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Research Marketplace DPS

Clarifications

There are 267 clarifications for this DPS

291. What is the minimum level of economic and financial standing and/or minimum financial threshold specified within the evaluation criteria for Supplier registration service procurement?
Please refer to the DPS Needs document of the Bid Pack - paragraph 53 on page 15.
Answered
01/06/2023 14:44
290. The questions below are found in the 'SQ Evidence' section in the DPSQ on the SRS, but they did not appear in Attachment 6 - why is this please? Also, some of these questions below have been flagged internally and we are not likely to be able to provide a response - i.e. question 169 - forecasted turnover is sensitive information that we cannot share, which I'm sure is the case for most Suppliers. Is there a remediation for this obstacle please? 166. Upload documentary evidence of audited accounts for the last two years 169. Upload documentary evidence for the forecast of turnover for the current year 170. Upload a statement of funding provided by the owners and/or the bank, charity accruals accounts or an alternative means of demonstrating financial status 171. Upload documentary evidence for parent company accounts 172. Upload documentary evidence for parent company guarantee 173. Upload documentary evidence for employer's (compulsory) liability insurance 174. Upload documentary evidence for public liability insurance 175. Upload documentary evidence for professional indemnity insurance 176. Upload documentary evidence for product liability insurance 177. Upload documentary evidence to support your commitment to developing and investing in skills, development and apprenticeships 178. Upload documentary evidence to demonstrate the process that ensures your supply chain supports skills, development and apprenticeships in line with PPN 14/15 180. Upload documentary evidence for a certificate for each principal contract for goods and/or services provided in the last three years 182. Upload documentary evidence for a statement of the turnover 183. Upload documentary evidence for profit & loss account 184. Upload documentary evidence for current liabilities and assets 185. Upload documentary evidence for cash flow for the most recent year of trading for the organisation
PLEASE NOTE THAT RM6018 IS EXPIRING 15 FEBRUARY, CUSTOMERS ARE NO LONGER USING THIS DPS. PLEASE APPLY TO THE RM6126 DPS WHICH REPLACES RESEARCH MARKETPLACE. CCS can confirm evidence is not required to be submitted at submission stage for Q166-Q172, Q176 and Q179-185 as per the DPS Needs document.
Answered
03/02/2022 15:53
289. I have just been through the selection questionnaire and clicked on submit. but I am not clear that it is now submitted for review. How can I tell that it is now being reviewed?
CCS can confirm your organisation is already showing as appointed onto the RM6018 DPS. PLEASE NOTE THAT RM6018 IS EXPIRING 15 FEBRUARY, CUSTOMERS ARE NO LONGER USING THIS DPS. PLEASE APPLY TO THE RM6126 DPS WHICH REPLACES RESEARCH MARKETPLACE. If you are referring to the new iteration RM6126 Research & Insights, we can confirm that your application is not yet submitted, please contact support@nqc.com to find out where you are in the system and what next steps would be.
Answered
31/01/2022 10:59
288. 161. Does your organisation have a fully comprehensive occupational health screening service in place? Query: Is this essential for all companies registering?
PLEASE NOTE THAT RM6018 IS EXPIRING 15 FEBRUARY, CUSTOMERS ARE NO LONGER USING THIS DPS. PLEASE APPLY TO THE RM6126 DPS WHICH REPLACES RESEARCH MARKETPLACE. Please can you provide further clarity on where this question is within the questionnaire
Answered
31/01/2022 11:08
287. I would like to apply to the DPS on behalf of a parent company, this is its own company, with a DUNS and company registration. The group consists of 5 subsidiaries, all of whom have separate DUNS and company registrations. Would I need to add these companies as a group of economic actors, subcontractors, or is it just a case of listing these as different trading names (Q11)? Any contract examples will likely be from one of the individual companies, is this likely to cause an issue with the application?
PLEASE NOTE THAT RM6018 IS EXPIRING 15 FEBRUARY, CUSTOMERS ARE NO LONGER USING THIS DPS. PLEASE APPLY TO THE RM6126 DPS WHICH REPLACES RESEARCH MARKETPLACE. Please apply as the entity that will be bidding for tenders. A 'group of economic operators' refers to a consortium type group, including joint ventures and partnerships. It does not refer, for example, to a main contractor who intends to subcontracts all the work. If this is your situation please complete the application accordingly, otherwise please continue to apply as one company entity.
