts fullresponsibility for all statements made therein. In the event that any servicefails to deliver in the manner or to the extent stated in the bidders response,the bidder will be responsible for making good any deficiency without cost toDWP.

3 Tender Receipt and Compliance

Tender Receipt and Compliance

3.1 Tenders will be retained unopened until the deadline for receipt has passed. Alltenders will then be formally opened and logged in accordance with DWPprocurement procedures. The Tenders will undergo an initial compliance check toensure that all information requested has been received.

3.2 The qualitative information contained within the ItT Form will subsequently

undergo detailed compliance checking to ensure that the information provided isin the format and order specified within these instructions.

3.3 Failure to comply with any of the instructions given above will be considered topresent a compliance issue and will be dealt with as follows:

A minor compliance issue, e.g. bidder forgets to sign the declaration, a secondchance would be given to provide the signature; bidder exceeds the allocatedpage limit by a few lines on one or two occasions any additional information wouldbe disregarded for evaluation purposes.

Major compliance issues, i.e. action could be perceived to have given the biddera material advantage over other bidders e.g. alters formatting of the form tocreate additional space; alters instructions regarding page number allocation,consistently exceeds page limits. Any of these may result in a bidder beingimmediately eliminated from the competition.

3.4 The financial information will be passed to the financial team for their detailedcompliance checking. Such information will only be accessed and retained by thatteam who will hold all such information on a restricted basis.

3.5 Your Tender may be rejected if instructions are not complied with, if any of thedocuments in this ItT pack are altered (except so far as is necessary to add yourtender response in accordance with these instructions), if all of the required


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information is not submitted by the stated deadline or if the price proposal is notprepared in accordance with the price proposal guidance provided with this ItTpack.

3.6 All compliant Tenders will be subject to separate formal Qualitative Evaluation,

Financial Evaluation and Combined Analysis. Further information is contained inAppendix B of this document.

Security Plan

3.7 The Security Plan will build on the information submitted during the FrameworkCompetition. The response will be reviewed to assess the level of maturity of thedraft security plan. The key milestones for security must be addressed in theimplementation plan Part 9 of the tender form refers. Organisations that reachpreferred bidder stage will be required to provide a final security plan forapproval 20 days after contract signing. The following key milestones must bemet to ensure approval is received in time for contract go live date:-

Task Milestone

Submission of Updated Security Plan to reflectrequirements and Delivery proposals of minicompetition

With Tender submission28 February 2011

Submission of Final Security Plan 20 days after Contract signing

Completion of independent penetration testing At least 3 weeks prior to Go-

liveApproval for access to PRaP information At least 1 week prior to Go-live


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Clarification Process

3.8 Please include two points of contact for your organisation in Part 1 of the TenderForm. DWP will not be responsible for contacting your organisation through anyroute other than the nominated contacts. You must therefore notify us of any

changes relating to contacts promptly using the following email address:[email protected]

3.9 During the evaluation process, DWP may wish to clarify aspects of your Tender.In those instances DWP will send any questions by e-mail to your nominatedcontact person, who should e-mail a response by the deadline that will be given toyou. In these circumstances you should only answer the questions raised and anyadditional and unrelated information will be disregarded.

Notification of Results

3.10 Following the contract award all Bidders will be informed by e-mail of the followinginformation:

the award criteria (Appendix B); the score they achieved against those criteria; the score the successful organisation(s) achieved against those criteria; any other mechanisms which impacted the outcome of the evaluation as

detailed in Appendix B including the risk assurance rating; and the name(s) of the successful organisation(s).

3.11 All bidders will receive written feedback on their Tenders following the formalaward of contracts.

3.12 DWP will publish an Award Notice in The Cabinet Office Efficiency & ReformGroup publication area,www.businesslink.gov.uk/ContractFinder

Disclaimer

3.13 DWP reserves the right, subject to the appropriate procurement regulations, tochange without notice the basis, structure or content of, or the procedures for, thecompetitive tendering process.

