GUIDANCE DOCUMENT
Cheshire East Borough Council
REQUEST FOR QUOTATION FOR
THE PROVISION OF
Employee Engagement Survey
Contract Period:
14th June 2013 to 31st March 2015,
with 2 X 12 month options to extend.
CHEST REFERENCE: NWCE-97SRGX
© 2013
Copyright – Cheshire East Council - All rights reserved
No part of this publication may be reproduced,
stored in a retrieval system or transmitted
in any form or by any means electronic,
mechanical, photocopying, recording or
otherwise without the prior written permission
of the Council
Version 0.9
1
Cheshire East Borough Council
REQUEST FOR PROPOSAL FOR
Employee Engagement Survey
SUMMARY INSTRUCTIONS AND DETAILS OF CONTRACT
ITEM
Contract
Description:
CONTRACT DETAILS
The contract is in three parts:
Part 1: Design and deliver an Employee
Engagement Survey to all Cheshire East Council
employees. Analyse, interpret , produce, deliver and
action the results of the survey. Aniticipated
timeframe for this first phase is between 14th June
2013 – 31st March 14.
Part 2: Carry out or advise on further temperature
testing – phase 2. Anticipated timeframe for this
phase is 1st April 14 – 31st March 15.
Part 3 – Undertake a further full survey in around 2
years time, on condition phase 1 and 2 is successful
and that Cheshire East Council still have this
requirement. 1st April 15 – 31st March 16.
The total value of the contract not to exceed
£75,000.
Quantity:
Period of Contract:
As per specification
14th June 2013 to 31st March 2015 (initial period).
The Council may extend this agreement beyond the
Initial Period by further periods of 12 months at a
time up to a maximum of a further 24 months from
31st March 2015 (Extension Period).
Procuring Officer:
Louise Reeves
Submission
instructions:
Submissions must be received via The Chest
https://www.thechest.nwce.gov.uk
Please note you are required to register, express an
interest, download the RFQ documentation and
upload the completed RFQ documentation by 12
2
Noon 29th May 2013.
1. Please ensure you leave sufficient time to upload
your RFQ submission prior to the closing date/time.
2. The Council cannot be held responsible for
technical/ICT issues in leaving the uploading of your
submission too late. No submission received after
this closing date and time will be considered other
than where there are exceptional Circumstances,
which may be considered by the Borough Solicitor in
his sole discretion. Please note that submissions,
which are partly through being uploaded at the
closing time, will be considered to have not been
received.
3. Where several documents are to be enclosed,
preference would be for these to be 'zipped' as one
file and attached to the portal. Please do not send
any additional company literature/brochures if these
have not been requested.
4. RFQ’s which have commenced being uploaded
before the closing time but have not finished being
uploaded by the closing time will be registered by
the system as a late quote.
5. Quotes submitted by post, fax or other electronic
means will not be accepted.
Date/time for
Quotation return:
12 Noon 29th May 2013
Timetable
This timetable is indicative only. The Council reserves the right to change it at
its discretion.
Stage
Date(s)/time
Issue of Request for Quotation
20th May 2013
Clarification questions
By 12 Noon 22rd May via Chest,
responses by 5.00pm 23rd May.
3
Stage
Date(s)/time
Deadline for Submission of
Quotations
By 12. Noon 29th May
Evaluation of Quotations
30th May 2013
Notification of result of evaluation
31st May 2013
Expected date of award of Contract
31st May 2013
Contract commencement
14th June 2013
4
CONTENTS
IMPORTANT NOTICE
INSTRUCTIONS
1.
BACKGROUND ..........................................................................................
2.
QUOTATION SUBMISSION REQUIREMENTS .........................................
3.
CONTRACT DOCUMENTS ........................................................................
4.
RFQ – EVALUATION CRITERIA ................................................................
PROJECT BRIEF/REQUIREMENTS
5.
PROJECT BRIEF/REQUIREMENT
INTRODUCTION AND CONTEXT
6.
REQUIREMENTS/ SPECIFICATION .........................................................
7.
SUBMISSION & EVALUATION ..................................................................
8.
FRAUD AND CORRUPTION ......................................................................
9.
WHISTLEBLOWING POLICY .....................................................................
APPENDIX 1: CONTRACT CONDITIONS
5
IMPORTANT NOTICE
This Request for Quotation (“RFQ”) is issued to those companies who
have expressed an interest (“suppliers”) to Cheshire East Council (the
“Council”) to provide an Employee Opinion Survey (the “Contract”),
their professional advisers and other parties essential to preparing a
Quotation for this Contract (the “Quote”) and for no other purpose.
The contents of this RFQ, and of any other documentation sent to you
in respect of this quotation process, are provided on the basis that they
remain the property of the Council and must be treated as confidential.
If you are unable or unwilling to comply with this requirement you are
required to destroy this RFQ and all associated documents immediately
and not to retain any electronic or paper copies.
No supplier will undertake any publicity activities with any part of the
media in relation to the Contract or this RFQ process without the prior
written agreement of the Council, including agreement on the format
and content of any publicity.
This RFQ is made available in good faith. No warranty is given as to
the accuracy or completeness of the information contained in it and any
liability or any inaccuracy or incompleteness is therefore expressly
disclaimed by the Council and its advisers.
The Council reserves the right to cancel the quotation process at any