Answered
31/01/2022 11:00
286. Regarding you text "PLEASE NOTE THAT RM6018 IS EXPIRING 15 FEBRUARY, CUSTOMERS ARE NO LONGER USING THIS DPS. PLEASE APPLY TO THE RM6126 DPS WHICH REPLACES RESEARCH MARKETPLACE." Please can you confirm that although RM6018 is active until 15th February 2022, some customers are no longer issuing tenders via this DPS and that some tenders are now being issued via the RM6126 DPS which would mean that even if we are registered on the expiring one (RM6018), until we are registered on RM6126, we may be missing access to new bidding opportunities?
Yes, customers are no longer using RM6018 to run their tenders for research and insights services, this is because it expires on 15 February and there is no longer time to run a full further competition and award contracts before that date. Any research and insights related procurements will only be run through RM6126 Research & Insights DPS going forward. If you wish to have access to new opportunities you should apply to RM6126. Full instructions and links on how to do so are within the Supplier Bulletins that have been sent monthly, but if you need further instructions please email marcommsandresearch@crowncommercial.gov.uk
Answered
25/01/2022 08:52
285. Please can you confirm that there is a genuine expectation that this DPS will be used to award contracts that have an individual value of greater than £5 million per annum (excluding VAT)?
Yes, there are numerous contracts that exceed £5 million per annum under the RM6018 Research Marketplace and discussions with customer organisations about pipeline lead us to believe that RM6126 Research & Insights will attract similar.
Answered
25/01/2022 08:53
284. On page 191 of Attachment 7 (question 51 of the DPSQ), there is a requirement to provide details of a Carbon Reduction Plan, which is covered under Procurement Policy Note 06/21: https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/procurement-policy-note-0621-taking-account-of-carbon-reduction-plans-in-the-procurement-of-major-government-contracts. The action note itself, under point 4, states "This PPN applies to framework agreements and dynamic purchasing systems only where it is anticipated that the individual value of any contract to be awarded under the framework agreement or dynamic purchasing system is greater than £5 million per annum (excluding VAT)." https://assets.publishing.service.gov.uk/government/uploads/system/uploads/attachment_data/file/991622/PPN_0621_Taking_account_of_Carbon_Reduction_Plans__2_.pdf Please can you clarify why this is required as it seems unlikely that any contract under this DPS will be greater than £5 million per annum (excluding VAT), and as a result the requirement would not be proportionate to the contracts awarded (as required under PPN 06/21).
PLEASE NOTE THAT RM6018 IS EXPIRING 15 FEBRUARY, CUSTOMERS ARE NO LONGER USING THIS DPS. PLEASE APPLY TO THE RM6126 DPS WHICH REPLACES RESEARCH MARKETPLACE. In accordance with the Guidance on adopting and applying PPN 06/21, CCS can confirm that should a bidder not provide a Carbon Reduction Plan, their bid will fail unless the reason that the bidder is unable to provide a Carbon Reduction Plan is that the bidders organisation is less than 12 months old. If a bidding organisation is less than 12 months old and can confirm their commitment to achieving Net Zero by 2050 and that they will publish a Carbon Reduction Plan as soon as possible (providing details as to when it will be published), then under these circumstances, their bid will not fail. In all other circumstances, a bidder must provide a Carbon Reduction Plan in order to be appointed to the DPSQ. For clarity, the question applies to all bidders to the DPS, regardless of the size of the bidder, because there is potential for contracts to meet the threshold of £5m annual value. The Carbon Reduction plan must include the bidder's current carbon footprint and its commitment to reducing emissions to achieve Net Zero emissions by 2050. Please note, that an acceptable interim measure would be to submit an early draft Carbon Reduction Plan if you have also signed up to the Market Research Society (MRS) Carbon Net Zero Pledge, if you can confirm that you are on that list of signees (https://www.mrs.org.uk/resources/net-zero-pledge-signees) then we can accept your final Carbon Reduction Plan at a later date. If you would like assistance with creating your Carbon Reduction Plan, Crown Commercial Service will be holding a series of online training sessions on producing Carbon Reduction Plans, 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. SME bidders may find the list of potential resources & tools at the end of the FAQ document useful in establishing their footprint to begin developing their plan.
Answered
24/01/2022 08:43
282. For questions 133 - 137, please can you clarify what is meant by an example contract? Often our 'contracts' come in the form of a signed (to show that they are approved) quotes that include a link to our terms and conditions. Would this count? If so can we share one of these with the client name redacted for confidientiality?
