Pro5 Group of Professional Buying Organisations

Eastern Shires Purchasing Organisation

On behalf of the

Pro5 Group of Professional Buying Organisations

Invitation to Tender

Framework agreement for the provision of

Systematic Synthetic Phonics Resources

Closing date for tenders:6 June 2011 (12 noon)

Indicative framework commencement date:30 June 2011)

ESPO Contract Reference 959/PMay 2011

Eastern Shires Purchasing Organisation
Barnsdale Way, GrovePark, Enderby, Leicester LE19 1ES

CONTENTS

GLOSSARY OF KEY TERMS

1.Espo and Pro5

2.introduction and Background

3.scope and term of contract

4.procurement process

5.conditions of tender

6.preparation and format of tenders

7.specification

8.draft framework agreement (INCLUDING APPENDICES)

appendix a - tender submission pack

1.Contact Details

2.form of tender

3.scope of tender

4.tendering certificate

5.tenderers business QUESTIONNAIRE

6.PRODUCTS AND SERVICES OFFERED (INCLUDING pricES)

Schedule A

Schedule B

(Note - there is no Schedule C in this tender documemt)

Schedule D

7.Supporting information

8.freedom of information

9.Schedule Q - qualification of offer

Appendix b – Pro5 Delivery and invoicing

QUESTIONS

Questions relating to this invitation to tender documentation, or the proposed new Framework Agreement, should be sent in writing to:

Jane Blois, Buyer (Strategic Procurement & Commissioning)
Eastern Shires Purchasing Organisation
Barnsdale Way, Grove Park, Enderby, Leicester LE19 1ES
E-mail:

A log will be maintained of all questions raised, which will be circulated periodically to all prospective bidders. The final date for raising any questions is 23 May 2011.

1

GLOSSARY OF KEY TERMS

DfE / Shall mean Department for Education
ESPO / Shall mean Eastern Shires Purchasing Organisation acting on behalf of Pro5
Phonics / Shall mean Systematic Synthetic Phonics
Pro5 / Shall mean the group of professional public sector purchasing organisations as described in section 1
Scheme / Group of products or training courses intended for use together as a whole programme
The Customer / Shall mean the school or organisation originating the order to the Pro5 which is then supplied by the supplier.
The Supplier / Shall mean the supplier appointed under this framework agreement to supply goods included in either or both of Schedules A and B.

1

1. Espo and Pro5
2. The Eastern Shires Purchasing Organisation (ESPO) is a local authority purchasing consortium operating throughout the Midlands and East of England. It is a member of the Pro5 group of Professional Buying Organisations (PBOs), whose other members are:

• Central Buying Consortium (CBC)
• West Mercia Supplies (WMS)
• North East Purchasing Organisation (NEPO)
• Yorkshire Purchasing Organisation (YPO).
• For key areas, buyers in all five Professional Buying Organisations will work together to undertake one market engagement, working in partnership together but with a ‘lead’ PBO being established in terms of the procurement process.
• ESPO (on behalf of its Pro5 partners) has been engaged by the Department for Education as the lead body, in a project to establish framework agreements for the provision of Systematic Synthetic Phonics teaching resources and training for schools. This will be the route through which schools will be able to access match funding to subsidise school purchases of these products and services.

PRO5

1.4ESPO, CBC, YPO, WMS and NEPO have agreed to work together as ‘Pro5’, recognising that local authorities are facing increasingly demanding efficiency and improvement agendas and have a requirement placed upon them to respond to these demands by providing more effective procurement solutions. The Pro5 can also offer a distribution network and Distribution Centre operation that covers the whole of England.

1.5These five Professional Buying Organisations (PBOs), with a combined purchasing power of in excess of £2 billion per annum, will identify aggregation opportunities in key market areas and engage the market accordingly. This approach of more aggregation, and thus increased volumes to the market, is intended to promote a market response which will deliver better deals and more effective contract arrangements than if local authorities and other public sector bodies continued to work separately. Furthermore it will assist authorities in improving environmental and sustainability performance.