point. The Council is not liable for any costs resulting from any
cancellation of this Quotation process nor for any other costs incurred
by those quoting for this Contract.
INSTRUCTIONS
1.
BACKGROUND
1.1
Further details of the Council’s requirements under the Contract and
other relevant information are provided in the Project Brief and Service
Specification.
1.2
If you have any questions or require any clarifications, please contact
the Procuring Officer via The Chest [www.thechest.nwce.gov.uk].
1.3
Other than the person identified above, no Council employee or
member of the Council has the authority to give any information or
make any representation (express or implied) in relation to this RFQ or
any other matter relating to the Contract.
1.4
Please note that the Council’s responses to any queries or clarification
6
requests may, at the Council’s discretion, be circulated to all Suppliers.
1.5
The Council reserves the right to issue supplementary documentation
at any time during the quotation process to clarify any issue or amend
any aspect of the RFQ. All such further documentation that may be
issued shall be deemed to form part of the RFQ and shall supplement
and/or supersede any part of the RFQ to the extent indicated.
1.6
Suppliers must obtain for themselves at their own expense all
information necessary for the preparation of their quote.
1.7
Under the Contract the Council will require compliance with its policies.
Suppliers are advised to satisfy themselves that they understand all of
the requirements of the Contract before submitting their quote.
1.8
The Quotation must be received in accordance with the relevant
instructions no later than the time and date indicated.
2.
QUOTATION SUBMISSION REQUIREMENTS
2.1
The closing date and time for receipt of the RFQ is 12 Noon 29th May
2013.
2.2
Please ensure you leave sufficient time to upload your RFQ prior to the
closing date/time. The council cannot be held responsible for
technical/ICT issues in leaving the uploading of your submissions too
late.
2.3
Only one quotation is permitted from each supplier. In the event that
more than one is submitted by a Supplier, the one with the latest time
of submission will be evaluated and the other(s) disregarded.
2.4
The Quote (including price) should remain valid for a minimum period
of 90 days.
2.5
The Quote must not be qualified in any way.
2.6
Any signatures must be made by a person who is authorised to commit
the Quotation to the Contract.
2.7
Your full registered business/name and main office address must also
be provided on all documents.
2.8
Submissions must be made using the response document provided.
7
3.
CONTRACT DOCUMENTS
3.1
Any resulting Contract will be on the Contractual Terms and Conditions
(as attached) .The Contract will be subject to English law and the
exclusive jurisdiction of the English Courts.
3.2
This Council is bound by procurement rules and cannot enter into any
negotiations on the quotation or Contractual Terms and Conditions.
3.3
Please note that no work must be commenced by the successful
supplier and no payment can be made until the contractual terms and
conditions are signed by both parties.
4. RFQ- EVALUATION CRITERIA
4.1.
The Council does not undertake to accept the lowest or any quotation
and reserves the right to accept the whole or any part of any quotation
submitted.
4.2.
Each quotation will be checked initially for compliance with all
requirements of the RFQ.
4.3.
Quotations will be evaluated against the award criteria set out in Table
4.4.
During the evaluation period, the Council reserves the right to seek
clarification in writing or by means of a clarification meeting from any or
all of the Suppliers, to assist it in its consideration of their quotation.
4.5.
The evaluation will be based upon two stages, qualifying and award;
only those offers that meet the qualifying criteria will then be scored
against the award criteria. Those deemed not to meet the qualifying
criteria will not be considered further.
8
5
5.1
PROJECT BRIEF/REQUIREMENTS
INTRODUCTION
We are seeking to identify an organisation to provide expertise in designing
and delivering an Employee Engagement Survey, and carrying out in depth
analysis of the survey results. The supplier of the survey will require a high
level of expertise in the analysis, interpretation and reporting of data,
extracting key meeasures in relation to employee engagement, and advising
on actions for the organisation to improve employee engagement levels.
Context
Cheshire East Council employs around 5500 members of staff in a variety of
roles, based at multiple locations. Around half of our employees have access
to e-mail, and could therefore complete an electronic version of the survey.
The other half would require a paper copy of the survey, sent to their home
address.
An employee opinion survey was last carried out in 2009 shortly after the
formation of Cheshire East Council as a new unitary Council. Since 2009,
Cheshire East Council has changed significantly, and is currently undergoing
a major programme of transformation. The Interim Chief Executive has
requested that an employee engagement survey is run to obtain staff opinions
and establish a baseline from which to measure our transformational change
journey. We would like to benchmark with other relevant organisations, public
and private sector, to understand our position as an employer.
The survey will be carried out in the context of the continued long term
pressure on public sector funding and the need to fundamentally reassess the
way that local government services are delivered.
New deal
In the Autumn of 2012, we launched a new approach to how we employ our
staff, ‘The New Deal’- what they can expect from us as an employer, and what
we expect from our employees in return. In summary:
Our commitments to our employees

