Clarifications

You may have completed the generic Selection Questionnaire (SQ) as opposed to the SQ for the adult skills and learning agreement. If you contact our service provider NQC, they may be able to transfer some of the answers over to the relevant SQ. You can call NQC on 0161 413 7982 or via email on Support@nqc.com . Although, as the questionnaires are different, this may not be possible and may require a fresh application by clicking 'access as a buyer' under the adult skills and learning section on the DPS website: https://supplierregistration.cabinetoffice.gov.uk/dps

Not every supplier will need to complete every question as some questions will only appear if certain answers are given to previous questions.

Part 3 questions are in the DPSQ (financial standing, modern slavery etc.) so if you proceed you'll get to answer the part 3 questions.

To establish a Net Cash Flow would be to take all the cash flowing into the business and subtract all the cash outflows. However, there are a couple of variations that can also be used to establish Net cash Flow. Please note for this DPS that CCS are not assessing net/free cash flow so therefore there is no requirement on the Bidder to provide these details. Regarding the Month End Net Debt, if you hover over the cell and read the comment provided, it should indicate that this is only used on companies within the construction industry. This is not data that CCS requires the bidders to provide for this DPS as it is not being assessed, please therefore leave blank.

Please contact NQC (our service provider), who will be able to advise a way forward. You can call NQC on 0161 413 7982 or via email on Support@nqc.com

We cannot see a clarification from the organisation asking this clarification question so cannot confirm. Clarifications raised under this DPS are related to Adult Skills and Learning, CCS Commercial Agreement no. RM6348. There is another DPS (RM6219 - Learning and Training Services) which has separate clarifications and is a unique DPS which you may wish to self-assure that you are referring to the right DPS your organisation is intending to engage with.

Please send the parent company accounts to info@crowncommercial.gov.uk with the CCS commercial agreement number (RM6348) and your organisations name stated in the subject line so this can be directed to the relevant team.

Net cash flow from operating activities (After working capital and tax) - to calculate operating cash flow you add together a company's net income, non-cash items (adjustments to net income), and working capital. Average Month End Net Debt - guidance is provided on the spreadsheet against the cell as follows: 'the average month end debt is the preceding 13 month-end net debt positions divided by 13. This is used to calculate a new metric (Average month end net debt to EBITDA) being piloted which may provide a better representation of the financial indebtedness of Construction businesses.' Please also ensure make full use tab 3.1. this is where cells are provided to allow you to provide additional narrative to support financial information and metric outputs.

Correct - for the purposes of the filters the mode of delivery doesn't matter. When a buyer outlines what they want as part of their call off contract, they may ask for specific deliver modes, for example face-to-face, online.

"3.19.2 Please provide a link to your most recently published Carbon Reduction Plan (CRP) which: confirms your commitment to achieving Net Zero by 2050; contains emissions reported for all required Scopes (in accordance with the required methodology); indicates the environmental management measures that you will apply when performing the contract; and has a reporting period of no greater than 12 months prior to the date of commencement of this procurement. Is published on your company website. In order to submit a parent company CRP in lieu of an individual CRP, you must be wholly owned by parent company, the submitted CRP must: apply to both you and your parent company, must confirm your joint commitment to achieving net zero by 2050. be adopted jointly and with environmental management measures clearly applied to you when performing the relevant contract. Where the response is being completed on behalf of a consortium of suppliers, a link should be provided to the CRP of each consortium member. 3.19.3. If emissions in the Carbon Reduction Plan(s) are not reported for any Scopes or only for some Scopes, or the reporting period is more than 12 months from the date of commencement of the procurement, please provide an explanation why. (optional)" Note that the Carbon Reduction Plan section is only required of suppliers who indicate that they will bid for contracts with an annual value over £5,000,000 excluding VAT.

If you answer "Yes" to the "Does your organisation have Cyber Essentials certification?", there is a follow-up question asking about Cyber Essentials Plus.

There are two questionnaires. Referring to the attachment in the Bid Pack titled 'RM6348 - Adult Skills DPS Questionnaire.pdf', the 3.2.1 you refer to is at page 108 which is part of the Section Questionnaire. However, once you have completed this Selection Questionnaire you will then go on to complete the Adult Skills and Learning Dynamic Purchasing System (DPS) Registration questionnaire (shown in the document 'RM6348 - Adult Skills DPS Questionnaire.pdf' starting at page 126. You should upload the FVRA when you get to 3.2.1. of this questionnaire (as detailed on page 127 of the 'RM6348 - Adult Skills DPS Questionnaire.pdf').

Bidders are required to present their financial position for analysis. They do this by completing the FVRA template and providing supporting evidence for the numbers entered into that template. A bidder should complete the FVRA and provide supporting information to support their FVRA. They can use draft accounts or management accounts it does not necessarily have to be the statutory financial information. The more information they provide the better, we will then be able to reach a conclusion as their financial risk profile. If you answer "yes" for now, this can be clarified later. Make full use of tab 3.1, as this is where you can provide additional narrative to support your financial information.

The document titled 'DPS Core Terms v1.0' is contained within a sub-folder titled 'RM6348 - Bid Pack Part 2 (Terms and Conditions)' of the Bid Pack. This document is the document being referred to, the reference to "version 1.0.3" will be amended in due course, but please proceed with the current issued version as this typo will be acknowledged having addressed this clarification.

Yes, it is encouraged that suppliers keep their service offerings up-to-date during the lifetime of the DPS to ensure buyers have an accurate list of suppliers based upon the filters they apply.

Yes, all bidders are required to complete and return the Financial Viability Risk Assessment (FVRA) denoted as 'Attachment 3a' in the Bid Pack. Not all companies will have a parent or an ultimate parent. Therefore, if this does not apply to your organisation, you should proceed by entering your organisations details. This is included as the FVRA is a template which can be used by a vast array of organisations across CCS as an organisation, it has not been made specifically for this commercial agreement. If you do not believe something applies and Attachment 3 nor does the 'Bidder Instructions' tab within Attachment 3a expressly mandate the input of data, it would be assumed you can move on from this. Note: the FVRA Tool has an inbuilt checker which should indicate where data is missing or incomplete.

Please attach the completed FVRA to 3.2.1.

The document titled 'RM6348 - Adult Skills DPS Questionnaire.pdf' is a PDF copy of the DPS Questionnaire suppliers will work through as part of their application to be appointed to the DPS. This has been provided so that suppliers can view the information in one document rather than navigating the SRS system to understand what is required ahead of starting the application process. The document titled 'RM6348 - Attachment 6 - Standard Selection Questionnaire v1.0.pdf' is for information only for bidders to view in advance of completing the Selection Questionnaire. "Part 3" of the DPS Questionnaire is where the FVRA is referenced and questions / uploads are required. Part 3 refers to 'financial standing and technical capacity'. Starting on page 127 of the 'RM6348 - Adult Skills DPS Questionnaire.pdf' document is where this is referenced, at 3.2.1.

Please contact NQC using either the telephone number or the "contact us" facility at the foot of the Supplier Registration Service (SRS). As a Category Team we do not have the technical expertise to advise, however NQC build and administrate the platform on our behalf so are better placed to advise and support.

From the information provided, it would be assumed that you should complete tab '1.1b Lead Financial Input' given you have stated you are a Not-for-Profit organisation. Not all the fields in the tab will be relevant to every organisation. The FVRA Tool is generic in design to encapsulate our wide range or agreements at CCS. Where you do not have information to insert against a given field, please leave this blank and complete the FVRA Tool as accurate and fully as possible.