THE PRO5 MEMBERSHIP

1.6The Pro5 map shows the areas in the UK covered by Pro5. However as Central Purchasing Bodies as defined by the EU Combined Procurement Directive, the contracts will be open to the entire public sector within the UK.

1.7Pro5 delivery and invoice addresses can be found in Appendix B

For further information about the Pro5, please see

1

1. introduction and Background

In November 2010, The Department for Education published The Schools White Paper, The Importance of Teaching which made a commitment to ensure there is support available for schools for the teaching of Systematic Synthetic Phonics as the best method of teaching reading. Synthetic phonics refers to an approach associated with the teaching of reading in which phonemes (sounds) associated with particular graphemes (letters) are pronounced in isolation and blended together (synthesised).

The White Paper made a commitment to provide government funding for all(approximately 16,000) schools with Key Stage 1 pupils, so that they can purchase high quality systematic synthetic phonics training and classroom teaching resources. Core criteria that define the key features of an effectivesystematic synthetic phonics scheme were published to help schools in selecting an effective programme. In April 2011, the Government announced that it was to provide up to £3,000 of match-funding for individual schools to be used for purchasing approved training and products that best suits their needs. This means that each eligible school will be able to spend up to £6,000 on these items and only be charged directly for 50% of this. Funding will be available between June 2011 to March 2013 to schools with Key Stage 1 pupils in England and it is at the discretion of the individual schools to decide if and on what items from an approved list that funding is spent.

ESPO, on behalf of the Pro5 has been engaged by the Department to procure systematic synthetic phonics products and training from multiple suppliers and to provide a route through which this funding will be channelled. As a result of this and other EU compliant tendering processes, the Pro5 will produce a dedicated phonics catalogue, containing products and training that comply with the stipulated criteria. The marketing of this catalogue will be undertaken by Pro5 members and the catalogue will be available to all schools eligible to receive the match funding. The catalogue will also be available online giving details of how items may be purchased.

Schools will be able to buy whole programmes or additional resources to supplement their existing schemes. Classroom resources may include whole sets of teaching materials, sets of decodable books, teachers’ books and accessories, and training may be for individual teachers or groups of staff. Schools that are not eligible for match funding will also be able to use the catalogue to source their synthetic phonics requirements.

The first full colour printed catalogue will be available to schools in September 2011, with an updated version available from April 2012. It is also the intention to have some products and training availableby the end of June 2011. These will be advertised online with details of how the items may be purchased. All orders and invoices will be administered by Pro5 which will limit the administrative burden on firms, making this an attractive opportunity for all suppliers, including the SME community.

Products contained in the catalogue will be supplied to schools through the following routes:

• Items stocked and distributed by the Pro5 (with delivery by the supplier to a maximum of SIX addresses throughout England, these being the distribution centres of the Pro5 member organisations whose locations are given in Appendix B)
• Items which will be ordered and invoiced through the Pro5 (on behalf of schools), but supplied directly to schools (these items will generally be bulky or of a higher value than Pro5 stocked lines)

This tender document relates only to the supply of Systematic Synthetic Phonics classroom resources (i.e. products).

A separate invitation to tender has been issued (ref 959/T) which covers the provision of phonics training services.

1. scopeand term of contract

All goods and services supplied under this framework agreement must comply with the Department of Education criteria for systematic synthetic phonics.

Only approved products and services available through the designated catalogue will be eligible for match funding, but all schools that are able to trade with the Pro5 may purchase items regardless of their funding status.

All products will be available for distribution to schools throughout England.

All orders and invoices for products will be processed by Pro5. A maximum of SIX accounts is envisaged.

As this is a new venture, sales forecasting and annual requirements are extremely difficult to calculate. The project will be monitored on an ongoing basis throughout the period of the contract and suppliers will be updated regarding any particularly significant demand levels. Inclusion on the framework is no guarantee of business. Where stock is required for delivery to Pro5 Distribution Centres, estimated annual volumes will be discussedwith successful individual suppliers. For all catalogue items, the quantities contracted for will be the quantities ordered by the Pro5 members.

