Expression of Interest. Preferred supplier of Apprenticeships to Manchester Digital Companies

Transcription

1 Expression of Interest Preferred supplier of Apprenticeships to Manchester Digital Companies

2 2 CONTENT 1. Background 2. Principles of Delivery 3. Support Required 4. Apprenticeship Frameworks to be delivered 5. Funding & Value Added Annex 1 Annex 2 Annex 3 Requirement for Expression of Interest Common job roles and areas of work within MD membership Digital Skills Survey Findings 2

3 3 1. OVERVIEW 1.1 Background Manchester Digital is the independent trade association for digital business in the North West of England. It brings together organisations and individuals from all parts of the industry from creative to technical, from software to media, from telecommunications to marketing. Our vision is simple, that by working together we can make Manchester and the North West an even better place for digital business A key part of this vision is to ensure that our members are able to grow and thrive by attracting young talent into the sector through Apprenticeships. The National Apprenticeship Service in partnership with Manchester Digital is inviting existing Skills Funding Agency providers and other industry related organisations to contribute to the development and delivery of a package of industry specific Apprenticeships for the North West s thriving digital industry. Manchester Digital recently carried out a survey to understand the skills issues facing our membership including perceptions/experiences around Apprenticeships. The majority of digital businesses expect to grow their workforce in the coming years but are struggling to find people with the right skills. They are confused by the Apprenticeship offer, many smaller companies think it will involve a large administrative burden and that there are not appropriate Apprenticeship frameworks/providers in the market that can teach the cutting edge skills that they require. There is also an incorrect perception in the market that Apprenticeships do not necessarily attract the brightest and the best candidates. As part of its work to address the region s digital skills gap Manchester Digital is launching an Apprenticeship Matching Service that will encourage employers to see Apprenticeships as a cost effective, quality way of acquiring talent and growing their workforce. Manchester Digital will also work with schools and colleges across the region to promote apprenticeships in digital and help them to understand the career opportunities and options that are available to them. To meet the anticipated increase in demand for Apprenticeships and to ensure we deliver a high quality service we are creating an approved supplier list (ASL) of training providers who can deliver bespoke, relevant training across a range of digital and technology disciplines. As an Approved Supplier to Manchester Digital you will provide a high quality, tailored and dynamic Apprenticeship experience for the sector, and contribute to the development of a highly skilled digital workforce. Approved suppliers will help Manchester Digital and NAS do the following things: 1. Demystify Apprenticeships 3

4 4 2. Identify and recruit the most suitable candidates 3. Deliver bespoke Manchester Digital Approved Apprenticeships 4. Provide support to employers and apprentices throughout the Apprenticeship 5. Maintain the relevance of the Apprenticeship offer ensuring that training provided aligns with new technologies as they emerge. Note: Successful providers will be expected to first utilise and maximise their existing Apprenticeship contract to support Manchester Digital. The National Apprenticeship Service and Skills Funding Agency will consider re-allocating any available programme under-spend where necessary to ensure the successful providers can meet the volumes required. 1.2 Expressions of Interest submission Expressions of interest will follow the structure of the expression of interest set out in Annex 1. The National Apprenticeship Service and Skills Funding Agency take no responsibility for costs incurred by providers in responding to this invitation for expressions of interest. Applicants should supply by a copy of their expression of interest to: Katie Gallagher, Business Development Director at Manchester Digital, Portland Street, Manchester M1 6ED. katie@manchesterdigital.com. Submission via will be accepted. Final delivery date and time is: 12pm on 20 May Expressions of Interest delivered after this time will not be considered. 1.3 Timetable - Release of specification - 9 May Expression of interest returned by - 20 May Short Listed Applicants notified - 23 May Presentations by Short listed Applicants - 29 May Applicants notified of decision - 30 May Delivery commences - 5 June

