Clarifications

It totally depends on how prepared the supplier is. If they have everything they need in place and there are no issues with their financial stability, and they complete the application promptly, then it can be a matter of a week at most. Our team is very responsive to applications. The items the suppliers would need are: - Cyber Essentials basic certification (or ISO27001) - Insurances: public liability, professional indemnity, employer liability - one example of research work (a written paragraph) with a letter of confirmation signed by the contracting authority - carbon reduction plan to adhere to the carbon net zero policy (as an interim measure, we will accept a draft) There is further information on the Carbon Reduction Plan and a template on this page). All applications are split into the preliminary selection questionnaire and the DPSQ, suppliers can access and start their registration by following this link and scrolling down to Research & Insights and clicking on 'access as a supplier'. This will ensure they are in the right place. On that same link, they can download the bid pack which has all the information they require. All the requirements including the examples above are defined in the DPS Needs document within the bid pack.

No, there is no agreed inflation rate stated within the terms and conditions. This would be something that would be addressed at call-off stage with the contracting authority. There is an area for a term on inflation to be inserted into the DPS Schedule 6 Order Form that customer's are encouraged to use. Any questions about inflation clauses can be raised as part of the clarification period during a call-off competition.

You can request that your application is put back into Registered 1 on the DPS platform which will allow you to amend the response to any question, including the one regarding Social Value. Then please re-submit and the team at CCS will assess and progress your application accordingly. To be clear, we have taken your question today as the request and will put you back into Registered 1, allowing you to make the change straight away.

Yes, you can tick yes and provide a link to your Carbon Reduction Policy and progress your application. We are allowing existing policies, draft plans and/or confirmation of sign up to the Market Research Society (MRS) Carbon Net Zero Pledge in the interim whilst full plans are finalised. We will absolutely need the reduction plan as soon as you can, but in the meantime your published Carbon Reduction Policy will be sufficient. Thank you for checking.

This is not required. Please see paragraph 73 of the DPS Needs document which lists the questions that are Not Applicable, this includes Q166 - Q172, Q176 and Q179 - Q185.

No, this does not apply to standard regular payroll, just invoices to companies in your supply chain.

Yes. If any issues with the system itself you can contact the NQC support team who can help you further. You can reach them via email support@nqc.com or via phone 0161 413 7982

You are not required to submit evidence for these. As per paragraph 73 in the DPS Needs document (found in the bid pack) part 3 supplier chain questions 150 - 154 are not applicable.

CCS are running online sessions to assist with creating a Carbon Reduction Plan, regardless of your size, 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. Alternatively, we are happy to accept instead confirmation that you are signed up to the Market Research Society's Carbon Net Zero Pledge, it costs nothing and you can access it here - https://www.mrs.org.uk/topic/sustainability-in-research

They are defined in the Joint Schedule 1 Definitions as follows: Compliance Officer - the person(s) appointed by the Supplier who is responsible for ensuring that the Supplier complies with its legal obligations. Marketing Contact - shall be the person identified in the DPS Agreement Form For smaller businesses these roles may not be applicable so it is acceptable for them to be not completed or listed as 'not applicable'.

They are defined in the Joint Schedule 1 Definitions as follows: Compliance Officer - the person(s) appointed by the Supplier who is responsible for ensuring that the Supplier complies with its legal obligations.

You are not required to submit evidence for these. As per paragraph 73 in the DPS Needs document (found in the bid pack) part 3 supplier chain questions 150 - 154 are not applicable.

We need the accounts for the last 2 years to run an assessment.

This is not required. Please see paragraph 73 of the DPS Needs document which lists the questions that are Not Applicable, this includes Q182.

This is not required. Please see paragraph 73 of the DPS Needs document which lists the questions that are Not Applicable, this includes Q170.

Acceptable reasons could include; timescales given by the customer to bid are too tight, budget/value of contract too low, overwhelmed by volume of tenders, selectively choosing which tenders to bid for due to niche offering, busy time of year, low capacity to bid for new tenders. Anything that would cause you to not wish to bid is acceptable.

As Order Schedule 14 is part of the Terms and Conditions, any applicable service metrics would have to be included (and highlighted!) to bidders as part of the tender bid pack, so you (as the potential bidder) would have sight of it to review before deciding whether to spend your time on bidding for the opportunity.

This is between CCS and the supplier, therefore any penalty with respect to repeated delays in provision of MI would be first discussed with you. There are conversations that would be had between CCS and the supplier long before penalties are employed, and these would be communicated clearly if no resolution could be agreed upon.

As the potential confidentiality agreement would be between the contracting authority (buyer/customer) and the supplier, they may differ depending on the government department undertaking the procurement. CCS does not mandate a template for other government departments to use.

Order Schedule 7 is an optional schedule. This means that the contracting authority (buyer/customer) can choose not to use it at all. Typically, it is not used at all if the contract duration is less than a year, or if listing key staff is not applicable to the specific requirement/situation. This schedule is very much used practically and would not be implemented unnecessarily - it will be made clear at the beginning of the tender whether the customer is using it or not and you will have an opportunity to clarify with them during the clarification period if it is unclear or impractical.