STRATEGIC COMUNICATIONS SERVICES

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1 Meri Mayhew Head of Policy Forces in Mind Trust 6 20 Elizabeth Street London SW1W 9RB T: E: hp@fim-trust.org INVITATION TO TENDER FOR STRATEGIC COMUNICATIONS SERVICES Contract commencement date January 2018 final date to be confirmed Closing date for receipt of tenders 9 th November 2017 (Short listed agencies presentations scheduled for 7 th December 2017) BACKGROUND INFORMATION 1. FIM Trustee Ltd is a company limited by guarantee. Registered in England and Wales under number and Forces in Mind Trust is a registered charity number The registered office is: Alexandra House St Johns Street Salisbury SP1 2SB The operating address is: Forces in Mind Trust Mountbarrow House 6-20 Elizabeth Street London SW1W 9RB P Page 1

2 QUESTIONS/QUERIES 2. In case of query, please contact in the first instance: Meri Mayhew, Head of Policy Tel: Should questions arise during the tendering period which are, in our judgement, of material significance, we will write to all Tenderers to explain the nature of the question, and our formal reply. All Tenderers should then take that reply into consideration when preparing their own bids, and we will evaluate bids on the assumption that they have done so. Please note any questions raised after that period may not be able to be answered. CONTRACT TERM 4. The proposed contract will be awarded for an initial period of up to three years with a formal annual review. The services will commence in January PROCUREMENT PROCESS 5. Detailed instructions concerning the submission of tenders are set out in the Instructions to Tenderers section of this document. Evaluation of the tenders received will be carried out by a panel convened by FiMT, with an appointment being decided at the FiMT Board of Directors meeting on 12 th December The criteria against which bids will be assessed are as follows (in no particular order): A track record and experience in the Charity (not for profit) sector. Empathy with the charitable objectives of the charity and the ability to provide value added services. Experience in strategic communications, in particular around employment, and physical and mental health and wellbeing matters. Ability to work across England, Wales, Scotland and Northern Ireland. 7. All bids received will be evaluated in accordance with the above which will not only look at the terms of your offer but will also assess general suitability of the Tenderer as a service provider. Tenderers should note that should a bid be fundamentally unacceptable on any one criterion, regardless of its other merits, that bid may be rejected. 8. This Invitation to Tender document contains a set of Conditions of Contract that the successful Contractor will be required to comply with. Written acceptance by FiMT of the Tenderer s offer shall constitute a binding agreement in the terms of the Contract document. Page 2

3 SERVICES REQUIRED Background information 9. Forces in Mind Trust (FiMT) was established at the start of 2012 with a 35 million endowment from the Big Lottery Fund. FiMT s vision is that all ex-service personnel and their families lead successful and fulfilled civilian lives. The mission of FiMT is to enable ex-service personnel and their families make a successful and sustainable transition into civilian life, and the Trust s strategy is to provide an evidence base that will influence and underpin policy making and service delivery. By funding high quality, credible research where there is an identified gap in relevant understanding, and by then exploiting the findings, FiMT effects positive change. 10. Over the last few months FiMT has been developing its change model to help further shape commissioning work around six outcomes: Housing; Employment; Health & Wellbeing; Finance; Criminal Justice System; and Relationships. 11. For more information about FiMT please visit Since FiMT was established, communications activity has been outsourced to a PR agency. As the Trust has grown the decision has been made to employ a full time Communications Officer (in post since June 2017) whilst maintaining an outsourced capability. With operational level communications now managed in-house, and with a strong body of evidence with which to influence policy makers across the UK, the Trust is entering a new phase of increased strategic influence. It is for this purpose that FiMT is tendering for the delivery of its Strategic Communications Services. 13. This is a new role for FiMT and so the precise nature of the services required (both in terms of time commitment and nature of service) is still to be finalized. The Trust is interested to hear proposals on this from bidders. It is thought that the time commitment will be around one day a week following an initial induction period. The Trust does not require a 24/7 response service. Description of Services required 14. The specific services required are: a. Producing a top-level influence strategy for FiMT. b. Providing guidance to the Communications Officer (CO) and the FiMT Executive Team about the exploitation of FiMT-funded projects. In particular, providing specialist knowledge and expertise to FiMT s CO in carrying out their activities for FiMT. Page 3