Pro5addresses for delivery and correspondence can be found in Appendix B of this document.

Contract Term

It is envisaged that theframework will be awarded for an initial period of 1 year and 9 months from 30 June 2011 to 31 March 2013, with an option to extend for up to a further 24 months.

1

1. procurement process

PROCEDURE

4.1An ‘Open’ tendering procedure has been adopted by ESPO for this procurement as detailed in the European Communities Combined Directive (2004/18/EC) and the Public Contracts Regulations 2006. In brief, the process will be as follows:

4.2All organisations expressing an interest in the Framework Agreement have been sent an Invitation to Tender document and their subsequent bid will initially be evaluated to ensure that all the stated essential qualifying criteria will be met.

4.3All bids which meet the essential qualifying criteria will be evaluated in full against the award criteria – this is explained in further detail on the following pages.

4.4Full instructions on how to prepare and submit your tender are given in Section 6 Preparation and Format of Tendersof this document.

EVALUATION OF TENDERS

4.5All tenders received will be evaluated by a panel comprising officers of ESPO and from the Department for Education, which constitute the project group for this procurement.

4.6Throughout the evaluation process, the right is reserved to seek from tenderers additional information or clarification at any stage.

4.7Tenderers should note that regardless of a bid’s overall merits, in the event that evaluating officers (acting reasonably) consider there to be a fundamental weakness likely to impact adversely upon the use or supply of products, then grounds exist to exclude the bid from further consideration.

4.8Included in the fundamental weakness provision will be any insistence by the tenderer that a qualification of offer shall prevail which in ESPO’s reasonable opinion is unacceptable.

4.9Tenderers should note that there is no intention to determine selection on price or otherwise via an e-auction. You should therefore submit the best prices you can.

4.10There will be a two-stage evaluation process. The objective of the first stage will be to asses all tenders against a number of Qualifying Criteria, designed to assess organisations’ general suitability as a potential Supplier. Tenderers which pass the qualifying stage will all proceed to stage 2 of the process, which is designed to identify those Suppliers whom it is proposed to include in the framework. These will be selected on the basis of Most Economically Advantageous Tender, as described in Stage 2 – Award Criteria.

Stage 1 – Qualifying Criteria

4.11Assessment against Qualifying Criteria is essentially a pass/fail exercise, designed to ensure that those tenderers who proceed to stage 2 evaluation are considered suitable suppliers of goods.

4.12The basis for the evaluation will be tenderers’ response toSection 6, Business Questionnaireof Appendix A Tender Submission pack. For each element in the assessment, there is a minimum standard which tenderers must meet (or exceed) in order to progress to stage 2 of the evaluation process.

4.13The qualifying criteria and minimum standards are as follows:

