Adult Skills and Employment Programmes

Adult Skills and Employment Programmes
(Open Framework), PL24/111 

I am writing to make a request for information under the Freedom of Information Act 2000 in relation to the above procurement exercise conducted by Lincolnshire County Council.

I would be grateful if you could provide the following information:

1) The total number of providers who submitted a tender for entry to the framework.

2) The total number of providers who were admitted to the framework.

3) Of those providers admitted to the framework, how many had previously delivered Skills Bootcamp programmes (whether funded by Lincolnshire County Council, the Greater Lincolnshire Combined County Authority, the Department for Education, or any predecessor funding body).

4) The number of providers admitted to the framework who triggered one or more financial ratio failures against the indicative thresholds published in the tender documentation (current ratio below 1.2, operating surplus/cash flow resilience indicating a deficit, or gearing ratio above 100%).

5) The number of providers admitted to the framework who triggered two or more financial ratio failures against the same thresholds.

6) Whether any proportionate mitigation measures, as described in Document 1, paragraph 13.5 of the tender documentation, have been applied to any provider admitted to the framework.

7) Whether self-declared financial ratios submitted by providers were verified against publicly filed accounts (such as Companies House filings) as part of the evaluation process, or whether the assessment relied solely on self-declared figures.

8) Whether published Ofsted inspection or monitoring visit reports were reviewed as part of the evaluation of providers' submissions.

9) Whether formal complaints received by the council regarding the delivery quality of any provider who submitted a tender were reviewed or considered as part of the evaluation process or ongoing suitability assessment.

To confirm, I am not requesting the names of any providers, the content of any individual submission, or any commercially sensitive information.

As the FOI was received whilst the procurement process was still live Section 22 of the Act was applied, and information subsequently released once the notice was published. The notices (ref 2026/S 000-020583 and 2026/S 000-033897) provided a response to questions 1 and 2 but for completeness;

Q1 - 207 tenders were submitted

Q2 - 63 suppliers were admitted onto the framework 3

Q3 Not all the information is held by Lincolnshire County Council

Q4 - The number of providers admitted to the framework who triggered one or more financial ratio failures against the indicative thresholds published in the tender documentation 10

Q5 - The number of providers admitted to the framework who triggered two or more financial ratio failures against the same thresholds. 0

Q6 - Whether any proportionate mitigation measures, as described in Document 1, paragraph 13.5 of the tender documentation, have been applied to any provider admitted to the framework. All measures applied are in accordance with the published procurement documentation, specific details of the measures are commercially sensitive under Section 43.

Q7 - Whether self-declared financial ratios submitted by providers were verified against publicly filed accounts (such as Companies House filings) as part of the evaluation process, or whether the assessment relied solely on self-declared figures. Financial ratios were verified against self-declared figures which is proportionate for this stage of the procurement process.

Q8 and 9 - Whether published Ofsted reports and previous complaints were reviewed as part of supplier's submissions. In accordance with legislation set out in the Procurement Act 2023 the Council can only apply the published criteria to procurements and Ofsted reports and previous complaints were not requested criteria and therefore were not applied.

The procurement documentation this request is relating to is clear regarding the criteria applied to the evaluation of bids. All processes relating to the transparency and application of the criteria set out in the Procurement Act 2023 were followed.