South East England Development Agency (SEEDA)

• General Tendering
• Outputs, Delivery Plan and Participants
• Finance and State Aid
• Partners and Track Record
• Quality

• General Tendering

  Is there a procedure in place for making a direct funding request to SEEDA ESF?
  No. SEEDA's ESF team can only process tender proposals submitted under a relevant specification issued by SEEDA during an open and competitive tendering round. No other requests can be considered.

  Would an organisation based outside of the EU be able to tender?
  All legally constituted organisations, partnerships or collaborations that are actively working in areas covered by the specification are eligible unless stated otherwise in the specification. However, organisations not located within the South East of England must demonstrate within their tender proposal how the project will be delivered in this region. ESF Regulations prevent sole traders and individuals from delivering ESF co-financed activity.

  We have completed PQQ for both London and South East and successfully received PQQ status for London . However in checking your website we have not been identified in achieving PQQ status for SE. Please clarify why this is the case?
  SEEDA does not operate PQQ's in relation to its ESF co-financing programme, therefore all tendering opportunities are open to all legally constituted organisations (it is not available for sole traders or individuals). If your PQQ status is for ESF Co-financing in the South East, then this relates only to tendering to the Learning & Skills Council (LSC).

  Do we need to provide any supporting documentation when we submit the bid (i.e. Policies, financial accounts etc)?
  No, supporting documentation will be requested at Post Tender Negotiation (PTN) stage. Any supporting documentation provided at the application stage will, in accordance with tendering regulations, be removed prior to assessment so that it cannot be taken into account when making a decision on the tender.

  Do I need to complete a PQQ in order to submit a tender for SEEDA ESF Co-financing?
  No. SEEDA does not require a PQQ to tender to its ESF Co-financing programme.

  Can I request hard copies of the documentation?
  Y es, although please note that hard copies can only be supplied in exceptional cases. Tenderers should note that, if successful, access to a computer and the internet will be essential for successful delivery of the project.

  Do we have to use the tender label supplied?
  Yes. The tender label ensures that when the tender reaches the SEEDA offices it can be identified both as a tender proposal and that it belongs to the specific Invitation to Tender to which it relates. Failure to be able to identify it as such could result in it being opened ahead of, or behind, schedule, which would immediately invalidate it from the tendering round as all proposals must be opened together.

  What are the counties in the South East Region?
  The South East consists of: Surrey, Berkshire, Isle of Wight, Oxfordshire, Milton Keynes, East and West Sussex, Kent , Buckinghamshire and Hampshire.

  Will you accept faxed copies of Declarations of Collaboration?
  Yes, although please note that, while faxed copies of the CDF's are acceptable at the submission stage, originals are required during the contracting stage if the Tender is successful.

  Our project idea doesn't precisely match the specification, should we tender?
  SEEDA cannot advise people to tender or not to tender, or whether a project idea fits with the specification. The guidance 'Why tenders fail' discusses fit to specification and what makes an effective tender. Please refer to this for further guidance.

  Is it necessary to fill out the Form of Offer as it's not part of the tender document?
  Yes the Form of Offer has to be filled in. A tender that does not include this will not be accepted.

  I have perused the GUIDANCE NOTES TO THE TENDER PROPOSAL form but cannot locate the submission by date. Can you let me have that piece of information please.
  The information you require will be found in the Prospectus, pages 7 and 10, and also in the letter introducing the tendering round.

• Outputs, Delivery Plan and Participants

  Participants have to be in work 6 months after leaving the project – does this 6-month period end when the project ends or up to 6 months after the end of the project?
  The 6-month period is based upon the individual rather than the project, therefore the 6 months begins when the participant leaves the project. Since a participant may leave a project any time up until the last day it is active, the monitoring required to establish their activity after 6 months may need to take place at any time up to 6 months after the last delivery day of the project.

  Priority 2 specifications state that 'activity at Level 4 will be targeted at small enterprises with fewer than 50 employees'. Does this mean the majority of organisations must have fewer than 50 employees? Or that all of them must have fewer than 50?
  Activity at Level 4 can only be offered to small enterprises with fewer than 50 employees.

  We are interested in putting in a tender to deliver this training and have asked our partner (who we already work with very closely) to supply details (names, location etc) of companies in these priority sectors with under 50 employees.
  If they do not have this information to hand, could you advise where we could access this list?
  Unfortunately, we do not have access to these details. Please note from the specification that: The successful tender will not include direct marketing activity but will work in collaboration with the Business Link providers and Train to gain, in line with the Business Support Simplification model (BSSP) to ensure that businesses are not faced with multiple access channels, delivery arrangements and products/services. In order to preserve an Open and Competitive Tendering process for all organisations eligible to tender, it is not a requirement to have collaboration declarations from these organisations included in the tender proposal documentation submitted to SEEDA. Please note: working with these organisations will be a requirement for the successful tenderer.

