Civilsociety 11 Aug 2010.

3SC will lead a consortium of charities in a bid to be the prime contractor for the Department for Work and Pensions Work Programme, a government scheme supporting the unemployed. Charities, including Groundwork UK, the National Housing Federation and the Shaw Trust will be part of the consortium bidding for the Work Programme.

3SC was established to bid for large public sector contracts on behalf of third sector delivery organisations. 3SC is managed by a board of ten third sector and not-for-profit organisations who bring expertise in the delivery of public services and also their commitment to securing a long term opportunity for the sector to compete in this market.

Michael O’ Toole, chief executive of 3SC said: "We are fielding a strong consortia approach with other lead organisations to enable us to get as much funding to the front line in the most straightforward way."

Read the full story at: http://www.civilsociety.co.uk/finance/news/content/7122/consortium_3sc_to_bid_for_dwp_work_programme_with_charity_partners

Leicester, 9th September

An interactive NAVCA seminar exploring the idea of 'intelligent commissioning', seeing examples in operation and looking at how third sector organisations can influence this.

 "Excellent Day, Programme was varied, relevant and practical"

"All speakers – knowledgeable, confident and very interesting; great learning for me"

"Very informative and well organised event, thank you"

Book your place online now

Who should attend:

•  Do you... work for a local support and development organisation in the East Midlands area?
• Support local organisation involved in service delivery?
• Work with your local authority or primary care trust on commissioning?
• Work for a public body as a commissioner?
• Want to advocate intelligent commissioning in order to achieve better services?

Speakers Graeme McLaren, Institute of Pubic Care 2 regional case studies - CVP Bolsover and Voluntary Action LeicesterShire will be talking about their experiences of influencing local commissioning + YOU! - an opportunity to learn from, and network with, colleagues in the East Midlands about what they are doing to influence commissioning.

Further information Website:

http://www.navca.org.uk/events

 
Book online: http://bit.ly/atQ0oV

Tel: 0114 278 6636
Email: lcpu@navca.org.uk

Other dates include:

Cambridge 22nd September

Manchester 27th October

Leeds 24th November

Further details on the NAVCA website

A reminder that NAVCA has broadened the availability of the Tender Support Project. Local voluntary and community sector organisations anywhere in England can use the project to improve their ability to bid for public service contracts.

Visit:

http://www.navca.org.uk/localvs/lcp/tenders/tsp

In partnership with Michelmores law firm, this series of training days, from NAVCA's Local Commissioning and Procurement Unit, will help you to understand contract clauses and be better equipped to negotiate contract terms and conditions.

16 September, Tunbridge Wells;

17 September, London;

 6 October, Winchester;

19 October, Middlesbrough;

 24 November, Chester;

 6 December, Birmingham

For more information visit:

www.navca.org.uk

The overall aim of this training is to enable voluntary organisations to develop realistic funding bids for projects and to successfully deliver these projects through effective monitoring and evaluation.

The content is suitable for voluntary organisations looking to submit tenders to their local authority for projects, but is also relevant for those seeking project funds from grant sources.

The courses are aimed at voluntary sector managers with responsibility for this area of work, who may have recently taken on this role, or who wish to refresh their knowledge of these topics.

Each course will be delivered in an interactive way using real-life examples to illustrate key points. Practical exercises will enable participants to apply course ideas to their own organisation.

The courses are unaccredited but participants will receive a certificate of attendance from Boston College.

The trainer will be Ruth Holmes, of Holmes Consultancy Services, who has extensive experience of designing and delivering practical training courses for the voluntary sector.

1. Building a Business Case for Your Project

18th June 2010

• What do we mean by a business case and why should we produce one?
• Key steps in putting together a business case for your project
• Main sections in a business case
• Criteria for assessing a business case 
• Quality, reliability and added value in a business case
• Tips on writing a successful business case

 2. Monitoring and Evaluating Your Project 

2nd July 2010

• Key terms and concepts on monitoring and evaluation
• Importance of monitoring and evaluation for effective project delivery 
• Measuring outcomes and agreeing performance indicators
• Setting up effective systems for monitoring and evaluation
• Communicating and managing change within a voluntary organisation

Venue: Boston College Management Centre

Time: 9.30am - 4pm

Cost: £17.50 per delegate, per session

For more information please contact Lorraine Lenton on

Tel: (01205) 315905

Email: lorraine.l@southlincscvs.org.uk

What is 'intelligent commissioning' and how can you help bring it about in your community?

