Find a TenderAwarded
Published 7 Jul 2023, 16:16 BST

Official UK procurement notice

National monitoring programme feasibility study

Official notice

Authority: Llywodraeth Cymru / Welsh Government (Central government)

ServicesOpen procedureSME suitable
Published estimate£416,666exc. VAT · 1 value update6.1% below published estimate
Submissions closed 26 Oct 2023awarded 15 Dec 2023
Awarded to AlphaPlus Consultancy Ltd

What is being bought

Published requirement description

The Welsh Government is seeking to deliver a national programme of sample-based assessments to monitor learners’ attainment in the Curriculum for Wales (“national monitoring programme”) to provide national information on learning standards. We are seeking to pilot such assessments within the 2025/26 academic year.

CPV: E-learning services · Evaluation consultancy services · Primary education services · Research consultancy services · Research services · Secondary education services

The lotProcurement structure

single lot · value published
Lot #1The Welsh Government is procuring a feasibility study to develop fully costed and…AwardedPublished value£416,666

The Welsh Government is procuring a feasibility study to develop fully costed and detailed options for the creation and delivery of this national monitoring programme. Curriculum for Wales is being taught in schools and settings across Wales up to year 6 and half of year 7 in September 2022. In September 2023 it will roll out to all secondary schools in respect of years 7 and 8, and will then roll out year by year until it includes year 11 in September 2026. Curriculum for Wales does not contain a national standardised assessment framework. Schools must design their curriculum in line with the Curriculum for Wales Guidance including appropriate assessment arrangements that support learner progression. End of Key Stage assessments, which previously provided information on attainment in the core subjects, have been phased out due to their inconsistency with the Curriculum for Wales. In line with the recommendation of Successful Futures, the Welsh Government is pursuing a national monitoring programme as the means of monitoring learner attainment and discerning learning standards at a national level over time. In July 2022, the Government Social Research Service published the final report of the scoping study undertaken by Arad Research and the Open University on the evaluability of the Curriculum and Assessment reforms. Recommendations included the development of a national monitoring programme for learner attainment and considerations for its development. The Welsh Government’s response committed to considering these recommendations in the development of the Curriculum for Wales Evaluation Plan. The Evaluation Plan has been published, setting out our long-term approach to evaluation and monitoring, including our ambition to develop national monitoring. The feasibility study must answer a series of detailed questions regarding the design, development, delivery, and operation of the national monitoring programme which will be set out in the specification. It must develop costed proposals for the programme which meet the requirements set out by the Welsh Government. These requirements include principles that should underpin the development of the programme; and requirements regarding what should be assessed and the outputs that the programme must deliver. National monitoring will form one part of the broader school information ecosystem – the holistic range of information about schools that we will use to inform local, regional, and national improvement. Therefore, this study will need to acknowledge and work within the broader context of developing policy on the creation of a new school information ecosystem (including how the outputs of national monitoring can integrate with other sources of information in this ecosystem and as part of the broader Evaluation Plan) and take a flexible approach that allows iteration of the approach to discerning learning standards in line with policy development. Given the breadth and complexity of the study, suppliers may wish to consider consortium arrangements when responding to the invitation.

Delivery: Wales
Variant bids: not allowed

What it takes to win
i

How this buyer will score bids.

The evaluation criteria and weights exactly as published on the notice, grouped by family (price, quality, social value and so on).

Evaluation split and conditions of participation as published; the tender pack may add more
How bids were scored
Quality: 80%Price: 20%
Published sub-criteria (5)
  • Understanding of the policy context - Demonstration of a clear understanding of the policy context and need for this feasibility study: 15%
  • Proposed approach to project delivery - Proposed approach to delivering project.: 30%
  • Expertise of resource - Describe the staffing resources and expertise of staff that would be brought to this project.: 25%
  • Project management plan - Understanding of, and ability to meet, project timetable and dependencies / risks.: 10%
  • price: 20%
Published award criteria (5)
  • Understanding of the policy context - Demonstration of a clear understanding of the policy context and need for this feasibility study: 15
  • Proposed approach to project delivery - Proposed approach to delivering project.: 30
  • Expertise of resource - Describe the staffing resources and expertise of staff that would be brought to this project.: 25
  • Project management plan - Understanding of, and ability to meet, project timetable and dependencies / risks.: 10
  • Price: 20
Staff
Names and qualifications of delivery staff must be submitted
What this means for your bid
  • Price carries 20 of 100 points: a 10% discount moves about 2 points. The method statement decides this lot, not the discount.

Price arithmetic assumes straight proportional scoring; the tender pack may use another formula.