PLEASE NOTE THAT RM6018 IS EXPIRING 15 FEBRUARY, CUSTOMERS ARE NO LONGER USING THIS DPS. PLEASE APPLY TO THE RM6126 DPS WHICH REPLACES RESEARCH MARKETPLACE. As detailed in the DPS Needs document, suppliers are required to upload Attachment 1a and Attachment 1b - Letter of Confirmation of Works as part of their SQ submission. The two contract examples submitted by the supplier wont be formally evaluated, however they will support suppliers 'Letter of Confirmation of Works' and the suppliers previous experience, demonstrating technical capability and capacity in delivering a research project. In response to confidentiality 82. We run our competitions so that they are fair and transparent for all bidders. This section (Making the competition work) sets out the conditions of participation for this competition. It needs to be read together with the DPS Appointment Form and with the Buyer Needs. What you can expect from us: 83. We will not share any information from your submission with third parties, apart from other central government bodies (and their related bodies), which you have identified as being confidential or commercially sensitive. However, we may share this information but only in line with the Regulations, the Freedom of Information Act 2000 (FOIA) or any other law as applicable.
Answered
19/01/2022 16:54
281. DPS Schedule 5 (Management Levy and Information) - Could you provide a copy of the management reporting template?
PLEASE NOTE THAT RM6018 IS EXPIRING 15 FEBRUARY, CUSTOMERS ARE NO LONGER USING THIS DPS. PLEASE APPLY TO THE RM6126 DPS WHICH REPLACES RESEARCH MARKETPLACE. An example of the MI template can be found in the bid pack.
Answered
19/01/2022 16:53
280. DPS Schedule 3 (Pricing) - Please could you confirm where the payment terms for the Supplier are intended to be set out in the contractual documents.
PLEASE NOTE THAT RM6018 IS EXPIRING 15 FEBRUARY, CUSTOMERS ARE NO LONGER USING THIS DPS. PLEASE APPLY TO THE RM6126 DPS WHICH REPLACES RESEARCH MARKETPLACE. Payment terms would be agreed between the customer/buyer/contracting authority and the successful supplier, these would be captured within the tender submission and within the Order Form (see T&Cs in the bid pack)
Answered
19/01/2022 16:52
279. Please can you confirm that evidence is not required to be submitted for Q166-Q172, Q176 and Q179-Q185 in the Selection Questionnaire as indicated in the document 'Dynamic Purchasing System (DPS) Needs' (point 73 - Selection Questionnaire - Not Applicable questions).
Yes, that is correct, evidence is not required to be submitted at submission stage for Q166-Q172, Q176 and Q179-185 as per the DPS Needs document.
Answered
14/01/2022 08:26
278. Q133 and Q134 on the Selection Questionnaire (contracts), (a) should we provide a client reference using Attachment 1a and (b) can there be overlap with the project example provided under Attachment 1?
Yes, please use Attachment 1a for the confirmation of work undertaken. Yes, there can be an overlap with the project example provided under Attachment 1.
Answered
14/01/2022 08:27
277. Hi there, I recall in the webinar it was mentioned that suppliers using the previous Research Marketplace would be able to skip the first stage. Could I please clarify at which point we join the process and the link we should follow? Best, Ben
If you are registered as a supplier for RM6018 Research Market place then you are able at the Supplier Questionnaire stage to use the option to "re-use an existing questionnaire" before moving to the DPS specific questionnaire.
Answered
14/01/2022 08:28
276. Is "working towards" ISO 27001 acceptable in lieu of CyberEssentials
CCS can confirm that as a condition for award of a suppliers first contract for RM6018, Cyber Essentials Basic is required and ISO27001 WILL be accepted as an equivalent to Cyber Essentials Basic. Suppliers should note, a customer may stipulate as part of their project statement of works that advanced cyber security is required e.g. Cyber Essentials Plus, in this instance the customer will confirm following a cyber assessment if ISO27001 can be used as equivalent to Cyber Essentials Plus, if it is within the scope of the customers cyber requirements.
Answered
14/01/2022 08:30
275. In response to the questions in the Registered 1 Questionnaire, if we are an organisation that has undertaken the appropriate work to be registered onto this DPS, however not under contract (as was an option for submission in the initial SSQ), what should we provide as evidence? Or would we not be eligible for acceptance onto this DPS?
