Clarifications

23. Good morning, Can you clarify what is required as 'certificates' for our major projects?

22. We have noticed that the framework is already in use. We are currently unable to finalise our application due to completing the Carbon Reduction Plan (CRP). We have not previously been required to have a CRP as we do not bid for opportunities over £5million. Is there any way that we can submit our application with the agreement that the CRP will be updated within two weeks of this date? This should be before the submission of any bids and before award.

21. How should new companies that do not have a supplier payment history answer questions 66 to 70 in the DPSQ regarding supplier payments?

20. Please could you confirm if professional memberships will be accepted as recognised, formal qualification?

19. Please could you confirm if alternative trainee programmes and evidenced commitment to ongoing staff's skills development will be accepted? As per Procurement Policy Note - Supporting Apprenticeships and Skills Through Public Procurement, Action Note 14/15 27 August 2015, Annex A: Schedule 1: Apprenticeships are a valuable, but not the only, means by which a contractor can provide evidence. For example the recruitment of experienced staff that are offered on-going training could also be a means of maintaining skills levels.

18. Paragraph 73 states that a response is not necessary for question 135 of the Selection Questionnaire.. It does not state that questions 133 and 134 are not applicable, although they are similar questions relating to contract examples. Can you please clarify?

17. Good Afternoon 1.How do I edit Q161 of the Standard Questionnaire, apologies I can't seem to find that option. 2. Although we are not relying on our Subcontractors to meet the obligations under the DPS Appointment Form, however depending on tender opportunities we may use subcontractors depending on the specifications / area of expertise - i.e. strategic advisers , therefore can you confirm that we will not be rejected if we do not complete the subcontractors question. Thanks

16. Good afternoon, there was a notification on 25.11.21 stating that a new version of Attachment 4 was amended in the Bid Pack, however, when I downloaded the bid pack there was an Attachment 5 Additional Subcontractors but last modified 28.10.21 , could you advise. Thanks Notification Attachment 4 amendmenta Dear Supplier, please be advised that a new Version of "Attachment 4 - Additional Sub-Contractor(s)" has been added to the Bid Pack to replace the previous version which contained spreadsheet drop down errors. Regards Crown Commercial Service

15. Paragraph 73 states a response isn't required for Part 3: (NHS Questions) Q157 - Q161. However, not responding to this section and moving on to the next section returns 4 invalid responses: Question '158' is answered incorrectly; Question '159' is answered incorrectly; Question '160' is answered incorrectly; Question '161' is answered incorrectly. So do we need to select the 'No' response for each question?

14. Q1. In completing the 'Selection Questionnaire', at Q21 "Are you, or the group of economic operators (if applicable), proposing to use sub-contractors?", we have entered 'No', perhaps in error. Whether or not we propose to use subcontractors, and who those subcontractors will be, will depend on the nature of the work that is contracted under this framework agreement. Should we therefore have entered 'Yes' in response to Q21, and provided the details for the most likely subcontractors (given our experience of bidding under Framework RM6018)? Or, is it OK to not provide any sub-contractor details within the 'Selection Questionnaire' given it is unknown at this stage? If we should have entered sub-contractor details, will it now be sufficient to submit these on 'Attachment 5 - Additional Sub-Contractor(s).xlsx', given we cannot go back to Q21, having already completed the Selection Questionnaire? Either way, is it correct to assume we can use subcontractors in the future who we have not named in our bid? Q2. With regards to the contract example that is required, please can you confirm: Will prospective clients have access to this information? How many contract examples are required? Do the example contracts need to be complete, or can they be in progress?

13. -Qs 144-146 ask about our commitment to supporting skills and apprenticeships, and how we ensure that our suppliers support skills and apprenticeships. This is in the context of PPN 14/15, which refers to procurements of over £10m. We don't anticipate contracts valuing more than £10m from this Framework, and so please could you confirm the relevance of the questions in this context? In addition, please could you confirm whether the responses to these questions are pass/fail, i.e. grounds for exclusion/rejection? -Under the DPS terms, it states that a Management Levy is due to be paid to CCS for management of the framework. Please could you confirm the value of the levy, or the method of calculation, for the course of the agreement? -Clause 2.6 of the DPS Core Terms: is this clause necessary to include? Where our clients are looking for a procurement route we would of course point them in the direction of this Framework, but we do not believe that it should be the role of potential contractors to promote the Framework. Our clients have their own procurement routes in line with internal guidelines. -Clause 14.3 of the DPS Core Terms: we've not had a contract condition to send the buyer copies of government data every 6 months and this seems to us to be unnecessary and actually not good practice. What is meant by this clause? Is the spirit of this more about sending copies upon request? If so, can this clause be changed? -Supply chain visibility schedule: this states that the supplier shall "advertise on Contracts Finder all Sub-Contract opportunities arising from or in connection with the provision of the Deliverables above a minimum threshold of £25,000 that arise during the Contract Period" with a further clause that this only applies "after the Effective Date". The term "Effective Date" is unclear to us. Are we correct in interpreting this to mean that if we name specific sub-contractors in a tender submission for work under the framework then we do not need to advertise on Contracts Finder?

12. Please ignore/delete question 9. Thanks!

11. On the SSQ, Part 1: Persons of Significant Control, I've encountered a problem. I've entered the details for 2 people who have Over 25% up to (and including) 50% shares - in fact they have 50% each. The form is asking for the details of a third PSC and there isn't one. As this is mandatory, I'm unable to progress any further. Could you advise how to deal with it, please?

10. We are registered as a supplier for RM6018 and had understood from the August 2021 supplier webinar that we would not have to re-do the Supplier Questionnaire before moving to the Research and Insights specific questionnaire. However, when we log in through the supplier registration page and select "access as a supplier" and then "continue", we are invited to complete the Supplier Questionnaire. Should we go through and do it again, or does this indicate a problem? Note that we do have the option to "re-use an existing questionnaire".

9. Government procurement regulation requires suppliers to provide a Carbon Reduction Plan in order to be eligible to undertake contracts worth more than £5 million. Is a Carbon Reduction Plan therefore only required when bidding for a contract worth more than £5 million within this DPS, rather than as an initial requirement for a place on this DPS?

8. The guidance for the confirmation of works states "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)" Please can you confirm whether this means that the contract must have been signed after October 2018 or that the work must have been delivered after October 2018? Thank you

7. We have read the documents in the bid pack. We can't find any reference to a deadline by which an interested supplier would need to request to participate. Can you clarify?

6. Please can you explain the difference between the three contract examples requested in questions 133, 134 and 135 on the Selection Questionnaire and the contract example requested at question 56 of the Research Insights questionnaire. Do we need to provide three contract examples for questions 133, 134 and 135 and then choose one of those contract examples to expand upon in question 56 (on the RI questionnaire)? Is my understanding correct that we only need to provide a Letter of Confirmation for the example in question 56 and not for the examples in 133, 134 and 135?

5. Please can you confirm how many contract examples should be provided in the SQ - is it two (Q133 & Q134)? Presumably the contract example required for the DPSQ (Q55) can be the same as one of the examples provided in the SQ?

4. Please can you confirm that, as per the CCS Standard Selection Questionnaire, Q128 should only be answered if the answer to Q127 is 'No' & should be left blank if the answer to Q127 is 'Yes'?