Compliance of bid / Tenderers must submit a fully compliant tender, submitted on time, complete with a signed Form of Tender,Tendering Certificate, Declaration and Qualification of Offer
A bid that is not fully compliant with the above will fail.
Financial Stability
6.2 / In accordance with regulation 24.b.ii of the Public Contract Regulations 2006, ESPO shall establish the financial stability of a company by means of an external credit reference agency in this case Creditsafe. Any company given a rating of 29 or less will fail.
In the event that a tender is rejected for not meeting the threshold, then the onus will be on the tenderer to request clarification from Creditsafe.
Tenderers for whom a Creditsafe report is unavailable will be asked to provide copies of audited accounts or similar documentation upon which an assessment of their financial standing may be based. Any Tenderer providing less than satisfactory accounts or documentation and therefore giving rise to concerns that cannot be satisfied regarding their financial standing, will fail.
Failure by the tenderer to provide financial accounts within 7 working days of a request to do so may result in the tender being rejected.
Insurance
6.2.7-6.2.8 / Tenderers must either have, or if successful be willing to obtain, the minimum levels of insurance which are as follows:
£5 million Public Liability
£5 million Product liability
£5 million Employer’s Liability
Any bidder who does not meet the minimum insurance levels and is not willing to increase their insurance policies if awarded a position on the framework will fail.
Experience and References
6.3 / Tenderers must have a recent track record of delivering products or services (as applicable) similar to those applied for in this tender. References will be sought from existing clients bodies to confirm satisfactory service delivery and contractual performance. ‘Recent’ in this context means three years, unless the company has been trading for a shorter period, in which case the relevant experience of the key individuals involved must be described and will be assessed.
Tenderers who cannot demonstrate the above required track record, confirmed by references, or who do not nominate the most relevant referees from their client list, will fail.
Quality Assurance
6.4 / Tenderers are required to operate to good quality and customer care standards, The organisation’s quality assurance system must be documented.
Any tenderers who on the evidence of their submission do not operate in accordance with the above requirements will fail.
Sustainability
6.7-6.8 / Tenderers are required to demonstrate that they operate in ways which are sustainable and which have due regard to environmental impact. Whilst a formal written policy is not necessarily required, tenderers should evidence that they apply practical measures to minimise the impact of their operations on the environment.
Any tenderers who on the evidence of their submission do not operate in accordance with the above requirements will fail.
Equality
6.47 / The company’s staff recruitment procedures must be compliant with all legislation relating to equality of opportunity and the treatment of staff in employment matters.
Any tenderers who on the evidence of their submission do not operate in accordance with the above requirements will fail.

Stage 2 – Award Criteria

4.14Evaluation of all qualifying tenders received (i.e. those which pass Stage 1 of the evaluation process) will be carried out by reference to ‘price’ and ‘non-price’ award criteria. The total price percentage score added to the non price percentage score will give the Grand Total of percentage points scored and the contract will normally be awarded to the tenderer/s with the highest points.

4.15Price will carry 40% of the overall marks.
Non-price will carry 60% of the overall marks.

Price

4.16For the purpose of evaluating price, broadly similar products will be compared with each other, and the lowest priced example awarded 40 points. Comparable products priced higher will score fewer points, according to a linear scale in which an item twice as expensive scores half the available points.

Non-Price

4.17All products must meet the Annex Acore criteria detailed in this tender document and in addition to this Annex C criteria for products intended to be used for “catch up”.

4.18Products will be assessed by reference to the DfE’s criteria for systematic synthetic phonics. For each Scheme (or group of products intended to be used together) that you are submitting products for, a copy of Schedule D must be completed outlining how the scheme meets the criteria. For each product, an assessment will be made as to the extent to which it is consistent with each of the criteria.

4.19If a product is assessed as completely failing to meet one or more of the criteria, then that product may be rejected. Tenderers submitting supplementary products should explain why a particular criterion is not applicable to the product and explain how the product should be used in teaching. This may be noted in Schedule D.

4.20In addition to a product’s conformity with the DfE’s criteria, an assessment will also be made of its suitability to withstand its intended use in a classroom environment, and products may be rejected, regardless of their other merits, if they are assessed as failing this test.

4.21Tenderers are required to indicate (in section 6.5 of the Business Questionnaire) their stockholding and delivery lead times. They should note that delivery will normally be required within a maximum of 28 days from receipt of order.

4.22If required in order to make a full assessment of any product, samples may be called for. Tenderers will be notified of the administrative details for this with the request, however you should note that all samples will need to be fully labelled and a prompt delivery to ESPO in Leicester will be required.

AWARD OF CONTRACT (FRAMEWORK)

4.23Upon conclusion of the evaluation of tenders, those bidders whom it is agreed should be included in the Framework Agreement will be advised accordingly.

4.24ESPO does not bind itself to accept the lowest or any tender, and unless a tenderer expressly states that a partial award will not be acceptable, then the right is reserved to accept a tender in part.

4.25Upon conclusion of all the above stages, a formal Framework Agreement will be entered into between ESPO and the successful Tenderer(s). Unsuccessful Tenderers will be advised of this in writing.