5 5 1.4 Short listing of providers The criteria for short-listing providers will include the following (see Annex 1 for more detail): - Track Record of delivering Apprenticeships - Ability to meet the requirements of Manchester Digital including a bespoke apprenticeship programmes which meet the requirements of one or more job roles listed in Annex 2. - Experience of working in the sector in at least one of the relevant areas listed in Annex 2. - How the provider will work with Manchester Digital to support the recruitment process - Current contract capacity and success rates. 1.5 Selection Criteria As part of their expression of interest applicants must be able to demonstrate and evidence the following requirements: - A clear understanding and alignment with the vision of Manchester Digital - A clear understanding of the brand, Manchester Digital ways of working and standards - Innovative use of technology to assess candidate progress and minimise disruption shielding the company and the apprentice from any extraneous paperwork. This should include use of electronic portfolio and on-line tracking of the progress of candidates and the project as a whole. - How the lead provider will work with other providers to ensure the best possible outcome for apprentices - Their thorough understanding of Apprenticeships and the benefits it will bring to the sector including the impact the Apprenticeship programme has; including how business benefits for Manchester Digital will be identified, captured and reported - Their flexibility and proven ability to be responsive to employer needs within a rapidly moving project; - The successful lead provider will as a minimum, need to identify where off the job delivery will take place in Greater Manchester and identify what other resources will be made available e.g employer engagement officers, trainers assessors, project managers etc. - How you will support Manchester Digital to recruit and attract the best possible Apprenticeship candidates including how you will use Apprenticeship Vacancies. - Their technical ability to design and deliver a bespoke Manchester Digital Apprenticeship experience including added value training for apprentices. - Their ability to conduct training and post training support over a shift pattern, 24 hour period should this be required - Experience in delivering manual, process oriented training, train the trainer style courses and managerial training programmes. - How you will ensure that the requirement to train back office staff is met, will other partners be involved? 5

6 6 - What investment can you make as a provider in supporting the Apprenticeship programme? - The ability to provide ongoing evaluation and feedback including confirmation that a yearly evaluation report will be prepared for Manchester Digital 1.6 Selection Presentations On 29 May 2013 short listed providers will be required to present to Manchester Digital and stakeholders. The nature, duration and topic of the presentation will be shared with the selected provider on 23 May

7 7 2. MANCHESTER DIGITAL s INVESTMENT 2.1 Anticipated Annual Apprenticeship Volumes Manchester Digital anticipates an annual intake of 300 apprentices aged at Level 3 and 4. This demand will be driven by an on going marketing and employer engagement campaign that will be carried out across the northwest. 2.2 Key timings Manchester Digital commences recruitment activity in May. Delivery should commence from June 13. 7

8 8 3. PRINCIPLES OF DELIVERY The successful providers will adhere to the following principles in meeting Manchester Digital s skills needs: Agree a balance of on the job and off the job activity that meets the needs of digital businesses and enhances ROI. Create a seamless embedding of the training programme for employers, including provision of an on site trainer if appropriate. Identify and agree suitable off the job venues, which provide the best possible learning environment for the apprentice whilst ensuring that the apprentice feels supported at all times. Ensuring that the training received by all apprentices is of a consistently high level of quality. Ensure that the Manchester Digital ethos, values and behaviours are embedded in the Apprenticeship programme. Support Manchester Digital companies to recruit the best possible candidates. Support Manchester Digital to enhance the brand through maintaining a high profile for the Manchester Digital Apprenticeship programme, including celebrating success, supporting apprentices to speak at events and to recognise success through supporting competitions (world skills, Apprenticeship Awards etc). Provide regular reports to Manchester Digital and NAS about the progress of the programme and the impact it is having. Attend at least 2 meetings per year that will bring together all the approved training providers to discuss the impact and progress the programme is having. Attend events and be prepared to deliver workshops and interactive taster sessions to potential apprentices. 8

