Department for Education Accountancy Services Tender
Accountancy services are required to undertake the collation, validation, consolidation and accounting for up to 3 200 Academy Trusts.
United Kingdom-Coventry: Accounting and auditing services
2016/S 153-276980
Contract notice
Services
Directive 2014/24/EU
Section I: Contracting authority
I.1)Name and addresses
Earlsdon Park, 53-55 Butts Road
Coventry
CV1 3BH
United Kingdom
E-mail: procurement.help@sfa.bis.gov.uk
NUTS code: UKG33
I.3)Communication
I.4)Type of the contracting authority
I.5)Main activity
Section II: Object
II.1.1)Title:
Accountancy Services: Accounting, data collation, validation and consolidation services.
II.1.2)Main CPV code
II.1.3)Type of contract
II.1.4)Short description:
Accountancy services are required to undertake the collation, validation, consolidation and accounting for up to 3 200 Academy Trusts’ (ATs) accounts returns in order to produce the financial statements in the Sector Annual Report and Accounts (SARA) for the academic year 2015-16. This includes the provision of associated technical accounting advice and support.
II.1.5)Estimated total value
II.1.6)Information about lots
II.2.2)Additional CPV code(s)
II.2.3)Place of performance
England.
II.2.4)Description of the procurement:
The high level activities included in the scope of this contract are:
(a) Provide accounting services capable of meeting the EFAs’ requirements;
(b) Collate submission of accounts returns from the academy trusts via EFA, by end of January 2017. These returns contain both financial and non-financial data;
(c) Follow up on outstanding accounts returns, for approximately 3 weeks after the due date, by direct enquiry with the academy trusts. It is expected that at least 15 % of the returns will be outstanding on the due date and will require chasing these academy trusts;
(d) Automated validation of submitted data and further judgement manual validation by inspection of apparent errors and inconsistencies. This includes contacting the academy trusts to confirm entries and request further information in their returns;
(e) Verification of information held by the EFA, for example revenue and capital funding, to the account returns;
(f) Post any significant technical accounting entries and other adjustments under the consolidation process as required;
(g) Substitute the academy trusts’ entries for land and buildings with values obtained independently by the EFA;
(h) Plan and deliver a review and adjustment of balances once aggregated results are available;
(i) Produce the consolidated extended trial balance and the financial statements of the SARA by end of March 2017;
(j) Work as part of the wider project, attending and contributing to various meetings including project meetings, meetings with academy trusts, the DfE and EFA programme boards, technical panels and other sector representatives;
(k) Prepare and submit audit working papers required by the National Audit Office and facilitate the audit process scheduled for early April 2017;
(l) Programme management for all aspects of the consolidation work with close liaison with EFA and departmental programme management including provision of management information and key performance indicators;
(m) Provide specialist advice, quality service and guidance to the EFA and the department when required;
(n) Produce information required for the whole of government accounts return.
A procurement of these key delivery services is required to ensure business continuity and successful reporting of the academy trusts’ financial health. The contracts will be for 1 year. This would ensure that sufficient experienced and skilled resources would be available to deliver the required services and provide expert advice.
This contract is subject to a 1 year extension, subject to the successful performance of the contract awarded supplier, availability of funding and the policy decision by the appropriate programme board.
Competitive tenders would be sort through an open procedure in-line with procurement policy and rules in order to secure a value for money solution.
II.2.5)Award criteria
II.2.7)Duration of the contract, framework agreement or dynamic purchasing system
Estimated start and end dates: 1 year from October 2016 and may extend by a further period of 12 months at the sole discretion of the contracting authority.
II.2.10)Information about variants
II.2.11)Information about options
II.2.13)Information about European Union funds
II.2.14)Additional information
All tenders are required to pass an initial checks for compliance.
Tenders will then be evaluated to determine the most economically advantageous tender, taking into account the scope outlined in the Requirements Document, by applying both qualitative and quantitative evaluation criteria.
Estimated value including VAT: 2 000 000 GBP for 1 year (potentially up to 3 000 000 GBP if the option to extend is exercised).
Section III: Legal, economic, financial and technical information
III.1.2)Economic and financial standing
III.1.3)Technical and professional ability
III.2.2)Contract performance conditions:
As stated in the draft contract attached to the procurement documents.
Section IV: Procedure
IV.1.1)Type of procedure
IV.1.8)Information about the Government Procurement Agreement (GPA)
IV.2.1)Previous publication concerning this procedure
IV.2.2)Time limit for receipt of tenders or requests to participate
IV.2.4)Languages in which tenders or requests to participate may be submitted:
IV.2.7)Conditions for opening of tenders
Department for Education, Education Funding Agency (EFA), Earlsdon Park, 53-55 Butts Road, Coventry, CV1 3BH, United Kingdom.
Officials of the Department.
Section VI: Complementary information
VI.1)Information about recurrence
VI.3)Additional information:
Indicative timetable:
Publish Invitation to Tender (ITT): Wednesday, 10.8.2016;
Clarifications questions until 17:00, Thursday, 1.9.2016;
ITT Closes 17:00, Thursday, 8.9.2016;
ITT Evaluation including Moderation from 9.9.2016;
Award decision notified to respondents from 21.9.2016;
Standstill Period starts 21st September to 3.10.2016;
Contract Award: 4.10.2016 subject to standstill and internal governance.
VI.4.1)Review body
London
United Kingdom
VI.4.2)Body responsible for mediation procedures
London
United Kingdom
VI.5)Date of dispatch of this notice:
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