Adult Learning - Delivery of Learning (2024) (reopened Stage 1)

Description

Buckinghamshire Adult Learning (BAL) is a service area within Buckinghamshire Council (the Council), which has contracts with the Education Skills Funding Agency (ESFA) to deliver training opportunities funded by them.  Much of these are directly delivered by BAL but, in order to fully use its Adult Skills Fund (ASF) allocation and ensure it addresses the key priorities of both the Council and the ESFA, it subcontracts part of its delivery. This enables BAL to deliver to target markets and in geographical areas that it would otherwise be unable to reach.

In the context of this procurement potential providers and bidders are hereafter referred to as subcontractors.

In 2024 BAL established a list of approved providers (subcontractors) for a period of three years maximum, with the option to open annually, or more frequently if required, to invite more to join the list. The opportunity titled Adult Learning - Delivery of Learning (2024) was published on Contracts Finder on 8 April 2024, and last edited on 10 April 2024.

Original opportunity published on Contracts Finder: https://www.contractsfinder.service.gov.uk/Notice/0dc0da39-18b9-4672-9466-c1721241b91f

In line with the opportunity above BAL is now re-opening this procurement process for the 2025/2026 academic year, for a period of two years maximum, to reach out to additional delivery partners in specific areas of delivery needed to meet the skills gaps within Buckinghamshire.  

All potential providers admitted to the Approved Providers List (i.e. approved providers) will be invited to participate to submit bids in a mini competition to win funding to deliver Adult Education Budget (AEB) and future Adult Skills Funding (ASF) on behalf of The Council. These subcontractors will allow the Council to:

•	To provide immediate provision whilst expanding direct capacity. This might include working with sub-contractors to explore and learn about new sectors prior to investment in resources;
•	Diversify our provision in terms of scope or scale including the development of new SSA areas or geographies linked to new or existing business contacts that BAL alone could not sufficiently provide coverage;
•	To provide access to, or engagement with, a new range of customers;
•	Support smaller providers to develop and grow their specialist provision and improve their quality.

The contract values published are the estimate value for individual contracts.