We will give you greater certainty about our future job needs and
opportunities, as we reshape our services to make them fit for the future.

We will improve your job security, by ensuring that future jobs are more
sustainable and are valued by the public.

We will involve you fully in designing and putting in place service
changes and improvements – and will encourage your creative ideas
about how we can do things better.
9

We will ensure skilled and satisfying work roles, that value the
experience, abilities, and commitment of our staff to good public service.

We will offer a fair system of pay and remuneration, which rewards
people for the contribution they make to achieving our goals (not for their
status or length of service).

We will invest in spotting and developing your talent, so that you stay
“marketable” as our job requirements change – and in improving the
people management skills of your managers, so that they can lead
organisational change confidently and effectively.

We will offer greater work flexibility and give you better choice over how
to get the work/life balance that best suits you.
Our expectations of our employees

You will look for a better understanding of how your work fits the
Council’s priorities and contributes to better outcomes for local people –
as part of our “Team Cheshire East” approach.

You will show a visible and enthusiastic commitment to act at all times at
work in accordance with our agreed values, aspirations and behaviours.

You will show a willingness to be flexible over how, when and where you
work – and to try new ideas and approaches to delivering services to
local people.

You will accept that the way we work is likely to change – including
moving to larger multi skilled teams, working more closely with our
residents and local businesses, mobile working, home working, and
working as part of social enterprises, staff mutuals, and joint vehicles for
sharing services with other partners.

