Clarifications
There are 135 clarifications for this DPS
75. Appendix 1a (Letter of Confirmation of Works) includes the statement: '[CUSTOMER ORGANISATION] which is a company registered in [insert] under company number [insert company no.] and whose registered office is at [insert address].'
Our clients are primarily Local Authorities. Please confirm how this form should be completed when the Customer Organisation is not a 'registered company' and does not have a 'company number'. As presented it will not be possible for our clients to compelete or sign Appendix 1a.
CCS is happy for this document, the Letter of Confirmation to be amended in order to change section 2 to reflect the organisation correctly and to best suit the contracting authority who is supporting your application by confirming the work you undertook - please be reassured that these documents are not contractual (despite the look and feel of them).
Answered
18/03/2022 08:10
74. Attachment 1a (The Letter of Confirmation of Works) includes the statement '[Customer Organisation] which is a company registered in [insert] under company number [insert company number] and whose registered office is at [insert address].'
Our clients are typically local authorities - i.e. public sector organisation that are not registered companies. They will therefore not have a company number or a registered office and our clients will be unable to sign a declaration that refers to their organiation as being 'a company registered...'.
We note from a previous response that Attachment 1a should not be edited. Therefore, please can you confirm how the form should be completed for such clients or if an alternative form suitable for public sector clients is available.
CCS is happy for this document, the Letter of Confirmation to be amended in order to change section 2 to reflect the organisation correctly and to best suit the contracting authority who is supporting your application by confirming the work you undertook - please be reassured that these documents are not contractual (despite the look and feel of them).
Answered
17/03/2022 09:20
73. With so many suppliers having difficulty getting a Carbon Reduction Plan in place, can this not be put on hold? We are being refused acceptance until we can produce one - our building has been more or less empty for 2 years due to the pandemic, we have a skeleton staff, and access to the building now is restricted due to building works. Pulling together a CRP is extremely difficult in these circumstance. Today I was quoted £3000 by a consultant to help draw up a CRP. You say there is a link to FAQs but I cannot find it. I think suppliers have been floored by this, especially SMEs who will not be bidding for projects over £5m.
A condition is that suppliers must produce a Carbon Reduction Plan and publish it to their website in line with Procurement Policy Note 06/21. This is required for continued appointment to the DPS irrespective of whether you intend to bid for contracts above £5M or not.
we will accept a plan that does not contain all of the required Scopes listed in the PPN provided that you are committed to working towards provision of a final version with all of the required scopes in the near future.
Answered
08/03/2022 14:45
72. Dear DPS Team
We are trying to manage the DPS framework accordingly, we have two contacts that receive enquiries it seems.
Carry Stephenson seems to receive all of the CCS requests for proposals and about half those direct from clients (Carry is a super user on the portal)
Boris Johansson (Authorised Representative) seems to be receiving the other half of the requests for proposals direct from other clients using the framework (like the one below as an example)
Boris does not need to receive these - we would like them all to go to Carry Stephenson, and in addition to tenders_uk@systra.com
It would seem therefore that the clients using the portal to select suppliers are not using it consistently.
Please can you let me know if this is a problem others are having? Is that something you could please change for us? Perhaps by making it so that purchasers of research are forced to select the superuser rather than the (Authorised Representative) - and are you able to make a change such that we can have two superusers and add tenders_uk@systra.com as the second?
Please send a message to info@crowncommercial.gov.uk with your request and someone can look into this for you.
Answered
16/03/2022 13:20
71. Re Question 15 etc of the Selection Questionnaire. Where the Person of Significant Control is based outside of the UK, the postcode will only accept a UK postcode, please can you advise?
In this instance you could input your immediate parent company postcode in order to get through the application.
Answered
17/03/2022 15:48
70. For the selection questionnaire for the Research and Insights DPS, do we need to fill out questions 133-135 (contracts)? In the DPS needs, these questions are noted as non-applicable, however, I've seen these questions mentioned on the clarification questions page, which makes it seem as though we should answer.
They are non-applicable as per the bid pack.
Answered
08/03/2022 14:43
69. Hi there, I've just asked the question number 49 about word count. Please disregard this as I've found the answer within the Bid pack documents [i.e. 4096 characters (including spaces) ] - my apologies for missing this!
This question is no longer applicable.
Answered
16/03/2022 13:22
68. Dear Sir/Madam,
In regards to providing the one research contract example in Question 56 and 57, could you let us know if there is a word limit for this response
please. We are aware that we have to address all the points mentioned in Question 56 so want to make sure that we adhere to any word count / page limits.
Thank you in advance for answering this query.
The word limit is 4096 characters (including spaces) as per the bid pack.
Answered
08/03/2022 14:42
67. Please can you confirm that evidence is not required to be submitted for Q166-Q172, Q176 and Q179-Q185 in the Selection Questionnaire as indicated in the document 'Dynamic Purchasing System (DPS) Needs' (point 73 - Selection Questionnaire - Not Applicable questions).
Yes, that is correct, evidence is not required to be submitted at submission stage for Q166-Q172, Q176 and Q179-185 as per the DPS Needs document.
Answered
13/01/2022 16:44
66. Q133 and Q134 on the Selection Questionnaire (contracts), (a) should we provide a client reference using Attachment 1a and (b) can there be overlap with the project example provided under Attachment 1?