You must provide one example of research work undertaken. Your response must include: A summary of the works/contract, demonstrating your technical capability and capacity to deliver a research project, detailing: - project name and research topic - research participants (where applicable) - methodology and approach The objectives and/or key performance indicators, set by the customer at the start of the contract, and how you were able to meet them (including targets and the results you achieved). The compliance criteria follows: Example can be from public or private sector 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) The customer contact provided must be notified by you that they may be contacted by the Authority (the Authority reserves the right to validate the accuracy of details provided) Example must clearly and unambiguously fall within the scope of the research services Example of a contract awarded under Framework/DPS Agreements via call off contracts will be considered valid, but Framework Agreements themselves will NOT be considered valid Customer contact provided must not have been employed or appointed by your organisation, or from within your associated group of companies, within the past three (3) years prior to the publication of the contract notice for RM6126 Research & Insights Marketplace DPS (i.e. October 2018) Example may cover situations where your organisation was acting as prime contractor, key sub-contractor or part of a Group of Economic Operators The signature must be a wet signature where possible and not a printed name of the customer contact, if obtaining a wet signature is not possible then customer contact details will be used to validate the accuracy of details provided
Answered
14/01/2022 08:31
274. Hi - re Q129. Do you meet the minimum level of economic and financial standing and/or minimum financial threshold specified within the evaluation criteria for this procurement? Where is the evaluation criteria? How can we tick yes or no if we don't have this? Thanks
Please refer to the DPS Needs document (which forms part of the RM6126 bid pack), paragraph 51, page 15 'Economic and Financial Standing' section. Also see Attachment 4 Financial Assessment Template (which forms part of the RM6126 bid pack), this shows the template CCS Commercial Finance team utilise.
Answered
14/01/2022 08:32
273. - DPS contract termination: I think they mean 'Dynamic Purchasing System' and terminating supplier contract on this system, but we don't have any procurement framework like this. I found this article about it but I don't see how this would ever apply to a small agency. Eg. the first step says " To set up a DPS, a contracting authority must place a call for competition in OJEU to make known the intention to establish a DPS, and suppliers must be allowed at least 30 days to respond.".... as I say we do not have a DPS. The heading of this gov article implies it is for Utilities though, so can you get clarity if the answer to this question should be n/a? https://assets.publishing.service.gov.uk/government/uploads/system/uploads/attachment_data/file/560265/Guidance_on_Dynamic_Purchasing_System_-_Oct_16.pdf - Group of economic operation do not comply with response: I do not understand what this means. I can only assume this relates to anyone applying who is a group of economic operators - ie a consortium type group, including joint ventures and partnerships. We are none of these, so should be fine to ignore? - No Contract Examples: Wording seems vague, unless they are saying whether we can provide a template of a client contract to them? If so we can say we use the IPA contract template when clients do not have their own template, for suppliers we can use the PIBS, so also should be fine here if this is what they mean.
It looks like you are referring to the set up of an overarching Dynamic Purchasing System, which is what CCS has done in terms of putting in place a commercial vehicle for customers to use to procure common goods and services. The questions you ask here are relevant only to the setting up of a new agreement which our customers and yourselves would not be involved with. If you are wishing to join the RM6126 Research & Insights DPS agreement as a supplier, in order to be in with a chance of participating in research competitions run by government departments then please access this link: https://supplierregistration.cabinetoffice.gov.uk/dps#research Navigate to the RM6126 Research & Insights DPS, click on 'access as a supplier' and complete your registration.
Answered
14/01/2022 08:33
272. As part of our response to the Contract examples questions are we allowed to: 1. Include a microsite link within our Contract response 2. Create a table within the response field Thanks
CCS can confirm these links are not required as there is no facility to insert a table into the response box. The two contract examples submitted by the supplier won't be formally evaluated, however they will be supported by the customer's 'Letter of Confirmation of Works' to illustrate suppliers' previous experience, demonstrating technical capability and capacity in delivering a research project. Customers may also request for suppliers to provide further evidence at call for competition stage in relation to the contract examples provided within RM6018 Selection Questionnaire.
Answered
13/09/2021 10:27
271. We are a media owner who sell recruitment advertising on our owned channels (digital and print) to public sector bodies. Given that we are not an agency are we still eligible to join this framework?
Yes, you can still apply for the DPS. However, you should be aware of the questions that will be asked of you during the application process. For instance, you will have your financial stability checked using Dun and Bradstreet and if (you are a sole trader) your risk score falls below the necessary threshold you will be asked to produce you latest full year accounts for our commercial finance team to review. Also, you should be mindful that we ask for examples of previous work and those examples must be backed up by letters of confirmation signed by the named customer, so would be prudent to choose examples that have available customers to sign off on them.
Answered
24/08/2021 11:48

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