4 Cost c. Identifying, prioritizing, and maximizing influence opportunities in accordance with FiMT high priority outcome areas across the UK Outcome 2 (employment) and Outcome 3 (health and wellbeing) 1. Guidance should also be offered across all FiMT s other outcome areas although to a lesser extent. d. Advising on Public Affairs for central and devolved governments. e. Services to be available along the lines of those stated in paragraph Bidders should set out their hourly charge rates with assumptions along with any additional retention fees. VAT should be included with all stated costs. Timings Closing date for receipt of tender 9 th November 2017 (Marked Private and confidential for the attention of Meri Mayhew, Head of Policy) Evaluation of tenders completed 24 th November Presentations by/interviews with short listed bidders 7 th December (between 1000 and 1400) in central London with FiMT panel Award of contract following FiMT Board meeting on 12 th December 1 Details of all our Outcomes, and some of the key projects can be found in our 2016 Activity report Page 4

5 INSTRUCTIONS TO TENDERERS General Information and Instructions 1. Please submit one paper COPY of your tender and electronic versions in either Word or PDF format. Your offer itself can be submitted in whatever format you prefer and there is no restriction on length although conciseness is preferred. 2. Only the information contained within this invitation to tender document, or the accompanying documentation, or otherwise communicated in writing to tenderers, should be considered by you when making your offer. 3. If you wish to bid on terms other than those specified in this document, or to vary or qualify any of the conditions or specifications etc, this must be detailed in the Qualification of Offer, at the back of this document. Tenderers should bear in mind, however, that the acceptability or otherwise of any such changes will be at the discretion of FIMT. 4. Your total tender submission, as detailed above, must be submitted to: Meri Mayhew, Head of Policy, FiMT, 2 nd Floor, Mountbarrow House, 6-20 Elizabeth Street, London, SW1W 9RB. 5. Please mark the outside of the envelope containing your tender clearly with the word TENDER. 6. The closing date for the submission of your tender is 5pm on 9 th November Tenders submitted after the time and date shown will be rejected and returned to the tenderer, unless clear evidence of posting (by first class post on a day preceding the closing date), is available. Tenders may be submitted by by the closing time and date in the formats described above but a paper copy must be received within the 7 days following. Faxes will not be accepted. 8. If you decide that you do not wish to tender (after having advised of your intention to do so), it would be appreciated if you would advise FIMT in writing of your decision not to tender and your reasons for such a decision. 9. If you require further information concerning the tender process, or the nature of the proposed contract the Head of Policy. Prices 10. All prices, rates, discount structures etc. entered in the tender by the Contractor in their tender and/or as subsequently accepted on behalf of FIMT will be binding on both parties during the continuance of the contract, unless specific agreement otherwise is reached between the parties. 11. The Tenderer s proposed selling price for all the services it intends to offer must be set out in this document. These prices will then apply for the first year of the contract. The tenderer may only increase prices thereafter in agreement with FIMT. Approval for the increases will not be unreasonably withheld provided that they are justifiably demonstrated. The right to negotiate is reserved. Please set out your underlying schedule of costs for the services. Page 5

6 12. All rates and prices submitted must be net, excluding VAT and provided within this invitation to tender (Form of Tender). Payment Terms 13. FiMT offers to settle the contractor s monthly trading accounts within 30 days of the date of an undisputed invoice. In return, the contractor may wish to reflect these advantageous payment terms as a discount on the tender price. Staffing 14. The Contractor shall provide sufficient suitably skilled, experienced, qualified and competent persons to provide the operational and professional elements of the Service and also associated administrative support to meet the requirements of the Contract. 15. The Contractor shall provide all staff with sufficient and suitable training to meet their training needs and ensure the staff are updated in their area of work. Page 6

