Aspire Sussex Ltd

Invitation to quote

forthe

Evaluation of

Building Better Opportunities

Working Together for Workproject (Lot 1)

Date

23rdMarch, 2018

Introduction

Aspire Sussex provide community-based Adult Education that is vibrant, accessible, and sustainable and responds to the needs of our local communities.

Aspire Sussex is the lead partner for the Building Better Opportunities (BBO) - Working Together for Work (WTFW), a £673,000, project that aims to support adults and eligible young people within workless households to gain employment or training to support entry into the job market. The focus here is on supporting the family unit as a whole in order to secure one or more members of the same household entry into employment, education/training or progress into job search. The project is part funded by European Social Fund (ESF) and matched by Big Lottery Fund (BLF).

Aspire Sussex are working alongside seven partners to deliver this project in the Coast to Capital LEP area, in accordance with ESF andBLF guidelines, as follows:

Name / Office location / Delivery area
Albion in the Community / Brighton / Brighton
Aspire Sussex / Burgess Hill / West Sussex
My Sisters House CIC / Bognor Regis / Bognor Regis
Sussex Community Development Association / Newhaven / Lewes, Newhaven and Peacehaven
Surrey Care Trust / Woking / Surrey
Surrey Lifelong Learning Partnership / Woking / North Surrey
Sussex Oakleaf / Burgess Hill/Crawley / East and West Sussex
WEA / Merstham / Dorking, Leatherhead and Mole Valley in
East Surrey, and in LB Croydon.

This project is targeted to enrol and evidence engagement of 216 participants. Once suitability has been established and enrolment paperwork has been completed, anassessment of their individual needs is completed along with an action plan to identify interventions required. Evidence is provided to support the on-going progress of the participant.

The project has targets to exit participants either into employment, education/training and from the status economically inactive to unemployed.

In addition to Engagements and Exits there are targets for Outcomes. The project Outcomes to be measured are as follows:

  • Participant families enjoy an improved quality of family life
  • Participants become less socially isolated, and as a result enjoy improved projects
  • Participants enjoy improved self-confidence, and better emotional and/or mental health

The Evaluation

Aspire Sussex are looking to procure an external evaluator to develop an evaluation working in conjunction with the BBO Project Manager, Director for Community and Commercial Partnerships and the partners. The project commenced on 31st August, 2016 and will end on the 31st July, 2019. An interim evaluation is required upon commencement of this contract and a detailed final evaluation prior to the project closure is required.

The evaluation should focus on:

  • Identifying what works well, what we might want to change or improve to deliver the services more effectively.
  • Determine overall effectiveness of the project in delivering the desired engagements, results and outcomes

Baselines

Data from the Troubled Families programme will be used to benchmark this project based on:

  • % of families worked with achieving continuous employment result
  • % of families worked with achieving progress to work outcome

Project baselines, based on Troubled Families Programme performance data up to May 2015 are as follows:

National / Croydon / All Surrey / All East Sussex / All West Sussex
% of families worked with achieving continuous employment result / 10.1% / 15.9% / 6.9% / 4.5% / 54.4%
% of families worked with achieving progress to work outcome / 7.7% / 4.5% / 3.6% / 4.7% / 12.3%

Outputs

An Interim Evaluation Report and a more detailed conclusive Final Evaluation Report containing end-of-project analysis to are required to include:

  • An introduction to the project’s aims and objectives
  • The aims and objectives of the evaluation, including main evaluation
  • questions
  • How the evaluation was carried out
  • Findings, including achievements, good practice and innovations
  • Conclusion and recommendations

Submitting your tender

Please include the following information in your submission.

  • An introduction to yourself/organisation
  • Method statement
  • Budget proposal, which includes costs and relevant details
  • Examples of ESF or complex multi partner project evaluations previously completed
  • Staff roles and their related experience

Tender evaluation criteria

Your tender will be assessed on the following

Quality of methodology40%

Past experience of equivalent projects40%

Cost20%

Other information

Your tender document should not exceed 1000 words (excluding appendices)

Your entire proposal must be submitted electronically to no later than 16thApril,2018.

Shortlisted applicants will be contacted on 19thApril, 2018 for interviews on the 25thApril, 2018.

The maximum budget for this piece of work is £10,000 inclusive of VAT and travel and expenses. Detailed budgets must be provided.

Applicants can apply for both lots, however, the proposals and budgets must be kept separate.

Late tender submissions will not be accepted

If you are considering supplying a quote for this, please register your email so that I can keep all interested parties updated to answers to questions raised.

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