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Introduction
Education Authority (EA) Youth Service has a statutory obligation to provide quality youth work programmes across the statutory sector NI wide and currently deliver a suite of accredited courses to support EA Children and Young People Service (CYPS), address educational underachievement towards closing the attainment gap and addressing barriers to learning.
The courses and qualifications delivered meet the requirements of the Youth Service Curriculum, focusing on the Personal and Social Development of young people, enabling them to access alternative accreditation.
Youth Service supports the most vulnerable young people in society, young people who often fail to achieve academically within a formal school setting.
Objectives
EA Commercial Procurement Service (CPS) sought to carry out a Market Assessment exercise, in line with PPN 02/21, to understand the capabilities and capacity of organisations within the market who could supply the required accreditations.
Actions
CPS advertised the Market Assessment exercise on eTendersNI to ensure the widest possible reach across the supplier base.
In line with section 5.4 of PPN 02/21, CPS reserved the right to establish a contract directly following conclusion of the Market Assessment exercise (and without a subsequent competition) where we were content that all requirements of the PPN have been met, or to carry out a further competition if necessary.
A number of responses to the Market Assessment were received. These responses were evaluated by the panel and scored against the criteria published in the Market Assessment documentation. Using the flexibilities afforded by the processes outlined in PPN 02/21.
Outcome
Upon conclusion of the evaluation of response and clarification process, a compliant contract was awarded to EA’s suppliers who were deemed to have provided the most suitable proposal in line with the published criteria, to meet the EA Youth Service requirements.
Conclusion
Carrying out the Market Assessment allowed the EA to establish that there were other providers in the market who delivered similar services to those we required, who were new to the EA. This exercise, and the flexibilities in the processes, allowed for engagement with these providers whilst assessing the market, which was particularly useful in establishing commercial models. The ability to award a contract after completion of the Market Assessment allowed CPS to award a contract quicker than if a full regulated Open tender had been carried out.