7 Annex A: General Information about your agency 1.1 Agency name: [Text] 1.2 Agency address What is your organisation s registered address including postcode? If you are based outside the UK, please insert your Tax Identification Number in the box below. [Text] Telephone number [Text] address [Text] Tax Identification Number if non-uk based [Text] Web address [Text] 1.3 Main contact details for the tender Fill in the following details about the person in your organisation who will be the main contact for your tender. We will contact this person if we have any questions. Name of contact Title [Text] Forename [Text] Surname [Text] Position or job title [Text] Page 7

8 Address for correspondence including postcode (state as above if this is the same as the registered address of your organisation) [Text] If the address for correspondence is different from the registered address of the organisation, please tell us why. [Text] Page 8

9 ANNEX B: CONDITIONS OF TENDER REPRESENTATIONS 1. A tenderer may contact FiMT to obtain any further information about the requirements of the contract or the tendering procedures if these are not evident or clear from the documents supplied to tenderers. 2. No representation by FiMT nor any representation at all, other than one contained in the contract documents about any matter which has a bearing on the contract, shall constitute a term or condition of the contract nor a representation which gives the Contractor grounds for rescinding the contract or claiming damages for misrepresentation. TENDERS EXCLUDED 3. No tender will be considered for acceptance if the tenderer has indulged or attempted to indulge in any corrupt practice or canvassed the tender with any member of FiMT. If a tenderer has, unknown to these bodies, indulged or attempted to indulge in such practices and the tender is accepted, then grounds shall exist for the termination of the contract and the claiming of damages from the Contractor. 4. It is unlikely that any tender will be accepted which (a) is incomplete or inaccurately or inadequately completed or which purports to impose conditions other than those provided in the contract documents and (b) is delivered out of time or in a manner other than specified in these Instructions. FORM OF TENDER 5. The tender will be set out as described in the main body of the tender. COLLUSIVE TENDERING 6. In submitting a tender against this contract, the tenderer confirms that they have not fixed or adjusted the amount of the tender by or under or in accordance with any agreement or arrangement with any other person. 7. The tenderer also certifies that at no time, before or following the submission of the tender, has the Tenderer carried out any of the following acts: a. communicating to a person other than the person calling for the tenders the amount or approximate amount of the proposed tender, except where such disclosure is required for the purpose of obtaining insurance; b. entering into any agreement or arrangement with any person that he shall refrain from tendering or as to the amount of any tender to be submitted; c. offering or paying or giving or agreeing to give any sum of money or valuable consideration directly or indirectly to any person for doing or having done or causing or having caused to be done in relation to any other tender or proposed tender for the said work any act or thing of the sort described above. The context of this clause the word person includes any persons and any body or association, corporate or unincorporate; and any agreement or arrangement includes any such transaction, formal or informal, and whether legally binding or not. Page 9