9 9 4. SUPPORT REQUIRED 4.1 Reporting responsibilities In addition to the usual Provider / Skills Funding Agency Account Manager arrangements, the National Apprenticeship Service will assign a lead NAS Employer Account Manager for this activity to act as a key point of contact and ensure the requirements of Manchester Digital are met. Manchester Digital and NAS will require the successful lead provider to provide quantitative and qualitative progress reports on a regular basis. An example of the information required is shown in Annex Training Delivery Additionality Expectations Manchester Digital is seeking providers to deliver its whole Apprenticeship training for the foreseeable future and as such co-investment is expected from the successful provider. Providers should describe what additionality will be offered, what investment will be made and what is required from Manchester Digital As a minimum in addition to delivering the Apprenticeship programme, the successful partner will be expected to provide: Where appropriate a permanent on-site assessor/trainer Added value training to enhance the Apprenticeship experience Access to an off the job training facility which is within reasonable travelling distance of the workplace 4.3 Staff support and co-location of staff The lead provider would as a minimum be expected to demonstrate they are willing to: - provide a named responsible lead officer for this work and a solely dedicated lead member of staff to work alongside the company and partners; the provider is expected to employ apprentices wherever possible as part of this venture e.g. business administration. This will ensure that Manchester Digital s commitment to an Apprenticeship culture is extended to its supply chain and its procured provider. - Work with the employer to adapt existing training materials to the employers needs. This will entail providing staff alongside Manchester Digital, to further determine detailed training requirements, refine training programmes and materials etc; - co-ordinate through assigned staff arranging trainers and venues for provision; 4.4 Intellectual property rights It should be noted that Manchester Digital as the employer will retain all intellectual property rights to any adapted training materials they provide. 9

10 Flexibility in responding to employer needs Applicants will demonstrate specific examples of how they have provided flexible support through Apprenticeships, working with the employer to adapt delivery models and training materials to meet their needs. We are particularly interested in hearing about aggregation models and how you have worked with SMEs and micro businesses to deliver Apprenticeships. Additional flexibility in terms of time and location of delivery maybe required, this may include training at untraditional hours to accommodate shift patterns etc. It is imperative that providers ensure that delivery is structured in such as way that Manchester Digital s members are not affected in any way. Any off the job elements should be sourced locally and meet the precise requirements of Manchester Digital for each framework (this will be defined by Manchester Digital and NAS working with SSCs as appropriate). 10

11 5. Apprenticeship Provision Required 11 Your response should include details of the Apprenticeship frameworks you expect to deliver as part of your offer to member organisations whose businesses include the following broad areas; Web/App Design Development front and back end Online marketing Social Media, SEO Online PR & copywriting IT Project Management Software Production (inc Games) IT Infrastructure (technical, support and maintenance roles) Animation & Film Other Apprenticeship Frameworks Business Administration Accountancy Human Resources Project Management 6. FINANCE AND VALUE ADDED The preference is for cost neutral solutions, whilst meeting company needs. Partners should indicate what co-investment they are prepared to make 6.1 Finance available for training This specification contains no additional monies. Providers will be first expected to utilise existing Skills Funding Agency contracts already in place. 6.2 Added Value Applicants to this specification will deliver skills through existing Skills Funding Agency contracts and offer additional skills or opportunities to provide value for money for the employer with the economies of scale that can be achieved within the scope of this opportunity. Applicants will identify any costs to the company that cannot be mitigated against, noting the preference for offsetting costs against mainstream provision income. In addition to the above applicants should demonstrate within their tender the added value they can provide in addition to Skills Funding Agency contracted provision in terms of: - additional training that could be delivered free of charge or reduced costs to the employer, this may include statutory training which cannot be funded through Skills Funding Agency. - capital investment to proximate premises that will be used to train employer staff. 11

