Contract notice
Section I: Contracting
authority
I.1) Name and addresses
Northern Ireland Assembly Commission
Parliament Buildings
Belfast
BT4 3XX
UK
Contact person: Procurement Office
E-mail: procurement@niassembly.gov.uk
NUTS: UK
Internet address(es)
Main address: https://etendersni.gov.uk/epps
Address of the buyer profile: https://etendersni.gov.uk/epps
I.3) Communication
The procurement documents are available for unrestricted and full direct access, free of charge at:
https://etendersni.gov.uk/epps
Additional information can be obtained from the abovementioned address
Tenders or requests to participate must be sent to the abovementioned address
I.4) Type of the contracting authority
Other: Devolved Legislature
I.5) Main activity
Other: Legislature
Section II: Object
II.1) Scope of the procurement
II.1.1) Title
Northern Ireland Assembly Commission - Provision of Tests and Assessment Exercises for Recruitment Competitions
II.1.2) Main CPV code
79600000
II.1.3) Type of contract
Services
II.1.4) Short description
The NI Assembly Commission wishes to appoint a Contractor to conduct assessments and tests supporting the recruitment and selection of permanent staff. This may include but not be limited to, verbal reasoning, numerical reasoning and situational judgement tests and assessments, which include written or oral exercises, in-tray exercises and presentations. Bespoke tests and assessments are not required to be designed or offered and the NI Assembly is content to use Contractor’s existing assessments and tests which must be relevant to the post being recruited for and map to the Essential Criteria and/or Assembly Skills and Behaviours for the role. The assessments and tests must be equality assessed to ensure they do not have any adverse impact on equality grounds including community background, gender, age or disability one group over another. The Contractor will also be required to offer professional advice and expertise in relation to the suitability of tests for recruitment competitions.
II.1.5) Estimated total value
Value excluding VAT:
140 000.00
GBP
II.1.6) Information about lots
This contract is divided into lots:
No
II.2) Description
II.2.2) Additional CPV code(s)
79630000
79635000
II.2.3) Place of performance
NUTS code:
UKN06
II.2.4) Description of the procurement
The NI Assembly Commission wishes to appoint a Contractor to conduct assessments and tests supporting the recruitment and selection of permanent staff. This may include but not be limited to, verbal reasoning, numerical reasoning and situational judgement tests and assessments, which include written or oral exercises, in-tray exercises and presentations. Bespoke tests and assessments are not required to be designed or offered and the NI Assembly is content to use Contractor’s existing assessments and tests which must be relevant to the post being recruited for and map to the Essential Criteria and/or Assembly Skills and Behaviours for the role. The assessments and tests must be equality assessed to ensure they do not have any adverse impact on equality grounds including community background, gender, age or disability one group over another. The Contractor will also be required to offer professional advice and expertise in relation to the suitability of tests for recruitment competitions.
II.2.5) Award criteria
Price is not the only award criterion and all criteria are stated only in the procurement documents
II.2.6) Estimated value
Value excluding VAT:
140 000.00
GBP
II.2.7) Duration of the contract, framework agreement or dynamic purchasing system
Duration in months: 36
This contract is subject to renewal: Yes
Description of renewals:
The contract is anticipated to be renewed on expiry of the final contract period and prior to July 2028.
II.2.9) Information about the limits on the number of candidates to be invited
II.2.10) Information about variants
Variants will be accepted:
No
II.2.11) Information about options
Options:
Yes
Description of options:
After the initial 3 year contract period, there are two options to extend for up to and including a further 12 months each.
II.2.13) Information about European Union funds
The procurement is related to a project and/or programme financed by European Union funds:
No
Section III: Legal, economic, financial and technical information
III.1) Conditions for participation
III.1.3) Technical and professional ability
List and brief description of selection criteria:
Previous Relevant Experience
III.2) Conditions related to the contract
III.2.2) Contract performance conditions
The Contractor’s performance will be monitored periodically by the Human Resources Recruitment Team's Contract Manager and measured at the end of each recruitment competition against the agreed Key Performance Indicators as detailed in the Schedule 5 Specification.
Section IV: Procedure
IV.1) Description
IV.1.1) Type of procedure
Open procedure
IV.1.8) Information about Government Procurement Agreement (GPA)
The procurement is covered by the Government Procurement Agreement:
Yes
IV.2) Administrative information
IV.2.2) Time limit for receipt of tenders or requests to participate
Date:
05/06/2023
Local time: 15:00
IV.2.4) Languages in which tenders or requests to participate may be submitted
EN
IV.2.6) Minimum time frame during which the tenderer must maintain the tender
Tender must be valid until:
03/09/2023
IV.2.7) Conditions for opening of tenders
Date:
05/06/2023
Local time: 15:30
Section VI: Complementary information
VI.1) Information about recurrence
This is a recurrent procurement:
Yes
Estimated timing for further notices to be published:
3 months prior to the expiry of this contract, anticipated to be April 2028.
VI.3) Additional information
If the Contractor fails to reach satisfactory levels of performance they will be requested to provide and implement an Improvement plan and be given a specified time in which to improve. The time will be dependent on the associated risks and the Assembly Commission’s business needs at that time. If after the specified timeframe for improvement, the performance still fails to meet satisfactory performance levels, the matter will be escalated to the Senior Management Team at the Assembly Commission for action as required.
VI.4) Procedures for review
VI.4.1) Review body
The UK does not have any special review body with responsibility for appeal/mediation procedures in public procurement competitions. Instead, any challenges are dealt with by the High Court, Commercial Division, to which proceedings may be issued regarding alleged breaches of the PCR2015 as amended.
As above
UK
VI.4.3) Review procedure
Precise information on deadline(s) for review procedures:
The Northern Ireland Assembly Commission will comply with the Public. Contracts Regulations 2015 (as amended) and, where appropriate, will incorporate a standstill period (i.e. a minimum of 10 calendar days) at the point information on the award of contract is communicated to tenderers. That notification will provide full information on the award decision. This provides time for the unsuccessful tenderers to challenge the award decision before the contract is entered into.
VI.5) Date of dispatch of this notice
05/05/2023