National Careers Service contract - recently asked questions and answers
Question 1:
Just wondered whether this exercise was for organisations delivering end-to-end
solutions or would also include potential technology partners.
Answer:
The Framework ITT is directed at organisations who are able to deliver IAG under
the new National Careers Service requirements. It does not currently include
technology partners.
Question 2:
Could I please confirm that subcontractors are not being targeted on Job and
Learning outcomes within the new contract?
Answer:
In year one of the contract, the service will be measured in line with the NCS benefits
framework and regarding Job and Learning outcomes, the following national targets
will contribute to the achievement of minimum quality and outcomes measures.
 Jobs and Learning: 45% of customers to enter accredited learning or
training;
 30% of customers to enter sustainable employment;
 15% of customers to progress in work;
All subcontractors will be expected to support the National KPI’s through the
outcomes of their customers, although there will be no payment linked to this
outcome. Futures will follow up all NCS customers to evidence Jobs and Learning
outcomes.
Question 3:
I have received the tender pack and would like to ask a couple of questions:
1. The tender indicates that Futures will themselves undertake all delivery within
Derby City, is this correct?
2. As an existing sub contractor within Derby City are we able to apply to
continue to deliver in Derby City?
Answer:
During the current period of funding 2014-15, we are not looking to engage any
subcontractors in the Derby City catchment area.
Question 4:
Could you confirm the number of paid interventions that will be allowed, is it still one
per individual and up to 3 for those in the priority groups?
Answer:
Subcontractors will only be able to claim payments for one customer satisfaction,
and one career management outcome per customer in a 12 month period. This
applies to all priority and non priority groups.
Question 5:
Point 2 mentions Futures will apply direct in-house delivery in Derby, parts of
Derbyshire… and we are therefore primarily seeking subcontractors to deliver NCS
provision in Leicester, Leicestershire etc…’ Does this mean that sub-contracting is
not being sought in the geographical areas where Futures has direct in-house
delivery?
Answer:
Subcontracting is not being sought in job centres with the exception of those listed.
Subcontracting is not being sought in Nottingham, Nottinghamshire and Derby City.
Question 6: Point 50:
Can subcontractors suggest other examples of Career Management that can be
counted as a paid outcome e.g. using Universal Job Match as a tool to assess the
local labour market, producing a covering letter, reviewing Job Profiles, using
assessment tools and resources not on the National Careers Service website,
attending non-accredited courses or other events that demonstrate a move from
worklessness into employment?
Answer:
Yes, we would welcome any suggestion that would help achieve results. Any
decision regarding suggested methods would however remain at the Agency’s
discretion.
Question 7: Point 54:
As it is difficult to plan actual numbers of priority to non-priority customers and
forecast the numbers that will achieve both outcomes, will subcontractors be paid to
a fixed contract value based on the delivery assumptions in the ITT or will that value
differ if the numbers of priority/non priority and/or the Customers Satisfaction and
Career management achievement rates are exceeded?
Answer:
All potential applicants need to note that due to changes to the Skills Funding
Agency’s indicative funding formula, the total allocation it is expected that
subcontractors will support has been changed to support 90% priority and 10% non
priority customers.
Initially subcontractors will be awarded a contract based on volumes and associated
outcomes. There may be some flexibility in available funding during the contract
period where numbers are being exceeded, dependant on under-spends with other
providers and/or any additional SFA funding, which might become available.
Question 8:
Can paid outcomes for both Customer Satisfaction and Career Management be
claimed at the same session?
Answer:
Subcontractors will need to evidence that the customer is progressing actions to
actively managing their career as a result of interactions with an adviser.
Question 9: Point 54 also indicates that subcontractors need to plan to support
some customers for whom outcomes may not be earned – should these be
recorded?
Answer:
Yes.
Question 10: Point 55:
Will subcontractors be able to claim payment for Customer Satisfaction and Career
Management outcomes within a 12 month period if these have been claimed by
another subcontractor within that period?
Answer:
No. Payments are linked to customers and hence only one customer satisfaction and
one career management payment per customer can be claimed in any 12 month
period.
Question 11:
Does Section A3 apply to public bodies such local authorities? If so, can you clarify
to whom the points refer?
Answer:
Yes. All applicants are asked to complete this section.
Question 12: Please confirm that in Derbyshire you are only looking for subcontractors to deliver in the High Peak in the initial period from October 2014-2015?
Answer:
No. As the tender specifies, we are primarily looking for subcontractors to deliver in
the High Peak area. However, we will consider applications from organisations
wanting to deliver the service in other parts of Derbyshire.
Question 13:
If the answer (question 12 above) is yes – can you confirm what your position is
regarding TUPE for those staff currently delivering in Derbyshire under sub-contract
to yourselves?
Answer:
N/A as the above answer is no.
Question 14:
In respect of the FPDP – what contracts or delivery does this include?
Answer:
Any contracts which are awarded to Futures and which require a supply chain.
Question 15: Point 2 – please clarify?
You will not be continuing any existing sub-contracting agreements in Derby City
That this includes delivery within Job Centres and in the community
Answer:
We are not looking to engage any subcontractors in the Derby City catchment area
during the current funding period.
We will not be subcontracting any delivery from either Job Centres and/or the
Community in the Derby City catchment area.
Question 16: Does the requirement to deliver 90% customer satisfaction require us
to have 10% of customers dissatisfied or is there 90% a cap on the funding
available.
