Social Enterprise Support Project Evaluation

Descriptions

Social Enterprise Support Project Evaluation1Legal NoticesThis document constitutes confidential and proprietary information of the Wales Co-operative Centre Limited (the "Centre") and shall not be disclosed in whole or in part by the prospective bidder to any third party, or to any employees of the prospective bidder, other than those who have a need to know such information for the purpose of responding to this invitation and shall not be duplicated or used by the prospective bidder for any other purpose than to evaluate this document. Nothing contained in this document shall constitute a representation to the prospective tenderers on behalf of the Centre, nor shall it constitute an inducement or incentive to prospective tenderers to complete a submission or enter into a contract or any other collateral agreement.Whilst the information in this document has been prepared in good faith, it does not purport to be comprehensive or to have been independently verified. Neither the Centre nor any of its advisers accept any responsibility for its adequacy, accuracy or completeness nor do they make any representation or warranty, express or implied, with respect to the information contained in the documents or on which the documents are based. The Centre excludes any liability in this respect.The document should not be considered to be an investment or recommendation made by the Centre or any of its advisers to any prospective bidder. Each prospective bidder to whom information is made available must make its own independent assessment of the Project requirement as described after making such investigations and taking such professional advice as the prospective bidder deems necessary.Nothing in the document is, or should be relied upon as, a promise or representation as to the Centre’s ultimate decision in relation to the Project requirement. All communications between the Centre and prospective tenderers will be “subject to the Framework Agreement” and the Centre reserves the right not to appoint any tenderers to the Framework Agreement or to award subsequent contracts for all or part only of the Centre’s requirements. The Centre reserves the right to change without notice the basis of, or the procedures for the competitive tender process (subject to complying with the provisions of the Public Procurement Regulations), to reject any or all other bids for the Project requirement and the Centre and its advisers exclude all liability in this respect. 2IntroductionThe importance of the social economy in delivering jobs and services locally is recognised by Government at all levels. Established in 1982, the Wales Co-operative Centre (the “Centre”) is a key partner in developing this sector of the Welsh economy.The Centre delivers a range of projects to promote social, financial and digital inclusion. Its team works across Wales, empowering individuals and communities to establish businesses which have social, ethical and environmental aims as well as economic objectives.Alongside its core activities the Centre has recently secured 2 major contracts funded by both the EU via the Welsh European Funding Office (WEFO) and the Welsh Assembly Government (WAG). These projects are Social Enterprise Support and Communities 2.0. It is the Social Enterprise Support Project we are seeking ongoing evaluation.The Centre’s Social Enterprise Support Project (the “Project”) has been designed to provide an overarching structure to support the Social Enterprise Sector in Wales. Its specific aim is to increase the number, sustainability and growth of new and existing social enterprises in the Convergence area of Wales. Through a programme of marketing, networking, research and organisational development the vision is for social enterprises to become better understood, better valued and better businesses.The Project has been developed through the Social Enterprise Network and designed to respond to the priorities of the Community Economic Regeneration Priority of the ERDF (EU Regional Development Funds) Convergence Programme which spans fifteen Local Authority areas in the West Wales and Valleys region. Targeting new and existing social enterprises the Project will focus on plugging gaps in provision, particularly in the Welsh Index of Multiple Deprivation (WIMD) areas. The Project has two strands. New and existing social enterprises in the Convergence areas will receive organisational development support to aid their development and growth as a part of Strand 1. A programme of marketing and awareness, networking and researching forms Strand 2 A more detailed background paper is included in Annex 1. 3Purpose of the evaluationThe evaluation will continuously analyse and evaluate the progress of the project and inform improvements to project practices and delivery to help with future project development. It will have two major facets, firstly, an initial formative evaluation of its systems and processes; and secondly, a summative, on-going evaluation of its impact.Formative (within the first year)•Analysis of the project’s Systems and Processes with regards to its service delivery, monitoring, marketing and procurement:oEffectiveness and quality of Service Delivery;oAccuracy and quality of Monitoring data;oEffectiveness of data collection methods;oSuccess of the Marketing Framework (and materials);oEfficiency of procurement processes/practices.Summative (on-going throughout the life of the project)•The extent to which the project is reaching its target clients;•The extent to which the project is delivering