Market Sounding Prospectus
December 2016
This is not a call for tenders or a pre-qualification exercise. It is a market sounding exercise to
provide advance information of requirements and open a dialogue with the supply chain. The
results will be used to inform our procurement specification and strategy.
“This market sounding exercise provides a platform to enable the supply chain to inform and
shape the procurement strategy, design and specification of leadership development for the
University of Sheffield. It is also an opportunity to shape new approaches for the Higher
Education Sector”
Steph Holmes
Head of Procurement
Introduction
The University will be retendering the contract for the facilitation of its renowned leadership
development offer, the Sheffield Leader, in 2017. The Sheffield Leader is market-leading
leadership development, ahead of its time in fostering the concept of ‘leadership’ as opposed to
‘leader’ development from its inception in 2010. Other universities have approached us for advice
and support in establishing their own provision over the past 6 years and we take great pride in
our community-based and impactful approach. We want to continue to develop our provision with
the input from world-class organisation development professionals.
This Market Sounding exercise aims to present our requirements to the market and invite
professionals involved in all aspects of organisation and leadership development to respond to
and inform the forthcoming procurement exercise.
Market Sounding and Consultation
On 4th November 2016, the University published a Prior Information Notice (PIN) in the Official
Journal of the European Union to provide advance notice of this tender and launch a period of
market sounding and consultation in advance of the formal tender process. We are interested in
your views on the feasibility of this requirement, plus the capability and capacity of the market to
offer a solution that meets our requirements. We are interested in information and innovation
that could:
 Contribute to achieving improvements in one or more aspects of the requirement
 Involve incremental improvements or a step change in the short, medium and long term.
Influence the future procurement by returning the Market Sounding Response form at:
www.sheffield.ac.uk/procurement/suppliers-information/slprocurement by 31st December
2016.
The requirement for Innovation in Leadership Development
Higher Education is an increasingly volatile and complex environment. The University of Sheffield
is rooted within and committed to the success and prosperity of the city of Sheffield. We are
partners with some of the biggest names in global industry, with world-leading research led by
our academics. Our student community is truly international. An uncertain and changing political
and financial landscape necessitates leadership comfortable with ambiguity and risk, whilst
protecting core academic principles.
We cannot afford complacency in developing leadership at all levels – this is one of our most
important institutional objectives and has been at the heart of the university’s strategy since
2008. We need to have continued awareness of our leadership capability and capacity and the
impact of leadership development, with flexible provision able to respond quickly to changing
priorities.
We believe in ‘enabling a leadership community’ rather than ‘training leaders’. How do you
empower, harness and mobilise leadership? How do you encourage people to step up, take risks
and put their heads above their parapet, irrespective of their position in the hierarchy or the
volume of work in their in-box? How do you inspire people to care enough to make a difference?
These are some of the challenging questions we are seeking your input to.
Current Provision: Overview
December 2016
The Sheffield Leader
The University has been offering the Sheffield Leader in its current form since 2012. It is
leadership development for leaders at all levels across the University with a rich variety of
activities forming the content of the Sheffield Leader Community. Leaders are nominated by their
line managers to join the community, and can then access a place on a cohort, community
events, newsletters, book clubs, leadership exchanges and a google+ community. The majority
of this is managed and facilitated internally within the University, with the exception of the
cohorts.
Cohorts are available at 4 levels, which are based upon an individual’s experience of leadership
rather than being defined by their status or position in the hierarchy (although there is often a
strong correlation between the two). Cohorts at levels 1, 2 and 3 are currently facilitated by both
an internal and an external facilitator, whilst Sheffield Leader 4 has 2 external facilitators. It is this
facilitation role that we are seeking to contract for through this process, although we also
welcome ideas and suggestions for changes we could make to improve the impact of the wider
Sheffield Leader Community.
To find out more about the Sheffield Leader please refer to our web pages.
Market consultation Workshop
Following the Market Sounding and analysis of responses, a market consultation workshop and
site visit will be held on the 14th February 2016 at the University of Sheffield, Alfred Denny
Seminar Room, Alfred Denny Building, Western Bank, Sheffield, S10 2TN
This workshop will be an opportunity for all interested parties to find out more about the
University and Buyers Group, their requirements and contribute to discussions regarding the
finalisation of the specification and the procurement strategy. At the workshop and throughout
the market sounding and consultation we will engage with the supply chain as a whole in order to
understand the appetite, capacity, and capability of the supply chain to meet our procurement
requirements.
Procurement approach
The Forward Commitment Procurement (FCP) approach is being used. FCP was developed and
adopted to support and enable innovation in the supply chain and manage the risk of innovation
for customers and suppliers.
The pre-procurement Market Sounding and Consultation will enable the University to refine and
develop an outcome based requirement and to develop a procurement strategy. The
December 2016
The Sheffield Leader
specification and strategy will be informed by the market engagement responses and will adopt
FCP recommended practice, for example:



Use of outcome based specifications
o The requirement and the ultimate tender specification are presented in terms of
outcomes that the University wishes to deliver through the contract. This gives
suppliers the freedom to offer innovative approaches.
Helping suppliers to help us
Enabling suppliers to distinguish their offering on factors other than price.
Indicative procurement timeline
PIN published via In-tend with link to Market
Sounding Prospectus & Form
Market Consultation Workshop
Tender published on In-tend
Award
Contract placed
November 2016
February 2017
May 2017
July 2017
August 2017
The University of Sheffield
With almost 25,000 of the brightest students from around 120 countries, learning alongside over
1,200 of the best academics from across the globe, the University of Sheffield is one of the
world’s leading universities.
A member of the UK’s prestigious Russell Group of leading research-led institutions, Sheffield
offers world-class teaching and research excellence across a wide range of disciplines.
Unified by the power of discovery and understanding, staff and students at the university are
committed to finding new ways to transform the world we live in.
In 2011 it was named University of the Year in the Times Higher Education Awards and in the
last decade has won four Queen’s Anniversary Prizes in recognition of the outstanding
contribution to the United Kingdom’s intellectual, economic, cultural and social life.
Sheffield has five Nobel Prize winners among former staff and students and its alumni go on to
hold positions of great responsibility and influence all over the world, making significant
contributions in their chosen fields.
Global research partners and clients include Boeing, Rolls-Royce, Unilever, AstraZeneca, Glaxo
SmithKline and Siemens, as well as many UK and overseas government agencies and charitable
foundations.
For further information, please visit www.sheffield.ac.uk
December 2016
The Sheffield Leader