So if for example in a given month the target we agree is 900 customers to meet the
customer satisfaction criteria do we have to evidence that there are 100 who we
have seen who do not meet the criteria ? Is there going to be a requirement to record
interventions with those who are not satisfied?
Answer:
Funding is available for only 90% of customers satisfied. If a subcontractor had a
target to reach 1,000 customers, 900 would be funded and there would be a
requirement that they would make a record of the remaining 100, regardless of
whether they were satisfied or not. We are however, aspiring to reach a 100%
customer satisfaction based on our current performance.
Question 17:
In the guidance notes point 55, which states “Subcontractors must provide a profile
of the volumes to be delivered for each of the 3 outcomes. Customer Satisfaction
and Career Management are 2, what is the third?
Answer:
This was an error in the question 55, which has now been corrected to read two.
Question 18:
Career Management will also be measured by activities such as CV Builder, this is
not compatible with Universal Job Match. Will the system be amended to ensure it is
compatible in the future?
Answer:
CV Builder and Universal Job Match are sites on SFA and DWP systems
respectively, we are not able to comment on the compatibility of these systems now
or in the future.
Question 19:
East Midlands priority groups include “older people”, can you please clarify who falls
into this priority group. Is it anyone over 50+?
Answer:
We have asked the SFA for clarification regarding this matter and will publish the
response on this site provided we receive it within the tender application time frame.
Question 20:
Regarding outcomes for Customer Satisfaction, one point is suitability of location, if
you are using JCP offices you will not have any control over the suitability of the
location. Also how will the views of mandated people be managed if they have been
mandated to the service and are adamant they do not wish to be there?
Answer:
It is a requirement to ask all customers if they are satisfied. We have to accept that
some customers will have some issues with the service that they receive. We expect
that sub-contractors will feed the views of the customers back to the Job Centre with
support from Futures as appropriate.
Question 21:
Will all customers effectively be restarting from Oct? For example they had seen
NCS in Sep 14 and had 3 sessions. From Oct 14 they can they be funded again?
Answer:
Sub-contractors will only be responsible for delivering the 1st and 2nd outcomes of
customer satisfaction and career management.
With the exception of any activity during September 2014, all individuals accessing
the service from 1st October 2014 will be considered as a new customer and
therefore eligible for up to two funded outcome payments in a rolling year, (Job
satisfaction and career management).
Where a customer has visited the service during September 2014 and only had a
first session (to equate to a customer satisfaction outcome post 1st October 14) then
this customer will be eligible for a career management outcome from 1st October
2014 as appropriate.
This will also apply where a customer has had a second or third session during
September 2014 i.e. 3 sessions in September 2014 can have a career management
session in October 2014.
Question 22:
Who will be responsible for tracking customer satisfaction and career management
outcomes? If Futures will you be requiring support to deliver the tracking?
Answer:
It is the responsibility of sub-contractors to provide to provide this evidence.
Question 23:
Non priority groups – would we be able to:
 Offer the service at a cost – e.g. £10 from customer £10
funded?
 Promote paid for services to the customers?
Answer:
Yes
Question 24:
How will services be funded? E.g. monthly? Will this be the case for both payable
outcomes?
Answer:
Sub-contractors will be paid monthly in arrears based on evidence submitted.
Question 25:
If a customer is seen in a local JCP and then walks into our service, will the
secondary service be funded to see them? We assume not and in this event will we
send them back to the service who first worked with them?
Answer:
A customer can receive a Customer Satisfaction and Career Management Outcome
from two different organisations, but only one of each per customer can be claimed
in any rolling 12 month period.
Question 26:
Job Centre customers – will Futures be running workshops in Job Centres?
Answer:
Yes
Question 27:
Will Futures be looking for a base in Leicester? If so will you consider co-location
with a sub-contractor?
Answer:
We are not able to comment on this at this stage as the answer will be subject to the
outcome of the ITT being published.
Question 28:
Will you accept two sub-contractors co-locating in one building?
Answer:
Yes if there is sufficient customer need.
Question 29:
Will you pick up the redundancy and job fair opportunities as Prime contractor?
Answer:
All sub-contractors will be expected to continue to deliver redundancy and job fair
opportunities. The Prime Contractor may require subcontractors to deliver some
elements of these services.
Question 30:
Can the new NCS service support customers from non EU countries?
Answer:
A proportion of the funding available to deliver the National Careers Service is
currently provided by the European Social Fund (ESF). The remaining core funding
will be used as ‘match’ funding’. Prime Contractors (and subcontractors) are
therefore required to comply with the requirements of the ESF Operational
Programme.
To confirm ESF eligibility, customers must confirm that they are an EU citizen by
recording their status as appropriate on the skills action plan. Where a validation of
this is required for ESF audit purposes, supporting information to confirm this should
be made available. For recording and evidence gathering purposes, all individuals
seen by area based contractors face to face should be regarded as jointly funded by
ESF and the Agency.
Question 31:
Can you clarify how wide an area you consider “Coastal Lincolnshire” (Specified in
section 3) to be? Does this go from North Somercoates to Sutton Bridge, and how
far inland?
Answer:
Yes “Coastal Lincolnshire” does go from North Somercoates through to Sutton
Bridge. For the purpose of the tender we would consider “Coastal Areas” to be East
Lindsey, Boston and South Holland Wards.
Question 32:
Re Section A3.1 and A3.2
For a local authority could you specify the roles or positions these questions refer to
because a local authority does not have directors, partners or proprietors.
Answer:
The roles or positions these sections refer to means any person who has powers of
representation, decision or control.