CONTRACT NOTICE – NATIONAL

1 Authority Details

1.1

Authority Name and Address

1.2

Address from which documentation may be obtained

1.3

Completed documents must be returned to:

2 Contract Details

2.1

Title

Learner experience of regulated social work programmes

2.2

Description of the goods or services required

Introduction

Our Education Quality Assurance (EQA) Team approves, monitors, reviews and inspects the quality of regulated social work programmes in Wales. This includes qualifying and post-qualifying social work programmes.

Most programmes are a partnership between education providers (primarily Higher Education Institute) and employers (primarily local authorities). Details about regulated programmes are available on the Social Care Wales website.

The functions of the EQA team are undergoing a period of review and development, and there is the need for a greater focus on the voice of learners on regulated social work programmes. The outputs from this contract will inform future developments in this area.

What is required / ‘The Requirements’

Social Care Wales want to:

- review what we know about learners on regulated social work programmes

- map how both Social Care Wales and regulated programme processes capture the learners voice and experience

- explore how the learner voice and experience may be more effectively and routinely captured by Social Care Wales as part of data collection processes

- explore how the learners voice and experience can be used to inform our understanding of social work education and learning

- explore education providers perspective of learner voice and experience (this includes those employed by education providers, local authority/employer partners, and other relevant education providers)

- review how approaches to capturing the student voice and experience can help Social Care Wales to be actively anti-discriminatory in line with the Anti-Racist Wales Action Plan and the LGBTQ+ Action plan (as well as other equality actions plans) by understanding the lived experience of students with protected characteristics on social work programmes.

- Produce a report to answer the following research questions:

~ How can we engage with learners?

~ What mechanisms are most effective for capturing the learner voices/experiences?

~ How might Social Care Wales and regulated programmes strengthen routine processes for capturing learner voices/experiences?

Learners are students enrolled on regulated social work programmes. The research must cover all programmes of studies. The Supplier will explore the different learner voices which will inform the revision of Specific Named Course Requirements (SNCRs) and wider rule/guidance development (as previously outlined to the Social Care Wales Board by EQA team).

The work will be split into three parts:

- Part one delivery timeframe: contract award date -August 2023

- Part two delivery timeframe: September - December 2023

- Part three delivery timeframe: December 2023 -1 March 2024

Please see Specification for more information

NOTE: To register your interest in this notice and obtain any additional information please visit the Sell2Wales Web Site at https://www.sell2wales.gov.wales/Search/Search_Switch.aspx?ID=131806.

The buyer has indicated that it will accept electronic responses to this notice via the Postbox facility. A user guide is available at https://www.sell2wales.gov.wales/sitehelp/help_guides.aspx.

Suppliers are advised to allow adequate time for uploading documents and to dispatch the electronic response well in advance of the closing time to avoid any last minute problems.

2.3

Notice Coding and Classification

2.4

Total quantity or scope of tender

Budget

There is a budget of £30,000 (inclusive of any applicable VAT) agreed for this tender.

The Supplier will provide full financial breakdown of the costs associated with the project for consideration through the evaluation process.

Length of contract

The contract will run until 1 March 2024.

There is potential for a second project phase dependant on the outputs of the initial phase and the allocation of additional funding. If this does occur, a break clause will be inserted after the initial contract deadline (1 March 2024), and the contract will be reviewed to consider activity carried out in the year preceding and Social Care Wales reserves the right to end this contract.

3 Conditions for Participation

3.1

Minimum standards and qualification required

4 Administrative Information

4.1

Type of Procedure

Single stage

4.2

Reference number attributed to the notice by the contracting authority

N/a

4.3

Time Limits

4.5

Language or languages in which tenders or requests to participate can be drawn up

4.6

Tender Submission Postbox

5 Other Information

5.1

Additional Information

(WA Ref:131806)

The buyer considers that this contract is suitable for consortia bidding.

5.2

Additional Documentation

5.3

Publication date of this notice