UK SBS PS16208 Support for FE Commissioner

As set out in the Governments policy document “Reviewing post 16 education” the Department for Business, Innovation and Skills (BIS) and the Department for Education (DfE) is currently overseeing the review of all FE and Six Form Colleges in England. BIS and DfE are separate Government Departments, reporting ultimately to their respective Ministers who are accountable to Parliament.

The reviews themselves are locally steered reviews, overseen by the FE Commissioner and the Sixth Form College Commissioner, and carried out by a combination of expert FE Advisors, and the Skills and Education Funding Agencies through the Joint Area Review Delivery Unit. The reviews report to a local Area Review Steering Group comprising of College Principals and chairs of Governors, Local Economic Partnerships (LEPs), the Regional Schools Commissioner and local authorities.

It is the responsibility of the Steering Group to agree and implement review recommendations. Post review, the Transaction Unit is responsible for evaluating and considering applications to the Restructuring Facility.

These applications will directly built upon review recommendations. All FE and Six Form Colleges in England are currently being reviewed through the area review process.

The overarching objective is to use the process to produce a Further Education infrastructure which: • Comprises of financially sustainable colleges which can reinvest in delivery; • Delivers high quality education and training provision; and • Meets the needs of the local economy. The aim of this exercise is to secure sufficient high-quality personnel to provide additional resource as needed to support the wider work of the restructuring programme in terms of both intervention and assessing the financial implications for government of proposals.

This is a flexible resource to support the FE Commission and Deputies and the wider restructuring programme with educational and financial services where needed, recognising the current constraints and demands on the team. Additional information: UK Shared Business Services eSourcing As part of the strategic alliance between UK Shared Business Services Ltd (UK SBS) and Crown Commercial Service (CCS), UK SBS can use the CCS eSourcing Suite for future procurements.

If you have not yet registered on the eSourcing Suite, this can be done online at https://gpsesourcing.cabinetoffice.gov.uk by following the link ‘Register for CCS eSourcing’. Please note that, to register, you must have a valid DUNS number (as provided by Dun and Bradstreet) for the organisation which you are registering, who will be entering into a contract if invited to do so.

Once you have registered on the eSourcing Suite, a registered user can express an interest for a specific procurement. Your email must clearly state: the name and reference for the procurement you wish to register for; the name of the registered Bidder; and the name and contact details for the registered individual sending the email.

Crown Commercial Service will process the email and then enable the Bidder to access the procurement online via the e-Sourcing Suite. The registered user will receive a notification email to alert them once this has been done.

The Sourcing documents can then be accessed on the eSourcing Suite at: https://gpsesourcing.cabinetoffice.gov.uk using the instructions detailed in the Specification documents within Contracts Finder. As a user of the e-Sourcing Suite you will have access to Emptoris email messaging service which facilitates all messages sent to you and from you in relation to any specific RFX event.

Please note it is your responsibility to access these emails on a regular basis to ensure you have sight of all relevant information. For technical assistance on use of the e-Sourcing Suite please contact Crown Commercial Service Helpdesk : Telephone: 0345 010 3503 Training documents to support Bidders utilise Emptoris CCS eSourcing are available in the Contracts Finder Tender documents section.