Please note this opportunity has now closed.

West London Working Guidance Skills and Brokerage Confederation

Closing Dates:

Response deadline on CompeteFor: 16.00 hours on Tuesday 13 July 2010

Quote response: 16.00 hours on Friday 13 August 2010 (short listed suppliers only).

Introduction

On behalf of West London Working (www.westlondonworking.org.uk the London Development Agency (LDA) wishes to commission an organisation to continue to support and service the West London Working Guidance, Skills and Brokerage Confederation.

The West London Working Guidance Skills and Brokerage Confederation was established in April 2009 and is West London Working's response to a need for an employment and training provider network across the West London sub region. To date, over 230 representatives from a wide range of employability providers have attended a range of Confederation events and over 500 receive regular monthly e-bulletins.

The Confederation's aims include:

  • Increasing the visibility of providers so they are better placed to form strong partnerships and consortiums when new opportunities arise, particularly in the new commissioning environment with the Department for Work and Pensions, and other commissioners, letting larger and longer contracts;
  • Adding value to the existing local and regional networking opportunities, by allowing employment and skills providers to regularly meet on a sub regional basis and giving them the opportunity to learn, share and develop together;
  • Supporting the continued professionalisation of the sector by through regular networking and capacity building events as well as through regular e-bulletins; and
  • Supporting the provider base across West London by giving them a voice to communicate directly with funders and policy makers.

Procurement Objective

On behalf of West London Working the LDA wishes to appoint an organisation to continue delivery of this service from August/September 2010 until the end of March 2011 that will:

  • Add value to existing networks, such as the Brent in2 Work Provider Network;
  • Give providers the opportunity to establish clear referral route ways with agreed protocols;
  • Inform the West London Working Investment and Target Group of demand and supply on the ground;
  • Contribute towards the formation of proactive partnerships fit for purpose to access competitive funding; and
  • Deliver a capacity building development programme building on what is already available for providers in West London.
  • Activities should include as a minimum:
  • The development, delivery and evaluation of a series of provider events in West London including networking events as well as themed knowledge sharing events;
  • The development, delivery and evaluation of a smaller number of capacity building workshops and/or surgeries focussing on specific areas of support for providers;
  • Active management, maintenance, regular review and cleaning of a mailing list of approx 600 representatives from providers and other stakeholders;
  • Development of an electronic web based template, production and distribution of monthly e-bulletins issued to providers that will give information on up-to-date funding, tendering and capacity building/workforce development opportunities to the provider base as they arise;
  • Ad hoc e-bulletins issued to providers on specific opportunities as required;
  • Attendance at project board meetings;
  • To further consult on the Confederation succession options and to support the implementation of the preferred option to take forward the Confederation from April 2011; and
  • Production of a final report detailing attendance of events, evaluation of the events/surgeries and an analysis of numbers accessing and opening the e-bulletins.

The budget for this opportunity is £50,000, inclusive of VAT. Please bear in mind that West London Working and the London Development Agency seek value for money when assessing quotes.

How to apply

To apply you must be registered on www.CompeteFor.com.

The London Development Agency, working closely with London Business Network and London 2012, developed CompeteFor to ensure that diverse businesses across the capital can access various commercial opportunities. Registering on CompeteFor takes a matter of minutes and will open a wide range of opportunities to your organisation.

To access the opportunity:

Log onto the CompeteFor website

Click on 'Opportunity Search' on the top left-hand corner of the page

Type Confederation in the 'Keyword Search' box and click 'Search'

Freedom of Information Act (FOI)

The LDA is subject to the provisions of the Freedom of Information (FoI) Act 2000 which requires information held by a public body to be provided to members of the public if requested.

In certain circumstances information is exempt from release under the Act, and this can sometimes include information of a commercially sensitive nature. If the tenderer considers that any information supplied by it is either commercially sensitive or confidential in nature, this should be highlighted and the reasons for its sensitivity given.

If an FOI request is received by the LDA which relates to this information, consideration will be given to the issues raised by the tenderer in determining the Agency's legal obligations.