3.14 DWP reserves the right to discontinue this tendering process at anytime and notto award a contract.

3.15 Under no circumstances shall DWP incur any liability in respect of this ItT or anysupporting documentation.

3.16 Neither DWP nor its advisers make any representation or warranty (express orimplied) as to the accuracy, adequacy or completeness of the ItT document pack,or the reasonableness of any assumption on which it is based. DWP accepts noliability to any organisation whatsoever and howsoever arising and whetherresulting from the use of the ItT document pack, or any deficiencies in or
mailto:[email protected]:[email protected]://www.businesslink.gov.uk/ContractFinderhttp://www.businesslink.gov.uk/ContractFinderhttp://www.businesslink.gov.uk/ContractFinderhttp://www.businesslink.gov.uk/ContractFindermailto:[email protected]


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omissions from the ItT document pack. This exclusion does not extend to anyfraudulent misrepresentation made by or on behalf of DWP.

3.17 DWP does not accept any responsibility for any estimates made by anyorganisation of resources to be employed in meeting our requirements for the

Mandatory Work Activity, or for any other assumption that organisation may havedrawn or will draw from any subsequent clarifications or refinements.

3.18 You should note that participation in the procurement is conditional uponagreement to, and full compliance with, these conditions.

3.19 You are advised that nothing herein, or in any other communication madebetween DWP and any other person shall be taken as constituting a contract,agreement or representation that a contract for services shall be offered inaccordance herewith or at all.


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Appendix A

LABELLING YOUR TENDER FORMS: FILE NAMES

It is vitally important, when using e-procurement systems that bidders correctly namedocument attachments prior to uploading to BravoSolution. The table below illustratesthe exact format that bidders must use.

TENDER FILE NAMES

Document File Name ExampleItT Form CPA[no.] Your

OrganisationsName

CPA 1 ABC Ltd

ItT Form Annex 1Sub-contractordeclaration(s)

(Submit one Annex1 perCPA)

CPA[no.] Annex1Your OrganisationName

CPA1 Annex1 ABC Ltd

ItT Form Annex 2Organisation Chart


CPA[no.] Annex2Your OrganisationsName

CPA1 Annex2 ABC Ltd

ItT Form Annex 3Resource Plan



CPA1 Annex3 ABC Ltd

ItT Form Annex 4Implementation Plan

This may be produced inMS Project but must beconverted to MS Word orExcel before upload to

Bravo. (Submit oneAnnex4 per CPA).


CPA1 Annex4 ABC Ltd

Security Plan(Guidance documentwith embedded files)

(Submit one Security Planper CPA)

CPA[no.] SecurityPlan YourOrganisations Name

CPA1 Security Plan ABCLtd

Pricing Proposal

(Submit one Proposal perCPA)

CPA[no.] PricingProposal YourOrganisations Name

CPA1 Pricing ProposalABC Ltd


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Offshoring(including LandedResources andNearshoring)

CPA[no.] OffshoringTemplate YourOrganisations Name

CPA1 OffshoringTemplate ABC Ltd


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Appendix BINFORMATION FOR BIDDERS

MANDATORY WORK ACTIVITY MINI-COMPETITIONEVALUATION OF BIDS AND SELECTION OF PREFERRED BIDDERS

Contents

Section Descriptor Page

1 High Level Process 21

2 Basic Principles 22

3 Qualitative Evaluation 23

4 Financial Evaluation 26

5 Combined Score 26

6 Selection of Preferred Bidders 27


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1. HIGH LEVEL PROCESS FOR EVALUATION OF BIDS AND SELECTION OFPREFERRED BIDDERS

This diagram is intended to set out the separate steps in theevaluation of your bid

Each of the steps will be explained in detail within this document

QualitativeEvaluation

Minimum score of190 achieved

Financial Evaluation

Combined Score

Bidder Allocation Process


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2. BASIC PRINCIPLES

Framework Providers can only submit bids for CPAs where they have been

successful in the Framework competition and have agreed and signed theirFramework Agreement with DWP.

There will be a separate competition for each CPA and a separate bid must besubmitted for each contract you bid for.

The answer to each question must be self-contained and must not containreferences to the responses to other questions in that bid or within any otherbid.

Qualitative and Financial evaluations will be undertaken separately

The breakdown of the scoring will be as follows:

o 90% score from Finance and 10% from Quality

Bidders will be asked to express their preference(s) for CPAs. This may betaken into account when identifying preferred bidders.


