Contract for the delivery of the European Union's Erasmus+ Programme in the United Kingdom.

Descriptions

Erasmus+ is the European Union's new programme for education, training, youth and sport. Erasmus+ aims to strengthen opportunities for mobility and cooperation, with a focus on study, training, teaching and volunteering opportunities for higher education and vocational students, trainees, teachers, trainers, youth workers, and young people. It will provide opportunities for education and training institutions and youth and sports organisations to engage in partnerships to exchange good practice, working with businesses to promote innovation and employability.Erasmus+ brings together the existing Lifelong Learning Programme (LLP, which includes the Erasmus, Comenius, Leonardo da Vinci, and Grundtvig schemes); the Youth in Action Programme (YiA); and five international cooperation programmes (part of Erasmus Mundus , all of the Tempus, Alfa and Edulink programmes, and the programme for cooperation with industrialised countries). Erasmus+ will be an integrated programme allowing groups to apply under each action with no separate programmes for different sectors of lifelong learning, although most of the LLP brand names mentioned above will continue to be used. The reduced fragmentation and duplication should result in simpler application rules and procedures.The aims of Erasmus+ remain the same as the current programmes – to improve people's skills and ultimately their employability, and supporting the modernisation of education and training systems.The Department for Business Innovation and Skills is seeking a supplier to become the National Agency to deliver the ‘Erasmus+ programme in the UK. The supplier will need to:Manage a Service which publicises the programme and gives advice and guidance to potential participants, both for the decentralised (nationally managed) and centralised (Commission managed) actions of the programme.Select participating individuals or organisations for the decentralised actions, pass on grants provided by the European Commission; andMonitor accounts for project activity and spend.The supplier will:Provide adequate systems and procedures to manage the lifecycle of the programme actions.Ensure all systems and procedures comply with the internal control standards set out in the Commission's Guide for National Agencies.Maintain a compliant accounting system.Ensure segregation of duties and prevent conflicts of interest.Comply with HM Treasury management rules, and EU fund holding rules, for the required bank accounts.Ensure the necessary infrastructure and IT systems to manage the programme, meeting both BIS and EU system requirements.Provide the capacity to manage both the previous and current programme during the transition period between them.Work with the ECVET National Contact Points in England and in each of the Devolved Administrations.Ensure smooth transition between the current programmes and Erasmus+ including winding up of the existing programmes'.