10 8. Any tenderer who directly or indirectly canvasses any member or official or agent of FiMT concerning the award of the contract or who directly or indirectly obtains or attempts to obtain information from any such person concerning any other tender or proposed tender for the services shall be disqualified. EVALUATION OF OFFERS AND AWARD OF CONTRACT 9. All tenders received will be evaluated jointly by representatives of FiMT. 10. The evaluation criteria against which bids will be assessed are set out in the main body of the tender document. 11. Due weight will be placed on each of these criteria, but tenderers should however note that in the event that a bid is considered to be fundamentally unacceptable on a key issue, regardless of its other merits, that bid may be rejected. 12. Throughout the tendering process, the right is reserved to seek clarifications from tenderers, where this is considered necessary to achieve a complete understanding of the proposals received. 13. Acceptance of the preferred tender will be made by FiMT. FiMT is not bound to accept the lowest or any tender. 14. The successful tenderer shall, if required, execute a written agreement (contract) with FiMT. Until the execution of that agreement, and for as long as the absence thereof persists, the successful tender together with FiMT's written acceptance thereof shall constitute a binding agreement in the terms of the contract documents. CONFIDENTIALITY DATA PROTECTION AND FREEDOM OF INFORMATION 15. The Contractor shall ensure that all information of FiMT or of employees or agents of FiMT which is marked confidential or is, by its nature clearly confidential, shall be held in strict confidence and shall be disclosed only to those persons or bodies who need to know and then subject to a confidentiality undertaking in substantially similar terms to this condition. For the avoidance of any doubt all personal information and/or data shall be regarded as confidential information for the purpose of this condition. This sub-condition shall not apply:- a. if the confidential information referred to at a. above is in or comes into public domain other than due to wrongful disclosure by FiMT or the Contractor. b. if disclosure is required by law, noting that Trust and Trustee are not subject to the Freedom of Information Act 2000 ( the FOIA ), but will provide information in the interests of open administration provided such information is not commercially sensitive, or disclosure is permitted by the Human Rights Act The Contractor shall indemnify FiMT against all action, costs, claims, demands, expense and liabilities of whatsoever nature arising out of or in connection with any claim as to the unauthorised destruction or disclosure of any personal information or data by the Contractor or its sub-contractors, servants, agents or other persons within the control of the Contractor except to the extent that the same is caused or contributed to by any negligence, act or omission of FiMT. Page 10

11 17. The Contractor should note that all accounts and activities of the Trust are subject to inspection by the National Audit Office, if so requested by the Big Lottery Fund (The Founder). Accounts must be maintained to facilitate NAO inspections, which could be at very short notice. 18. The provisions of all applicable Data Protection legislation shall be observed at all times by the Contractor and the Contractor shall ensure that any sub-contractor also observes the following: a. the Contractor/sub-contractor shall use its best efforts to safeguard any data provided by FiMT ( the Data ), from unauthorised or unlawful processing or accidental loss, destruction or damage and acknowledges that it has implemented the technical and organisational measures to prevent unauthorised or unlawful processing or accidental loss or destruction of the Data. b. the Contractor/sub-contractor shall ensure that each of its employees, agents or subcontractors are made aware of their obligations with regard to the security and protection of the Data and shall require that they enter into binding obligations with the Contractor in order to maintain the levels of security and protection required. c. the Contractor/sub-contractor shall not divulge the Data whether directly or indirectly to any person, firm or company without the express consent of FiMT except to those of its employees, agents and subcontractors who are engaged in the processing of the Data and are subject to the binding obligations referred to above. d. any agent or subcontractor of the Contractor/sub-contractor shall provide the Contractor with a plan of the technical and organisational means it has adopted to prevent unauthorised or unlawful processing or accidental loss or destruction of the Data and shall acknowledge to the Contractor that it has implemented those plans. e. the Contractor/sub-contractor shall note and facilitate FiMT s response to FOIA requests, noting that the Trust is not required to comply but will provide information, if this does not breach commercial sensitivity requirements, in the interest of open administration of the Trust. f. the Contractor/sub-contractor shall assist FiMT at no additional charge in meeting any requests for information in relation to the Contract which are made to FIMT in connection with the FOIA, noting that the Trust is not required to comply but will provide information, if this does not breach commercial sensitivity requirements, in the interest of open administration of the Trust. g. FiMT may from time to time serve the Contractor with an information notice requiring the Contractor within such time and in such manner as specified in the information notice to inform FiMT with such information as FiMT may reasonably require relating to any request under the FOIA for information and the Contractor shall comply with the terms of any such information notice and shall ensure that any applicable sub-contractor also complies with the terms of any such information notice. Page 11

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