NAVCA is running a series of interactive seminars exploring how infrastructure organisations can campaign and work for greater involvement in commissioning to improve local services.

What the seminars cover:

Good practice in commissioning processes

How to share local experience and knowledge

A chance to network and find out what other organisations are doing

The three seminars are currently open to booking are:

11th May - Exeter

20th May - Birmingham

22nd June - London

Pleaces cost £40 to NAVCA members and £55 to other third sector organisations.

Further events planned for 2010

9th September - East Midlands

22nd September - Cambridge

24 November - Leeds

For more information check the NACVA website

A procurement guide has been launched to aid East Midland’s third sector organisations in public service delivery.  

The East Midlands Development Agency (emda) has recently launched the East Midlands Public Procurement Opportunities Plan which sets out the priorities and objectives for coordinated action which will enable the region to maximise the impact of public procurement.

The plan proposes three strategic objectives, as follows:

1. Facilitating the supply of support services for businesses, including Third Sector Organisations, in the public service industry.

2. Improving dialogue between key regional partners and stakeholders.

3. Supporting improvements in public sector procurement policies and practices.
As part of this strategy, emda, has also launched the Coordination Office for public procurement initiatives. This will work with partners across the public sector in the East Midlands to align resources and coordinate activity for the benefit of buyers and suppliers across the region. Further details of Coordination Office activities will be available later in the year.
Link to the: The East Midlands Public Procurement Opportunities Plan
For more information, visit the emda website (opens new window)

Source: emda, 29/01/10

Chief executives body intervenes over decision by primary care trust

Acevo has referred a primary care trust to an NHS complaints panel in a bid to challenge health secretary Andy Burnham's pledge that the NHS should be the preferred provider of services.

 
The chief executives body has applied to the NHS Cooperation and Complaints Panel, whose remit includes investigating procurement disputes, over Great Yarmouth and Waveney Primary Care Trust's decision to prevent non-NHS organisations from bidding to be primary contractors in providing community services.

Non-NHS bodies were initially eligible to bid for contracts and the PCT intended to issue a pre-qualification questionnaire in early October.
But this was delayed after Burnham pledged to make the NHS the provider of choice for NHS services, and at the end of November the PCT wrote to interested bidders saying it was changing its position.
"In the light of guidance provided to the PCT, the PCT plans to proceed with the procurement process as planned, but limiting the pool of potential bidders to NHS organisations," said the letter, from Dr Sushil Jathanna, chief executive of Great Yarmouth and Waveney PCT.
Stephen Bubb, chief executive of Acevo, last week wrote to the NHS Cooperation and Complaints Panel to ask it to examine the decision.

"I believe the case in question has system-wide implications that could result in Acevo members who are best placed to meet the needs of NHS patients and taxpayers being excluded from providing NHS-funded services," the letter says.

The panel is expected to make a decision on whether there is a case to be heard by early January. It has no powers to direct the PCT to carry out its procurement process differently, but can make recommendations where it feels NHS policy has been breached.

Jathanna said the PCT was disappointed at Acevo's decision. "Our priority has always been to make sure that the services we commission provide the best possible care for our patients, whilst at the same time complying with national policy and guidance," he said.

"We are inviting tenders from fellow NHS organisations, as well as welcoming innovative partnerships with the voluntary and independent sectors. This will encourage competition to help drive up quality and innovation within the NHS and ensure we get value for money."