12 12 ANNEX 1 MANCHESTER DIGITAL TRAINING PROVIDER EXPRESSION OF INTEREST Please organise your response to the Expression of Interest in the following format; Please provide full qualitative detailed answers to questions and points raised below with examples of your previous experience as part of your response. 1. Organisation Details Name, addresses of organisation, telephone contact person(s). If a consortia bid please include details of all provider organisation and indicate the lead provider and the person responsible for the overall contract. (Please supply as a front page). 2. Delivery / Track Record Manchester Digital is looking for a training provider who has a proven track record of delivering high quality apprenticeships to the sectors specified within the Apprenticeship Provision Required section in the Expression of Interest. Describe which Apprenticeship frameworks you will offer for each sector and how you will ensure a bespoke feel to the framework. Please highlight anything about your offer that makes it unique or if there are specialist elements that can be developed such as UX, mobile dev. Etc. Describe how you plan to deliver the off the job element of the frameworks, including any innovative approaches you have experience of with other employers. How will you ensure that your Apprenticeship programme and how it is delivered is fully embedded and enmeshed with Manchester Digital? What experience do you have of delivering added value, industry specific training. Please provide detail and track record if you have had any involvement working with other Digital/Media companies. Please include the numbers trained with these employers, a description of the training undertaken, delivery timescales and success rates. Please provide detail of your experience in delivering the frameworks identified Please provide detail of your experience in working with Creative Skillset and/or eskills Have you had experience of delivering the Technical Certificates for the frameworks required? Describe how you will support Manchester Digital members to select and recruit appropriate candidates including how you will utilise and manage the MD/NAS Apprenticeship Vacancies site. Describe how you will support induction and the delivery of the off the job element including where the delivery will take place. 12

13 Describe how you will ensure that delivery fits with the operation of the business (e.g. can assessors, assess 7 days a week including unsocial hours?) Challenges and Risk What challenges and risks do you foresee? How will you ensure that the Apprenticeship programme fits with the unique challenges of the sector? When is your earliest start date? Communication is an understood risk to any project - who would be your designated points of contact? 4. Quality and Reporting The provider should detail all of the quality measures in place and performance history. The Provider needs to detail: Ofsted grades Other relevant awards Describe how delivery will be aligned to the Manchester Digital Ways of Working Describe how you will ensure that Manchester Digital is informed of the progress of apprentices and the impact the programme is having. 5. Funding Please provide details of how you are currently able to support Manchester Digital through Skills Funding Agency funds for the academic year 2013/14. This should include details of funding for adults and young people. What would your additional requirements be in order for you to meet this commitment? What employer contribution will be required to support the delivery of Apprenticeships? What added value activity do you envisage and what will the cost of this activity be? 6. Resourcing Please detail your expected staff commitments to a project such as this. Please confirm that you will make available for the project at least one full time member of staff to support/assess/train apprentices. Please include what capacity you currently have and what you would require to recruit in from partners and new staff. Describe how you will work with Manchester Digital to develop an in house knowledge of Apprenticeships 13

14 Describe how you will support existing staff to understand the Apprenticeship programme so that they may offer guidance, advice and mentoring to the apprentices Culture and Ethos Please describe how the culture and ethos of your organisation aligns with that of Manchester Digital. 14

15 Annex 2 15 This is a list of the common job roles/areas of work that Manchester Digital members recruit regularly. This can be used and returned with your application as a list of areas where you are able to deliver Apprenticeship training, it is not comprehensive so please provide any additional information. Job Role Affiliate Marketing Animation 2D Animation 3D B2B Marketing Community Management Connected TV Content Marketing and Strategy Conversion Rate Optimization Customer Experience Data Centre Engineer Disaster Recovery E-commerce ecrm Marketing Games Development IT Project Management Mobile Multichannel Marketing Network Engineer Online Advertising Online Copywriting Online Customer Service Online PR Other Search Marketing Social Media Software Developer Software Engineer Solutions Architect Strategy and Planning Systems Administrator Systems Developer User Experience and Usability Video & Rich Media Visual fx Please Indicate if you believe you can deliver Apprenticeships for this job role Y/N Proposed Apprenticeship framework SSC & Awarding Body 15

16 Web Analytics Web Design Web Project Management 16 16

17 Annex 3 17 Manchester Digital Skills Survey findings

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