Clarifications

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?

92. Good morning. We would like to circulate to our existing customer network via our regular newsletter, and add a news story to our website, advising client organisations and website visitors of our appointment to the DPS. Do you have a prepared and approved form of words that we can use for this purpose?

91. We've been in touch with Contracts Finder to apply to be allowed to place subcontract advertisements there for DPS bids of more than £25k, as per the CCS instructions. (Joint Schedule 12, para 2) However, Contracts Finder say that we can't apply for a general permission to use the service, but to apply on a case-by-case basis, having first sought the specific authority of the buying organisation. This is going to add administrative delay to the process of preparing proposals in response to buyer requests. Please can you comment and advise? Thanks.

90. Is there a word limit in any of the prospectuses? Also, can we include pictures/diagrams/graphics in the prospectuses, or will these not get exported and displayed to customers in the DPS? Thanks.

89. As per the Pricing matix, Learning Categories tab (product name/description) - our product name is our course name, must we include the course name in this section too or will a description suffice?

88. Please advise whether there is a word limit for the Product Name/Description section the Learning Category tab of the pricing matrix