Yes, please use Attachment 1a for the confirmation of work undertaken.
Yes, there can be an overlap with the project example provided under Attachment 1.
Answered
13/01/2022 16:44
65. Hi there, I recall in the webinar it was mentioned that suppliers using the previous Research Marketplace would be able to skip the first stage. Could I please clarify at which point we join the process and the link we should follow?
If you are registered as a supplier for RM6018 Research Market place then you are able at the Supplier Questionnaire stage to use the option to "re-use an existing questionnaire" before moving to the DPS specific questionnaire.
Answered
13/01/2022 16:44
64. In response to the questions in the Registered 1 Questionnaire, if we are an organisation that has undertaken the appropriate work to be registered onto this DPS, however not under contract (as was an option for submission in the initial SSQ), what should we provide as evidence? Or would we not be eligible for acceptance onto this DPS?
You must provide one example of research work undertaken. Your response must include:
A summary of the works/contract, demonstrating your technical capability and capacity to deliver a research project, detailing:
- project name and research topic
- research participants (where applicable)
- methodology and approach
The objectives and/or key performance indicators, set by the customer at the start of the contract, and how you were able to meet them (including targets and the results you achieved).
The compliance criteria follows:
Example can be from public or private sector
Example provided must relate to services delivered during the
past three (3) years, prior to publication of the contract notice to
be valid as evidence for this procurement (i.e. not started before
October 2018)
The customer contact provided must be notified by you that they
may be contacted by the Authority (the Authority reserves the
right to validate the accuracy of details provided)
Example must clearly and unambiguously fall within the scope of
the research services
Example of a contract awarded under Framework/DPS
Agreements via call off contracts will be considered valid, but
Framework Agreements themselves will NOT be considered
valid
Customer contact provided must not have been employed or
appointed by your organisation, or from within your associated
group of companies, within the past three (3) years prior to the
publication of the contract notice for RM6126 Research &
Insights Marketplace DPS (i.e. October 2018)
Example may cover situations where your organisation was
acting as prime contractor, key sub-contractor or part of a Group
of Economic Operators
The signature must be a wet signature where possible and not a
printed name of the customer contact, if obtaining a wet
signature is not possible then customer contact details will be
used to validate the accuracy of details provided
Answered
13/01/2022 16:43
63. Do you meet the minimum level of economic and financial standing and/or minimum financial threshold specified within the evaluation criteria for this procurement? Where is the evaluation criteria? How can we tick yes or no if we don't have this? Thanks
Please refer to the DPS Needs document (which forms part of the RM6126 bid pack), paragraph 51, page 15 'Economic and Financial Standing' section.
Also see Attachment 4 Financial Assessment Template (which forms part of the RM6126 bid pack), this shows the template CCS Commercial Finance team utilise.
Answered
13/01/2022 16:43
62. Re Commitment to have CyberEssentials in place - Are we required to have CyberEssentials in place in order to pass the DPS evaluation and get a place on the DPS. Or do you accept commitment to have CybersEssentials in place before a call-off award?
If the latter - what evidence is required for commitment to have CyberEssentials in place for future award?
Yes, as long as you can provide your cyber essentials certificate at a later date you can be appointed on the DPS.
Answered
16/03/2022 15:36
61. How do we respond if we do not currently have CyberEssentials but will commit to get this in place whilst we await completion of our ISO27001 certification? The responses options in the pdf suggest its a Yes/No. When I get to these questions online - will there be a text comment option where the answer is no - so we may state a commitment?
There is not a text comment option so you will need to answer no but as long as you can provide this at a later date, you will be appointed onto the DPS.
Answered
18/03/2022 08:13
60. Please can you confirm the 'Supplier Evidence' - Questions 166 to 185 are not responded to until the SQ has been reviewed?
We can confirm this is correct.
Answered
17/03/2022 15:49
59. Where the supplier is a US organization without a UK Postcode, what should we put in the postcode section in order to proceed to the next page? We have tried the equivalent postcode, but the system doesn't seem to accept this.
Please enter the equivalent of a UK postcode for your organisation's Immediate Parent Company. This will not cause any issues with your DPS application
Answered
17/03/2022 15:52
58. Please could you confirm only 1 x Customer Confirmation of Works is required ?
Yes, only one example of work and an accompanying letter of confirmation for that example is required.
Answered
18/03/2022 08:08
57. It seems that questions are re-numbered each time answers are uploaded. This question relates to the question that is currently numbered 2 relating to Carbon Reduction Plans. The answer ends " If you would like assistance with creating your Carbon Reduction Plan, Crown Commercial Service will be holding a series of online training sessions on producing Carbon Reduction Plans, to help suppliers meet compliance of procurement policy, PPN 06/21. You are able to sign up for the training, free of charge, at this link." There is no link. Please could you post it? Thank you.
https://www.eventbrite.co.uk/e/ppn-0621-carbon-reduction-plan-creation-and-training-tickets-224041864247?aff=esli&utm-campaign=social&utm-content=attendeeshare&utm-medium=discovery&utm-source=li&utm-term=listing
Answered
17/03/2022 15:59
56. We cannot run a credit safe check as we aren't a limited company what other information would be acceptable?
Credit check is not needed as we run a check on D&B ourselves.
Answered
26/01/2022 16:31
