Adult Skills Course Delivery

East Durham College is looking to secure a maximum of two organisations to deliver adult education courses to people aged 19 years and over who live in postcodes within the North East Combined Authority area.

The contract value will be based on an 80/20 split. The full contract value will be a maximum of £450,000 - Tenderers are invited to bid for the contract amount they can effectively deliver within the specified contract requirements, it will then be at the discretion of the College to determine the split of the contract award.

Adults must live in an address with a North East Combined Authority postcode, it is not the delivery location. Provision is expected to be part-time and must be linked to the North East LEP or LSIP Strategic Aims for each area. East Durham College is seeking provision which moves adults either directly into jobs or closer to the employment market. We will not accept large volumes of employability provision or distance learning. We would expect all the funded provision to be AEB funded and not Skills for Jobs.

The training must be delivered in full by the contracted training provider, i.e. only one level of sub-contracting is permitted, and no second level subcontracting is permitted. The quality of provision and subcontractor financial health will be paramount as the College will retain responsibility to the ESFA and OFSTED for programme quality. Financial health and inspection outcomes will form important parts of the assessment process, where a credit rating is above average we may reject their tender.

The estimated contract value reflects the funding value of learning to be delivered and will be subject to a management fee which will not exceed 20%.

Providers must have experience of delivering provision to meet local skills needs and be able to provide verified data in the following areas:

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Achievement rates which are above national averages

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High levels of positive progression into employment

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History of achieving contracts in the last two years

The positive progression must be into employment, further learning or improved prospects. We are not looking to deliver generic employability programmes.

We will only look to contract with providers who have a history of delivering in the North East and they must have a permanent base in County Durham, Sunderland or Gateshead.