Clarifications

112. •According to DPS Schedule 7 (Order Procedure) we understand that a Supplier can always decide not to tender, when invited to do so. However, clause 3.8 of DPS Schedule 4 (DPS Management) indicates that a failure to bid could lead to a suspension from the DPS if a Supplier repeatedly fails to bid on further competitions without an acceptable reason. Could you please clarify what does CCS mean by "a repeated failure to bid" (how many refusal to bid? - over which period of time? - would be considered under this clause).

111. In regards to question 22 to 29 in RM6219, I was hoping you could provide some clarity.We will be able to provide you with the information for our third party suppliers, as there is a handful of companies that we work with. However in regards to our setup for delivering sessions, we have a very large pool of coaches who are technically sub-contractors. When we work with a client we will scope who is the best coach from our pool to use (based on criteria such as the audience, learning needed and industry). Therefore, would it be sufficient for us to submit 5 coaches' details (VAT, DUNS and Company Registration Number ), and then if we are selected for work, we can provide the specific coach details for the project.

110. In regards to question 133 in RM6219 'Are you able to provide details of your first example contract? Can we provide this for 2nd and 3rd contract?: (Yes/No) Please provide details'. Confirmed with our Legal Department, we cannot share actual client data with anyone as we cannot share the personal details of client contacts (not authorized the disclosure of commercially sensitive information; name of customer, start and end date and estimated contract value, etc). But on Question 137 in RM6219, 'If you cannot provide at least one example customer contract (Question 133), in no more than 500 words please provide an explanation for this e.g. your organisation is a new start-up or you have provided services in the past but not under a contract'. Is none of those situations, the reason is explained above (not authorized the disclosure of commercially sensitive information), but we can relate to RM6145 where you already have a contract with us on this), would you need also our MSA template?

109. In regards to question 21 in RM6219 'The approximate % of contractual obligations assigned to the sub-contractor', will you please be able to clarify what this question mean? We are not very clear on what % it is indicating to. We have a very large pool of coaches who are technically sub-contractors. When we work with a client, the % will vary massively from coach to coach - we have some coaches who deliver for us on a regular basis whereas others only deliver a handful of times a year.

108. Could CCS please confirm if SQ questions under the heading "Part 3: NHS Requirements apply to this DPS? In the SQ document within the Bid Pack the final SQ questions are regarding Cyber Essentials, however we have clicked continue and have an additional page of questions to answer as below: Part 3: NHS Requirements You are 86% through this questionnaire This section gathers information required from organisations applying for NHS and health related contracts in the public sector. 158. Does your organisation provide temporary labour to the health sector? Yes No 159. Is your organisation a member of The Recruitment and Employment Confederation (REC)? Yes No 160. Is your organisation a member of any other Professional/Trade Association? Yes No 161. Does your organisation have a fully comprehensive occupational health screening service in place? Yes (additional questions requiring attachments appear if Yes is selected for this question) No

107. With regards to the Self Audit Certificate and report requirement, please could CCS define what is meant by an "appropriate and legitimate procurement route"? Furthermore, are suppliers expected to inform CCS which customers the invoices inspected that are not supplied under the DPS relate to? It is a common occurrence in public sector contracts that confidentiality clauses in agreements will prevent this.

106. There is a 300 word limit per free text box in the prospectuses - does that equate to each text box in the exported PDF version of the box having a 300 word limit? I.e. in the Generic Prospectus, under the section 'About your organisation', would that have a 300 word limit?

105. Thanks you for the response you provided on the 3rd of November which stated "No, the only pricing required for this DPS is for Standard Off The Shelf training". For the Learning and Training Services (Learning Technologies) the MI Template (Attachment 3 in the bid pack) identifies for the categories LMS Consultancy and LMS Software delivery and content that the pricing model can be either (or both) Bespoke or Standard_off_the_Shelf. The Learning Technologies prospectus (Attachment 1d) sets out the requirement for our response regarding how we would implement, advise, improve and integrate these technologies in a client organisation (for which we would expect to propose Bespoke pricing). It also sets out questions concerning training delivery (such as delivery modes, locations, delegate numbers etc). We don't believe we would provide training of this nature. Are we correct to assume that we can propose a 'Bespoke' only response for this area?

104. •Is the expectation for courses under this DPS to be deliver onsite at customer premises or within providers' own premises? Again this limits the usefulness of Table 1 on the SOTS pricing matrix as an increase or reduction of cost cannot be standardised between these two delivery methods.

103. •With regards to the Customer Satisfaction KPI, please could you confirm what the customer satisfaction survey looks like? Is this something CCS will make available to customers?

102. •With regards to the Supplier Responsiveness KPI, please could you confirm if the time measurement of this KPI is paused if we as a Supplier require further information from a customer before we can resolve/full respond to correspondence?

101. •Could CCS please confirm if Suppliers are bound to accept any award through the DPS, be it via Standard Award or through Rapid Award?

100. Please advise, in regards to Standard OTS Training, what learning category HR training would fall under?

99. Please clarify if the link for Q 133 will be in the public domain or will it only be available for DPS Buyers to access. Our link will contain commercially sensitive information (e.g. pricing) and we would like to ensure it is only used for the purposes of the framework.

98. With regards to providing a link to a Quality Assurance Report/Policy for Q37 - suppliers bidding for multiple service types could have multiple documents that could apply to this question given the nature of each service and particular sector regulations/requirements, and furthermore these are not things that may not typically available via hyperlink. Please could you advise how or if multiple documents can be provided and if considerations could be made for attaching them rather than providing links?

97. Could you please confirm which documents have been updated/replaced since 21st October?

96. We are concerned that the 'Standard OTS Training' tab on the OTS pricing matrix will not work efficiently or effectively as multiple courses could be offered within a given Learning Category, each with differing costs that impact ability to offer discounts and resits etc. How can customers evaluate the true benefit of information given on this tab? We note from a response to another bidder that we are advised to explain the differences within the text box on this tab, but is there not a risk that customer evaluations will potentially be flawed and unfair as a standardised comparison is not possible per course?

95. Please would it be possible to confirm if there is a way to receive automatic updates when any clarifications questions are answered relating to this DPS and not just those raised by ourselves?

94. Please would it be possible to confirm the number of customers that have signed up to use the DPS at this stage?

93. Hello. Please can you advise on how the CPV codes will be used by buyers. Can Suppliers update their CPV codes after submission of the SQ/ DPSQ ie if the scope of the learning and training services changes?