Apprenticeship Training Dynamic Marketplace DPS

An extensive range of apprenticeship training programmes that fully supports Education and Skills Funding Agency (ESFA) funding rules, giving you the freedom to decide who to contract with.

Description

Available for all public sector organisations to use including:

  • central government departments
  • agencies
  • public bodies
  • wider public sector organisations
  • charities

Buy generic or bespoke apprenticeship training courses including the learners’ end-point assessments. You can buy end-point assessments separately or as part of a training course.

Training can be in a classroom, in a workplace, online or a combination of these.

Suppliers mainly provide apprentice training and assessments in England. There is the option to include additional service requirements for Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland. The agreement provides over 500 apprenticeship standards.

All our suppliers are registered with the Education and Skills Funding Agency (ESFA).

With call-off contracts from this agreement, you can pay for services using apprenticeship levy funds. You don’t have to be an organisation that pays the apprenticeship levy to use these funds or use this agreement. Current ESFA funding rules apply.

This agreement uses a dynamic purchasing system (DPS) to help you find relevant suppliers through a filtering system. There’s the option of doing a rapid award procurement, which you can complete in as little as a day. Read the ‘How to buy’ tab below for details.

Watch this quick video for an introduction to the Apprenticeship Training DPS.

Benefits

  • compliance with public procurement policy and ESFA apprenticeship funding rule
  • run your procurement in as little as a day with the rapid award option
  • suppliers can apply to join the agreement at any time
  • include social value in your supplier evaluation using either the rapid award or standard award option
  • you can run your procurement directly through the DPS marketplace system

Products and suppliers

Please read the 'How to buy' tab below for detailed instructions on how to find out which suppliers are on this agreement.

Lot 1: Apprenticeship Training Dynamic Marketplace

Expires:

How to buy

Before buying from this agreement, watch this video to find out how to run your procurement using the Apprenticeship Training DPS. It includes a step by step guide, a demo of the DPS system, and explains the difference between a standard award and a rapid award.

Rapid award

Rapid award allows you to complete a desktop exercise to run your procurement. You shortlist suppliers, then evaluate them based on pricing and pre-answered quality questions. You can then award to the best supplier. If you have bespoke needs, use the standard award option instead.

To run a rapid award you need to:

  1. decide which apprenticeship standard(s) you need
  2. shortlist suppliers using the DPS system (read ‘How to create your supplier shortlist’ below)
  3. download the supplier prospectus and pricing information
  4. evaluate suppliers based on your evaluation criteria
  5. complete the order form and contract terms (together, these form your call-off contract)
  6. award the contract to the winning supplier (you can sign the contract on the system using DocuSign or the usual way over email or a procurement tool)
  7. inform CCS of your contract award using the confirmation of award template

Standard award

Standard award is the usual further competition process.

To run a standard award you will need to:

  1. decide which apprenticeship standard(s) you need
  2. write your tender documents:
    1. invitation to tender document (including your evaluation criteria, quality questions and associated score weightings)
    2. requirements specification
    3. pricing matrix
    4. contract order form
    5. contract terms
  3. shortlist suppliers using the DPS system (read ‘How to create your supplier shortlist’ section below)
  4. invite suppliers to bid (you can use the free CCS eSourcing portal or another procurement tool)
  5. evaluate supplier bids
  6. send outcome letters to the suppliers that bid
  7. finalise the contract order form and contract terms (together, these form your call-off contract)
  8. award the contract to the winning supplier (you can sign the contracts on the DPS system using DocuSign or the usual way over email or a procurement tool)
  9. inform CCS of your contract award using the confirmation of award template

If you need templates for the tender documents or outcome letters, contact us.

How to create your supplier shortlist

To create your supplier shortlist, follow these steps:

  1. register as a buyer on the DPS system (it can take a few days to process)
  2. go to the Apprenticeship Training Dynamic Marketplace (DMP), click ‘Access as a buyer’ and sign in
  3. on the ‘Manage your DMP category portfolios’ page, click ‘Create new category portfolio’ (it’s underneath the grey ‘Help’ box on the right)
  4. tick ‘Rapid award’ or ‘Standard award’, then click ‘Continue’
  5. tick the filters along the left that you need
  6. then, click ‘Select training filters’ in the top right
  7. tick the training filters that best fit your needs, then click ‘Save and continue’
  8. scroll down and click ‘Save portfolio’, name it, and click ‘Save portfolio’ again (note that webpage loading times vary)
  9. on the ‘Manage your DMP category portfolios’ page, scroll to your shortlist and once loaded, click ‘Export’ 
    1. with rapid award, this downloads a spreadsheet with supplier prospectus information and a folder containing supplier pricing tables 
    2. with standard award, this downloads a spreadsheet with supplier contact information

Documents