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3. QUALITATIVE EVALUATION

3.1. Framework Providers will be required to submit a separate Tender Form foreach Contract where they are eligible to bid. Responses need to be specific tothe local area. Some local information can be accessed through the web link at

paragraph 4.02 of the Specification.

3.2 DWP does need to understand how you propose to deliver the service. Theevaluation will focus on the suitability, credibility and deliverability of yourproposal, rather than specific process and actions you will take.

3.3 The Qualitative Evaluation score will account for a maximum of 10% of theCombined Evaluation Score.

3.4 The following table sets out what percentage of the Qualitative Evaluation scoreis attributed to each section of the ItT response:

Section Descriptor Impact

Part 1 Organisation Details Not ScoredPart 2 Tender Declaration Not ScoredPart 3 Agreement to Call-off T & Cs Not ScoredPart 4 Service Requirement 25%Part 5 Supply Chain Management 15%Part 6 Resources 15%Part 7 Stakeholder Engagement 5%

Part 8 Performance 25%Part 9 Implementation 15%

Part 10 Off-shoring Not scored

* CPA Preference Not Scored** Security Plan Not Scored

* The Preference form may inform the Preferred Bidder Selection process wherethe Framework Provider has bid in more than one CPA.

** The Security Plan will build on the Plan submitted by Framework Providersbut will focus on the security needs of the Mandatory Work Activity delivery.

3.5 The tender response to each question within each part of the bid will beevaluated using the following criteria and sub criteria.

3.6 Each question will then be assessed and evaluated using the scoring matrix setout below


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EXCELLENT

Score 10

COMPLETELY MEETS THE REQUIREMENT ANDADDS SIGNIFICANT ADDED VALUE

The Tender meets the requirements to deliver anexcellent quality service, and offers a realistic

prospect of performance in excess of the minimumstandards. The Tender offers significant added valuein terms of detailed supporting evidence andexamples, with sound rationale and justificationsproviding full and additional assurance around thequality of the Tender.

GOOD

Score 5

COMPLETELY MEETS THE REQUIREMENT

The Tender fully meets the requirements and offers aservice that is good quality. The Tender providessufficient evidence to provide assurance that it isdeliverable and realistic.

DOUBTFUL

Score 2

MEETS SOME OF THE REQUIREMENT BUTFAILS IN PARTS

The Tender meets the requirement in parts but isunclear and unconvincing in others. Some risks tothe delivery of the service are identified or insufficientinformation is provided to give assurance that the

minimum requirement is met.

POOR

Score 0

SIGNIFICANTLY FAILS TO MEET THEREQUIREMENT

The Tender significantly fails to meet the requirementin most or all key areas. Significant risks to thedelivery of the service are identified or insufficientinformation is provided to give assurance that theminimum requirement is met.

3.7 In addition weightings will be applied to individual questions within each heading.These are set out below. (Those questions that are not included in the tablebelow will not be scored).


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HEADING QUESTION WEIGHTING TOTAL WEIGHTED SCOREAVAILABLE

ServiceRequirement

4.1 X 9.5 95

SERVICE

REQUIREMENT

TOTAL SCORE 95

25% of TOTAL SCORE OF380

Supply ChainManagement

5.1 X 1.5 15


5.2 X 1 10


5.3 X 1 10


5.4 X 1 10


5.5 X 0.6 6


5.6 X 0.6 6


TOTAL SCORE 5715% of TOTAL SCORE OF380

Resources 6.1 X 5.7 57Resources TOTAL SCORE 57


StakeholderEngagement

7.1 X 1.9 19

StakeholderEngagement

TOTAL SCORE 195% of TOTAL SCORE OF380

Performance 8.1 X 9.5 95Performance TOTAL SCORE 95


Implementation 9.1 X 3 30Implementation 9.2 X 2.7 27

Implementation TOTAL SCORE 5715% of TOTAL SCORE OF380

3.8 The assessment of a bidders quality submission will generate an absolutescore. The score for each question/part of the Tender will be multiplied by itsrespective weighting to give a total score. The maximum score available is 380.Successful bidders will only be taken forward to the financial evaluation stage ifthey have achieved a minimum quality score of 190.


