Clarifications

265. Hi there. Would the commissioner please advise if there are any requirements on a minimum cohort of 8 apprentices. Can we wait to get the minimum 8 apprentices on the standard before we commence delivery?

264. Would the commissioner please consider deleting clause 25.4? There are many other ways to ensure that the Supplier is providing value for money and reasonable commercial terms to the Authority/contracting Authority. This can be done by monitoring price uplifts for fixed periods, only having contracts in place for 18 months, always using the Standard procurement procedure, and benchmarking commercial terms among the many mechanisms that the Authority can ensure they are getting value for money. To have the Authority enter into a contract with the Supplier and put undue pressure on the Supplier, that the contract can be taken away at any time because the Authority has found commercial terms more beneficial to the Authority is unreasonable as the Supplier will have amended their business practices to ensure they can deliver the contract based on particular commercial terms. The DMP agreement goes even further in that the Authority can terminate the contract for convenience on three months' notice, so having the Competitive terms clause is redundant and doesn't benefit either party.

263. Would the commissioner please advise if the supplier is allowed to reject a Rapid Award as under Schedule 5 Call for Competition procedure - there is no option to reject a Rapid Award, however is one available for the Standard procedure under clause 2.5.1. KPI 1.6 mentioned in Schedule 2 implies that we do have the right to reject a Rapid Award, and the drafting of the KPI also implies there is a closed list of reasons/grounds for why the Supplier may reject a Rapid Award. As the KPI 1.6 mentioned in Schedule 2 states "participate in Further Competitions and Request for Quotes for reasons other than 'Conflict(s) of Interest' or 'Lack of availability of Resource' must remain as six (6) or fewer occurrences in any rolling twelve (12) month period". In addition clause 33.2 states Termination on Material Default 33.2.1 The Authority may terminate this Dynamic Marketplace Agreement for material Default by issuing a Termination Notice to the Supplier where: (a) the Supplier fails to accept a Contract pursuant to paragraph 8.2 of DMP Schedule 5 (Call for Competition Procedure); Please can the commissioner confirm how schedule 5 - 8.2, clause 33.2.1 of the main agreement and the KPI 1.6 of Schedule 2 are to work together. As there may be legitimate scenarios where a Supplier just cannot take the contract on if it's a Rapid Award.

261. Would the commissioner please advise if the supplier is allowed to reject a Rapid Award as under Schedule 5 Call for Competition procedure - there is no option to reject a Rapid Award, however one is available for the Standard procedure under clause 2.5.1. KPI 1.6 mentioned in Schedule 2 implies that we do have the right to reject a Rapid Award, and the drafting of the KPI also implies there is a closed list of reasons/grounds for why the Supplier may reject a Rapid Award. As the KPI 1.6 mentioned in Schedule 2 states "participate in Further Competitions and Request for Quotes for reasons other than 'Conflict(s) of Interest' or 'Lack of availability of Resource' must remain as six (6) or fewer occurrences in any rolling twelve (12) month period".

260. Would the commissioner consider amending clause 26 to allow for the indemnity to fall under the indemnity financial cap under clause 30 of the agreement?

259. Hi there. As the DMP will end on the 29/04/2025 could the Authority please confirm if a supplier would be able to be appointed e.g. in April 2024 and be e.g. directly awarded a standard which has a completion period of 18 months?

255. Hi Team, We are on supplier list and Appointed as RM6102 Apprenticeship training service provider. is it necessary for us to re-submit the questionnaires? also, if we are already appointed then as per our understanding we have to wait for BoE requirement to be published on CCS e-sourcing portal. is it correct? Please clarify.

254. Good morning, We hope you are well We see our name on the suppliers list, but once we checked the workflow on our portal it states that the final stage is: 'Confirm Rejection: Assigned to DPS Category Owner' Does this mean we have been rejected on the framework? Are there any outstanding tasks we need to complete to ensure we have view of CCS Apprenticeship tenders going forward? Kind regards Bid Team

253. DYNAMIC MARKETPLACE AGREEMENT, Clause 16 Could the Authority please clarify what they would expect to be reasonable instructions to a specific employee of a Supplier?

252. Re: DYNAMIC MARKETPLACE AGREEMENT, Clause 27 & Schedule 22 Could the Authority please consider a Controller to Controller relationship so that a Supplier is able to meet it's statutory responsibilities and requirements around their awarding powers and statutory reporting?

251. Re: DYNAMIC MARKETPLACE AGREEMENT, Clause 8 Could the Authority please clarify how this clause would be triggered?

249. Re: Attachment 12, Clause 16 Could the Authority please clarify what they would expect to be reasonable instructions to a specific employee of a Supplier?

248. Re: Attachment 12, Clause 27 & Schedule 22 Could the Authority please consider a Controller to Controller relationship so that a Supplier is able to meet it's statutory responsibilities and requirements around their awarding powers and statutory reporting?

247. Re: Attach 12, Clause 8 Could the Authority please clarify how this clause would be triggered?

246. Re: Attach 7, Schedule 8 Please could the Authority clarify the use of Clause 23, Schedule 7 and Schedule 8? Is the option to use the Joint Controller relationship used by each Customer upon which varying terms in the Call Off to confirm which clauses the relationship is subject to?

245. Re: Attachment 7, Schedule 4, 3.2.4 Could the Authority please clarify whether there is a standard ICT Policy expected for compliance or is the Supplier required to ensure its infrastructure has the ability to meet multiple different Policies?

244. Re: Attachment 7, Schedule 3 Annex 2 Could the Authority please confirm which terms take precedent as the detail of this Annex 2 is in contrast with Paragraphs 3,5 and 6 in Schedule 3?

243. Re: Attach 7, Schedule 3, 5.0 Could the Authority please confirm that this clause is "not used" for the majority of Apprenticeship Services where funding is drawn down through an automatic levy account and not invoiced directly?

242. Re: Attachment 7, Annex 3, SLA Could the Authority please clarify if this is Degree Certificate or Apprenticeship Certificate, as the Apprenticeship Certificate is not supplied by the Supplier, but the ESFA directly?

241. Re: Attachment 7, 23.23 Can the Authority please clarify how a Supplier would be able to meet their statutory responsibilities under the FOIA of which they would also be subject to?