By Andy Ricketts, Third Sector Online, 21 December 2009

Company preparing to bid for eight government contracts

Services company Serco is looking for about 60 third sector partners to help it deliver Flexible New Deal contracts. Richard Johnson, managing director of welfare to work at Serco, said the company was preparing to bid for eight contracts due to start in the autumn next year and expected to win Government business worth about £500m. "We're currently deciding which subcontractors we will use if we're successful," he told Third Sector. "We expect to employ between 20 and 30 subcontractors in each region, and we expect about 30 per cent of those to be from the third sector."

Serco is one of several private companies seeking contracts from the Department for Work and Pensions in partnership with voluntary organisations, which sometimes lack the size and money to put in bids independently. Johnson said Serco had developed a year-long process for working with jobseekers under the Flexible New Deal scheme and that the most difficult cases would be dealt with in the final 20 weeks of a year-long contract. He said most of the company's third sector partners would be employed at that stage, when they were likely to be offered the highest rewards for each jobseeker placed in work.

Johnson said Serco valued the ability of third sector providers to handle small, hard-to-reach groups. He said some providers had moved away from this ethos to meet criteria for government funding. "The contracting environment over the past few years has led organisations to offer more generalised services," he said. "I've spoken to a disability charity, for example, that previously focused only on one single disability, but now says it can handle more than 30 types of disability."

He said funding restrictions on the Flexible New Deal had compounded the problem of third sector providers moving away from working with specialist groups.

By David Ainsworth, Third Sector, 8 December 2009

Prime Minister outlines Labour's plans for the sector in 'smarter government' speech.

The third sector has a crucial role to play in shaping and delivering a "third generation" of public services tailored to and informed by their users, according to Prime Minister Gordon Brown. The statement came in a major policy speech this morning on "smarter government" ahead of Wednesday's pre-Budget report. Brown said performance data on public services would be made available online to help users and organisations make informed suggestions about how delivery could be improved. He said increased transparency would also allow services to become more personalised and give front-line workers and voluntary organisations "the freedom to innovate and respond to new demands in new ways". He said civic society would have a crucial role to play in the new arrangements because "social enterprises and mutual not-for-profit providers so often ensure that public services meet people's needs, especially those of hard-to-reach communities".

He reiterated the Government's intention to pilot social investment bonds, which would fund the third sector to provide services that saved the state money in the long term, such as programmes to reduce re-offending. He described the bonds as "money paid out now to deal at root with the causes, not the symptoms". He also pledged to finalise plans for a social investment wholesale bank by the next Budget, but was unable to confirm how it would be funded. He said the intention was to use funds from the dormant assets scheme "subject to resources".

The Prime Minister told Third Sector:

"The problem has always been not our willingness to do it but the ability to raise money from government and the private sector. But our determination is for it to go ahead."

The Government's policy statement to accompany the speech, Putting the frontline first: smarter Government, also says that: · A regular "civic health index" will be produced from next March to look at issues such as civic engagement and volunteering, trust in public institutions and social cohesion; · A pilot study is being carried out of a programme to minimise the amount government claws back from unused grants to community assets in order to give the organisations running them more finance for new projects; · A drive to promote the wider use of community shares, which allow community organisations to raise capital by selling shares, will be launched early next year; · Criteria will be developed by the next Budget to assess whether public services could be better delivered by cooperatives or third sector organisations.

By Paul Jump, Third Sector Online, 7th December 2009

A new project from the National Association for Voluntary and Community Action has been announced to offer procurement support to Third Sector Organisations.

The National Association for Voluntary and Community Action (NAVCA) will deliver a new project to help Third Sector Organisations bid for public service contracts.

The Tender Support Project is being delivered as part of the National Programme for Third Sector Commissioning and will run from October 2009 to the end of March 2011. It will provide individual guidance, advice and support on tender submissions for Third Sector organisations that are inexperienced or new to tendering and do not have access to similar tender support.

The project aims to help with the following:

• Assessing tender suitability
• Checking pre-qualification questionnaires
• Polishing draft tender submissions
• Preparing for interviews/presentation with evaluation panels.

For more information, visit the NAVCA website or contact Pauline Kimantas at Pauline.kimantas@navca.org.uk or phone 0114 2893982.

Source: NAVCA, 09/09/09