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4. FINANCIAL EVALUATION

Mandatory Work Activity: Financial Evaluation Approach

Introduction

4.1 The DWP will cross reference the delivery proposal to the individual elementscontained in the financial pricing proposal to ensure consistency.

4.2 The financial price evaluation will consist of the assessment of the average costper start on Mandatory Work Activity over the four year period.

4.3 DWP will supply indicative volumes of starts by year and the indicative annualbudget.

4.4 DWP have set a maximum price that we will pay for each start over the duration

of the contract. We then invite price bids based on the number of starts that thebidder can deliver. The Average Unit Cost per start, over the four year period,will be used within the financial assessment.

4.5 The financial evaluation score will account for a maximum of 90% of thecombined score.

The price will be assessed by setting the lowest submitted bid price as the pricebenchmark, the cheapest Average Unit Cost per CPA will score 100 marks. Ifthe next cheapest price was 10% more expensive then this price would score 90marks and so on.

Working Capital

4.6 The DWP is looking to obtain assurance and evidence that Bidders can securethe necessary internal financial and / or external financial resources to funddelivery. The DWP is not prescriptive around the type of financial instrumentsused for working capital as this will vary for each organisation, but tangible writtenevidence will be required at preferred Bidder stage to support Bidders maximumworking capital requirements as per your bid, Bidders are required to include a20% stretch in their working capital evidence.

5 Combined Score

5.1 Once the scores have been agreed for Quality, the Price will be scored andadded to the qualitative scores.

5.2 The highest Quality bid (marked out of 380), when normalised will score 100. Allother bids are awarded marks as a percentage variance from the highest score,e.g. if the top Quality score is 250 this will achieve a normalised score of 100.The next highest Quality score, e.g. 200 will achieve a normalised score of 80.

5.3 The price will be assessed by setting the lowest submitted bid price as the pricebenchmark; the cheapest Average Unit Cost per CPA will score 100 marks. If


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the next cheapest price was 10% more expensive then this price would score 90marks and so on.

5.3 The Overall Score is then calculated by adding 10% of the normalised QualityScore and 90% of the normalised Price score to give a maximum possible final

score out of 100. This will produce an overall (Quality and Price) tender markranking of tenders which will inform the selection of successful suppliers.


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MWA TENDER CHECKLISTTender Checklist

*Has Part 2 Declaration by Tenderer been completed? Yes/No

*Has the tender form been submitted by a legally constituted organisation? Yes/No

*Has a CPA tender form been completed for area bidding for? Yes/No

* Has a Sub Contractor Declaration form as per part 5.1 been submittedand saved in the correct format: CPA[no.] Annex1 Your OrganisationName

Yes/No

* Has an Organisation Chart been supplied as per Part 5.2 of the tenderform and saved in the correct format? CPA[no.] Annex2 YourOrganisations Name

Yes/No

*Has a Resource Plan been supplied as per Part 6.1 of the CPA tenderform and saved in the correct format? CPA[no.] Annex3 YourOrganisations Name

Yes/No

* Has an Implementation Plan been supplied as per Part 9.1 of the CPAtender form and saved in the correct format? CPA[no.] Annex4 YourOrganisations Name

Yes/No

*Is the tender form submitted in English, Arial font size 12 and within thepreset margins of the tender form template?

Yes/No

*Are your additional documents in the correct format? i.e. Microsoft OfficeSuite?

Yes/No

* Is the tender form labelled in the format of: CPA[no.] YourOrganisations Name

Yes/No

Security Plan Yes/No

*Has the draft Security Plan been supplied and labelled in the format of:CPA[no.] Security Plan Your Organisations Name

Yes/No

Price Proposal Yes/No

*Has the price proposal document been fully completed in sterling? Yes/No

*Has it been saved in the format of: CPA[no.] MWA Pricing ProposalYourOrganisations Name and annotated RESTRICTED FINANCIAL?

Yes/No

*Has the price proposal and financial information been uploaded? Yes/No

*DWP Offshore Proposal Template to be completed where Tenderer and/ortheir subcontractors propose to host at or access Departmental systems,services or official information outside of the United Kingdom or to bringforeign nationals to the United Kingdom to provide IT-enabled services indelivery of the Contract.

If required, has a form been completed ensuring that you provide all theinformation requested

Yes/No