You will upgrade your skills, use new technology and techniques to be
more productive, and seek to move into jobs which have a more secure
future.
In the context of the above, as an organisation we feel it is important to
understand better the perceptions of our workforce and to ensure appropriate
actions are identified and put in place to increase engagement.
We envisage the survey provider giving us a key insight into the level of
engagement of our employees, and through analysis and interpretation of the
results, we expect the survey provider to present us with key findings and
advice on action to improve employee engagement levels.
10
Alongside of this we would expect the survey provider to ensure the
confidentiality and anonymity of the data, and require assurance of the secure
storage of data.
We would also expect the survey provider to make the data available
following close of the survey.
5.2 PROJECT PHASES
The project has three potential phases:
Phase 1 – Initial full survey – planned for July 13
Phase 2 – interim temperature or pulse testing
Phase 3 – subsequent full survey – anticipated to be July 15
Phase 1 – initial full survey
It is anticipated that the initial project will run broadly in line with the following
timeline, with the survey itself launched week commencing 8th July 2013:
June
July
1. Design and produce
survey
2. Run survey
Aug
Sept
Oct –
Dec
8thsurvey
launch
3. Analyse data and
develop reports /
newsletters
4. Present / share findings
5. Co-ordinate actions
6. Maintain
communications and
share outcomes
Further phases
The Council wishes to remain flexible on the exact nature and timing of the
interim temperature testing and further full survey. This will be dependant on
the findings from the initial survey, appropriate approach to temperature
testing and the priorities of the Council in two years time. As such we are
seeking flexibility in what provider services we draw down and when, whilst
retaining consistency in relationship.
11
Jan –
Mar
6
REQUIREMENTS/SPECIFICATION
Our supplier requirements are outlined below based on the five stages of
phase 1 the initial survey, and potentially two further phases.
PHASE 1
INITIAL FULL SURVEY
Stage 1
Survey design-
-
Stage 2
Running of survey
-
Stage 3
Input into communications strategy
Cost of printing of paper copies of survey, return
envelopes and postage for around 2750 employees
Targeted e-mail prompts to increase response rates
Regular reports on levels of response rate during the
running of the survey by service, department etc.
Provision of Q&As and a telephone helpline/ e-mail
helpline throughout the duration of the survey
Analysis and Interpretation of results
-
Stage 4
Design a best practice questionnaire
o Up to about 65 questions
o Up to about 10 fields to obtain biographical data
o 1 open question
o Employee engagement index
Provision of survey in two formats- online and paper (plus
other formats as required in relation to Equalities and
Diversity)
Data aggregation
Statistical analysis
Factor analysis i.e. in-depth analysis, comparison of
relevant questions etc.
Identification and analysis of main factors/ key findings.
Employee engagement measure
Internal benchmarking, and benchmarking against
relevant external organisations (public and private)
Reporting-
-
An initial ‘Headline’ report
Up to three face to face presentations to Executive,
Cabinet Members and Senior Management, to take place
at a location within Cheshire East as determined by
Cheshire East Council
Up to 15 PowerPoint style comparison reports to be
produced at different levels within the organisation i.e.
12
whole Council level, service level, business unit level
Stage 5
Action planning
-
Advice on the next steps
PHASE 2
TEMPERATURE TESTING (optional element)
Additional
optional
elements
Please note- Optional element 1 and optional element 2 are
alternatives dependent on the approach Cheshire East Council
decides to take.
(Please
specify
pricing
separately
for each)
1. Targeted ‘temperature testing’ at as appropriate following
the initial survey completion based on say up to 30
questions. (Estimate to survey around 10% of the
workforce.) To include design and running of the survey,
analysis and reporting.
2. Enable in-house ‘temperature testing’ to be undertaken at
around 12 months following closure of the initial survey
and actions underway. This will involve advice on
approach and design of mini survey and release of data if
required - estimated to be a maximum of two mandays.
PHASE 3
Additional
optional
elements
SUBSEQUENT FULL SURVEY (optional element)
Please note - this will be continguent on funding being available
and approval to proceed.
3. A fixed price to re-run the full survey in around two years
(a maximum of three years) time following the initial
survey in line with the initial brief, allowing for some
amendment of original survey questions/ format where
appropriate, and assuming a 10% reduction in employee
numbers at this date.
6.1 PAYMENT PLAN
Payments to the successful provider will be made at milestone points:

End of Phase 1 Stage 1 - in respect of and following successful design
and preparation of survey to the satisfaction of the Council – 50% of
the contract value attributed to Phases 1 to 5 of the contract.

End of Phase 1 Stage 5 – in respect of and following successful
completion of the survey, reporting and feedback/action planning the
satisfaction of the Council – 50% of the value of the contract attributed
to Phases 1 to 5 of the contract.
13

Phases 2 and 3 are referred to as optional services. The Council may
not require these services and is under no obligation to call-off the
services in respect of each of these phases.

In the event that these services are called-off, payment for the selected
phase 2 option will be made following successful completion of the
services to the satisfaction of the Council. Payment for phase 3 will be
made on the same basis as phase 1 as outlined above.