the correct services to its target clients (within the scope of the project);•The impact the project is having on the sector in Wales (and further afield);•Investigating how well the project is linking with other similar or complimentary projects within the sector (including those delivered as a part of the Flexible Support for Business Programme (FS4B));•The extent to which the Project has met its overall aim (at the end of the project).In assessment, we would be looking for suggestions to improve or change our approaches during the early stage evaluation.4MethodThe details of the methodology for carrying out the evaluation will be subject to agreement with the successful candidate. However, it is anticipated that the evaluation will be a combination of desk research on existing Project information and relevant documents, questionnaires and interviews with staff, interviews with external organisations with an interest in the Project and interviews with participants, including our contracted service deliverers. During the period of the evaluation it is expected there will be at least two meetings per annum with Centre staff to discuss progress.The documents to be made available for the evaluation:•Project business plan•Monitoring reports and outputs•Project data•Project contract filesEvaluation Timetable and ReportsThis is an ongoing evaluation programme for the lifetime of the Project. It will therefore require, as a minimum, and interim early stage evaluation to be completed by the end of August 2010 (first report) followed by completion of the 2nd report by summer 2011, the 3rd by summer 2012 and the final report by winter 2013. The final report and the executive summary will need to be produced in both Welsh and English with three hard copies produced and presented and access to each report electronically (Word or Adobe).DisseminationThe reports will be made available to the funders, the Centre and interested external bodies and will be placed in the public domain.Evaluators will be required to present face to face feedback to the Centre’s Management Team after the completion of each report and at two public dissemination events that will be held after the submission of the final report and executive summary.TimetableActivityDate for completionInvitation to tender29th March 2010Deadline for submission of tenders26th April 2010Shortlist and invitations to interview3rd May 2010Interviews and appointmentw/b 17th May 2010Inception meeting*w/b 24th May 20101st report3rd September 20102nd reportJuly 20113rd reportJuly 2012Presentation of key findings Sept 2010, July 2011, July 2012, November 2013Final report and executive summaryNovember 2013* at inception we will agree a meeting timetable for the year.Contract award criteriaThe contract for this project evaluation will be awarded on a best-value basis, while also taking into account the following:•The track record of the consultant•The demonstrated understanding of the purpose of the evaluation•The ability to deliver within the agreed timetable•Knowledge and understanding of the work •Previous experience of work around social enterprise and co-operatives•An understanding of procurement processes and European funding•An understanding of the third, public and private sectors•Understanding of the alternative measures of success•Proposals to conduct and deliver through the medium of Welsh as and when required5Tendering ProcessTender documents must be submitted by 12 noon, 26th April 2010 to: Christine HeathITTSES0410Wales Co-operative CentreLlandaff Court Fairwater Road CardiffCF5 2XP Tenderers must not include any information on the envelope which could identify the source of the proposal and must clearly mark the envelope with the following information:“Tender document – NOT TO BE OPENED BEFORE 2pm Monday 26th April 2010“Please provide 3 copies of your tender.The Centre has the option to make a decision based solely on the tenders submitted. However, the Organisation may be invited to make a presentation of their proposal. It is anticipated that, if required, the presentation will be no more than one hour’s duration.Prospective tenderers should particularly note that costs incurred by Organisations in preparing and submitting a tender will not be covered.Your Response to Tender must remain valid for a period of 90 days from date of signature by your Authorised Official/s.Successful and unsuccessful Organisations will be advised of the outcome within 30 working days of the closing date unless a presentation of the submitted proposal is required. Companies will be notified of this requirement within 20 working days of the closing date.6Decision Making Regarding TendersDecision making regarding tenders will be based on the economically most advantageous tender in terms of technical merit and quality, including: •Ability to meet requirements – as evidenced by previous relevant experience, references, capacity to undertake the work within the relevant geographical area & sector and deliver high quality results – Award Criteria 50%•Expertise of personnel including professional competence – Award Criteria 30%•Price – Award Criteria 20% 7 Enquiries regarding this tenderQuestions regarding this tender should be submitted in writing, only by e-mail to:sesevaluation@walescoop.comPlease include the reference ‘ITT SES 0410’ in the e-mail message title.All tender questions and responses will be published for viewing by all prospective tenderers on the Wales Co-operative Centre Website.The final date for receipt of tender enquiries is 16th April 2010. 8BudgetThe budget for this work will be £80,000