Accountancy Services Contract for the Academy Sector Annual Report and Accounts (SARA)

The Department for Education (DfE) secured agreement from Parliament to remove the academy sector from its consolidation boundary from the financial year 2016-2017 and to prepare a separate standalone Annual Report & Accounts (ARA) for the academy sector for the academic year 2015/16 onwards - the academies Sector Annual Report and Accounts (SARA). The Department for Education has secured, through open competition, an organisation to assist in the production of the SARA.

The existing contract expires on 8th December 2018, and the Department is seeking to secure an organisation to assist with the future production of the SARA. A new contract will commence May/June 2018, leading to services commencing by November 2018.

The contract is likely to require the delivery of services for 3 years to November 2021 with extension options included. It is anticipated that the value of the contract will be approximately £5m for an initial 3-year term, increasing in line with extension options.

Please note these figures do not include VAT that may be applicable. The SARA for the year ended 31 August 2016 can be found here: - https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/academies-cons... Initially, the core services (subject to ongoing development of requirements) are likely to include, but not limited to: a) Providing technical accounting analysis, support and advice on the aggregation of Academy Trust annual accounts b) The development and implementation of an end to end process (to be automated where practicable), which aggregates over 3,100 separate sets of financial data through to delivery of the financial statements and supporting notes within the SARA c) Facilitate the collection and collation of Academy Trusts' accounting data, to support the Department in meeting its financial reporting requirements.

It is expected that this will be best achieved through the development/utilisation and maintenance of online data collection tools Additionally: d) Detailed project planning support to inform SARA production e) Liaising with several internal and external stakeholders such as the Department, National Audit Office and Academy Trusts f) Other ad hoc technical accounting advice over the duration of the contract in relation to the Department's financial reporting requirements Additional information: Supplier Engagement The Department will be holding Supplier Engagement Events on 12th January 2018 via webinar. These events will provide an opportunity for interested suppliers to hear more about the service requirement and the Department's proposed strategy for the future.

Following this, there will be a two-week window for one-to-one engagement opportunities with the Department. These engagements will be for the purpose of i) enabling suppliers to further understand the required services, and ii) enable the Department to test and secure supplier views on the Department's proposed strategy for the future - intelligence that will be helpful in shaping the final strategy and service need.

Please note, the sessions will not be used to present potential solutions. Information will also be available on the proposed procurement process and timetable and suppliers will be able to meet key members of the DfE project team involved in this procurement.

Disclaimers and conditions: No information provided by the DfE, contained in this notice or in any communication made between DfE and any party in connection with the Accountancy Services Contract for the Academy Sector Annual Report and Accounts (SARA) shall be relied upon as constituting a contract, or representation that any contract will necessarily be offered. DfE reserves the right to change without notice any documents and communications, in whole or in part, during the procurement process for the Accountancy Services Contract for the Academy Sector Annual Report and Accounts (SARA).

Suppliers must send their lead attendee's name and the organisation name. The event will be via a webinar, with the joining details provided on registration..