Please invoice the date of each completed milestone for payment on
the basis above.
14
7
SUBMISSION & EVALUATION
7.1
The submissions received will be judged against the evaluation matrix
shown in the table 1 below, and will be awarded on the basis of the
most economically advantageous to the Council:
Table 1
Score
weighting
Evaluation Matrix
Compliance with RFQ process and of
completeness of Information in the Business
Questionnaire
Inclusion of a form of quotation
pass / fail
pass / fail
Compliance with specification
pass / fail
Examples of relevant findings reports
pass/ fail
Qualitative Award
Max score
Criteria
Question 1
Expertise
Question 2
Insight
Question 3
Capacity and consistency
Question 4
Diversity
Question 5
Added value
Financial Award
Criteria - based on
Max score
phase 1 prices only
Total score
60.0%
15.0%
15.0%
10.0%
10.0%
10.0%
40%
100%
Please note – the financial weighting of 40% is for phase 1 only. Prices
for phase 2 and phase 3 should be fixed prices but as optional elements
will not form part of the quotation evaluation.
7.2
Qualitative Evaluation – 60% Weighting
Each question which is scored will have a weighting applied to it – to
view the weighting allocated, please see the individual questions or
refer to the right-hand column of Table 1 above, which is a summary of
the sections.
The Organisations response to each question is scored between 0 and
10 according to the pre-agreed scoring grid.
For each question the actual score given is divided by the maximum
score possible, then multiplied by the weighting, example as follows:
15
E.g. for Q1, Overall Percentage is 20%; max score allowed = 10; actual
score given = 8,
Hence adjusted score = actual/max = 8/10 = 0.8 or 80%
As applied to the Q1 Overall Percentage weighting i.e. 20 x adjusted
score i.e. 80% = 16%
The sum of all the percentages allows ranking of applicants.
7.3
Qualitative Evaluation Methodology:
Each question that requires a score will be scored on the following basis:
7.4
Exceptional understanding and interpretation
10
Above expectations and an excellent
understanding and interpretation of requirements
8
Meets expectations and reflects adequate
understanding of all issues and aspects
6
Below expectations, reflects limited understanding
and misses some aspects
4
Well below expectations and significantly fails to
meet the standard
2
Unacceptable and complete failure to grasp/reflect
the core issues
0
Financial Evaluation – 40% Weighting
Importantly for RFQ award criteria, the price is converted into a score
as a percentage of the lowest bid price. The lowest, but feasible, price
is awarded 100%, and is then converted into a percentage, relative to
the main criteria table.
The sum of all of these derived percentages allows ranking of
applicants.
EXAMPLE
Pricing Element = 40% weighting:
Company A = £1000.00
Company B = £2000.00
Company C = £3000.00
Lowest Price/Submitted Price x Price Criteria Weighting:
16
Therefore – Company A = £1000.00/£1000.00 x 40 = 40%
Company B = £1000.00/£2000.00 x 40 = 20%
Company C = £1000.00/£3000.00 x 40 = 13.33%
7.5 Contract Award
The contract will be awarded to the highest ranked supplier, whose
scores when combined from the financial and qualitative elements,
gives the highest overall total score.
8.
NATIONAL FRAUD INITIATIVE
The Supplier should be aware that the Council may take part in biannual National Fraud Initiative (NFI) exercises undertaken by the
Audit Commission, or equivalent body. This requires that the Council
provides details of transactional activity for a period of time, namely
invoice details, plus supplier master-file data e.g. company name, vat /
company registration details, bank account details. Data matching
exercises are then undertaken by the Audit Commission, or equivalent
body, to assist in the prevention and detection of fraud.
9.
WHISTLEBLOWING POLICY
The Supplier shall comply with the Council’s whistle blowing procedure
which ensures that employees of the Supplier are able to bring to the
attention of a Relevant Authority malpractice, fraud and breach of Laws
on the part of the Supplier or any Sub-contractor without fear of
disciplinary and other retribution or discriminatory action.
Suppliers and their employees may wish to acquaint themselves with
the implications of the Code for them. Suppliers’ employees may wish,
for example, to report any breaches in the way in which the contract is
being performed or any unacceptable behaviour by either a fellow
employee or a Council employee.
For further information and guidance along with details as to how to
make such a disclosure, please refer to the Whistleblowing Policy
(PDF, 85KB) or email [email protected] .
17
Cheshire East Borough Council
Employee opinion survey
APPENDIX 1
CONTRACT CONDITIONS
18