Procedure terms & legal framework

From the official record · publisher note attached
Procedure method
Open procedure
Legal basis
CELEX · 32014L0024 Public Contracts Regulations 2015 (Directive 2014/24/EU)
Procurement category
Services
Notice status
Awarded
Procurement threshold
Unspecified in notice
Regulatory regime
Standard
Commercial structure
Stand-alone contract (no framework)
Competition type
Competitive procedure
GPA / WTO covered
Yes (GPA)
Recurring procurement
No (one-off requirement)
First published
7 Jul 2023, 16:16 BST
Last source update
22 Dec 2023, 10:55 GMT
Award evaluation window
27 Oct 2023 – …
Authority reference
C075/2023/2024
FTS notice number
2023/S 000-037805
Classification (CPV)
E-learning servicesEvaluation consultancy servicesPrimary education servicesResearch consultancy servicesResearch servicesSecondary education services
Delivery area
Wales (UKL)
Official registry OCID
ocds-h6vhtk-03dff4 Find a Tender
Contract terms
Performance terms

As stated in the tender documentation.

Publisher note: E-Tender Information: https://etenderwales.bravosolution.co.uk - The first person from your Organisation to use the Platform will be required to register on behalf of the Organisation. - Registration involves accepting a User Agreement, and providing basic information about your Organisation and about the User performing the Registration. - On registering on the Platform the Super User will select a Username and will receive a password. - The Password will be sent by e-mail to the email address that was specified in the User Details section of the Registration page. - In order to log-in to the Platform please enter your Username and Password. - Note: If you forget your Password then visit the homepage and click “Forgot your password?” - Registration should only be performed once for each Organisation. - If you think that someone in your Organisation may have already registered on this Platform then you must not register again. - Please contact the person who Registered (i.e. the Super User) in order to arrange access to the Platform. 5.1 - Contact the Helpdesk immediately if you are unable to contact the Super User (for example if they have left your Organisation). - Note: If your Organisation is already registered on the Platform then you must not make any additional registration. Please contact the Helpdesk to gain access to the Platform. - Tenders must be uploaded to the BravoSolution portal by 14:00. Late bids will not be accepted. How To Find The ITT: - Once logged in you must click on ‘ITT’s Open to all Suppliers’ - The e-tender references for this contract are: project_54209 and itt_104887 - Click on the title to access summary details of the contract. If you are still interested in submitting a tender, click the 'Express an Interest' button. This will move the ITT from the ‘Open to all Suppliers’ area to the ‘My ITT’s’ on the home page. - You will then see the full details of the ITT in the qualification and technical envelopes along with any relevant documents in the‘Attachments’ area. - Any questions on the ITT, please use the ‘Messages’ area to contact the buyer directly (WA Ref:133956) The buyer considers that this contract is suitable for consortia bidding. (WA Ref:137564)

How it was run

Official notice
Run through: Jaggaer · Who buys & how to bid on Sell2Wales
Supplier login requiredLanguage: EN, CY
Access & registration note: Free; latest Chrome/Edge/Firefox only — corporate browsers fail
Submission deadline
26 Oct 2023, 12:00 BST
Submission channel
{"electronicSubmission"}
Accepted languages
en, cy
Bid validity
180 days from the deadline
Bids opened
27 Oct 2023, 12:00 BST
Detailed submission instructions & authority contactsFrom official release

Timeline

21 Aug 2023 → 22 Dec 2023 · 4 dates
  1. Next notice expected
    21 Aug 2023, 00:00 BST
  2. Submission deadline
    26 Oct 2023, 12:00 BST
  3. Bids opened
    27 Oct 2023, 12:00 BST
  4. Notice published
    22 Dec 2023, 10:55 GMT

Notice history

5 events · 3 releases on Find a Tender · since 21 Sept 2023
  1. Published value updated to £416,666
    21 Sept 2023, 15:33 BST
    was £416,000
  2. Status changed to active
    21 Sept 2023, 15:33 BST
  3. Procurement method changed
    21 Sept 2023, 15:33 BST
  4. Deadline published: 26 Oct 2023, 12:00 BST
    21 Sept 2023, 15:33 BST
  5. Status changed to complete
    22 Dec 2023, 10:55 GMT

Commercial outcome & contract awards

Published awards, contracts and bid statistics, not a forecast
Awards 1
Awarded value £391,1961 contract exc. VAT
Bids received 21 from SMEs
Contracts signed 1latest 15 Dec 2023
Awarded toValueDateStatus
AlphaPlus Consultancy Ltd£391,196 †—Awarded

Contracts

Bid statistics published by the authority

BidsSMEVCSEValid bid range
2bids · 2 electronic · 2 from abroad1——

Contracting authority & participating public bodies

Llywodraeth Cymru / Welsh Government

Contracting authorityCentral GovernmentMinistry or any other national or federal authority, including their regional or local subdivisionsGeneral public services Gwasanaethau Caffael Corfforaethol / Corporate Procurement Services, Parc Cathays / Cathays Park, Caerdydd / Cardiff, Wales, CF10 3NQContact email, phone Published organisation website ↗

Dispute resolution & review bodies

  • High CourtReview body LondonContact phone

Bidders & participating suppliers

1 commercial party on the notice
  • AlphaPlus Consultancy LtdAwarded supplier AlphaPlus c/o AQA, Devas Street, Manchester, North West, M156EXContact phone

Official documents & specifications (2)

Official links; attachments are not copied

Tender pack and attachments

  • Economic and financial selection criteriatenderEconomic and financial selection criteria
  • Technical selection criteriatenderTechnical selection criteria