  In the table of the Project Delivery Plan, what is expected to be entered in the cells i.e. x's, text, figures etc.?
  We would expect to see the figures for each output / milestone that will be delivered in the relevant quarter. So if you will be recruiting 3 staff to the project in Q1 then 3 must be entered in the box that represents MS1 / Q3.

  What beneficiary breakdowns should I include under B10?
  Breakdowns should cover all the beneficiaries described in the specification and must be fully explained in the tender proposal form. Information provided here must be consistent with the information provided in sections B2 (Fit to Specification) and B3 (Project Focus) of the tender proposal form.

  Can individuals counted under the output “Number of participants in work on leaving” also be counted under the output “Number of participants in work six months after leaving” if they remain in employment for the requisite 6 months?
  Yes.

• Finance and State Aid 
  

  Annex 2 of the Guidance Notes refers to a State Aid calculation but this is not included. Where can I find this?
  This is an error. Projects in this tendering round will be delivered under the de minimis State Aid regulation, not the Training Block Exemption regulation. Contributions relating to NVQ's are separate from State Aid issues.

  Would ESF pay for an output which included a grant as part of the support?
  Our Scotland branch actually received ESF monies for grants that we had given business start-ups.
  ESF rules do not prohibit this, but there are certain restrictions in both ESF and de minimis regulations regarding the use of this form of support. The usual ESF eligible expenditure rules also apply e.g. no capital expenditure in excess of £1000, and the rules governing De Minimis State Aid in general are also followed. Please use the Guidance provided when completing the tendering documentation and ensure that all the activities you are funding at a minimum meet the specification.

  We are drawing up a tender under Priority 1 and would like to make grants available to clients to assist in the cost of business start up. Would this be eligible as a beneficiary cost?
  Generally yes , but has the same rules governing eligibility of expenditure as other costs, i.e. the costs must be actual, no capital item above £1,000 will be allowed. Please check the rules governing eligible costs and the De Minimis state aid rules for more clarity and ensure that all activities that you are funding match those outlined in the specification.

  Can we use other projects as match funding for a tender?
  No. Match funding is not required from tenderers as co-financing means that we provide 100% of project costs if the tender is successful. Match funding is dealt with at the SEEDA level and projects must not be used as matched funding by the provider as this would constitute double-funding of activity.

  The tender proposal form financial calculation table includes a box for State Aid contribution and directs the reader to the Guidance which sets out the De Minimis approach. Are there State Aid contributions to be entered into this box?
  No. The form is a standard template and allows for State Aid schemes other than de minimis, however SEEDA's current specifications are governed by the de minimis block exemption and therefore do not require a contribution from companies. Other contributions from companies should be treated separately.

• Partners and Track Record

How can I link with potential partners, either as lead organisation, delivery partner or strategic partner?
We have set up a Collaborator Search facility, which can be accessed via the dropdown menu on the ESF webpage, or at the link here.

Under Track Record on the form do you require the track record for just the lead partner or for the entire partnership?
We require the information of the lead partners' track record only; please check the guidance notes for further clarification.

Is a partnership/venture by a South-East firm with an institution/firm that originates from outside the South East region allowable?
All legally constituted organisations or partnerships (not sole traders or individuals) are eligible to tender unless specified otherwise in the specification.
Organisations or partners which are outside of the South East region are not precluded from tendering for or delivering ESF Co-financed activity in the South East, however the tender must demonstrate how an organisation outside of the South East will deliver to those in the South East.

Do we need to put all the projects the organisation has been involved in into the track record section? It's a very large organisation and this could potentially run into many pages and be very time-consuming
All projects should be noted on the track record section. However, if it is a particularly large organisation and there are an excessive number of projects it may be prudent to do this at a departmental rather than organisational level.

Do you need to have partners to put in bids?
S pecifications set out whether a partnership approach is expected from a tender proposal under that specification.

• Quality

  
  Regarding quality standards, should we complete more than one copy of Annex 2 and/or Annex 3 for different partners?
  As a lead partner you will be asked to provide details of your organisation's quality assurance system and that of your partners. Lead partners are responsible for the quality assurance of the provision which they have contracted. Please note that we only require a single copy of the annexes for each tender proposal, rather than one copy for each organisation.

For general enquiries please contact us on esfenquiries@seeda.co.uk or 01483 500 738.