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Try our QUICK QUIZ on Understanding Procurement
With thanks to the Public Service Delivery Network - give their page a visit.
IMPORTANT
Especially if you are, or might be, involved in contracts with public sector bodies:
Updated versions of ACEVO's briefings on public sector contracts:
negotiation, tendering, VAT, and assessing impact.
Available at: www.sandy-a.co.uk or go direct to www.acevo.org.uk
Surviving Contracts - new book launch!
Alan Lawrie and Jan Mellor have now taken contracting well into the 21st century, with The Complete Guide to Surviving Contracts for Voluntary Organisations, with chapters on approaching contracts, all about contracts, the process of contracting, analysing an opportunity, making a bid, agreeing a contract, managing the contract, the organisational implications of contracts, and competition and cooperation. Highly practical and highly recommended by Sandy Adirondack, who wrote the original Getting Ready for Contracts: A guide for voluntary organisations (1990, 2nd ed 1993).
To order from Sandy Adirondack (£18.95 + £1.90 p&p): Just send an email with your details, including purchase order number if applicable to Sandy Adirondack sandy@sandy-a.co.uk - Sandy will send an invoice with the book.
Or you can order by post to:
S Adirondack, 39 Gabriel House, 10 Odessa St, London SE16 7HQ.
If you want to send payment with order, make cheque payable to S Adirondack (unfortunately no credit cards).
The Complete Guide to Surviving Contracts is also available from the publisher (Directory of Social Change), or through any bookshop.
One Nottingham and the LAA - what's happening & why does it matter?
Like all the other Local Strategic Partnerships (LSPs) One Nottingham is in the process of negotiating its Local Area Agreement (LAA). The LAA is an agreement between the LSP and Government about the priorities for the city. Having agreed the priorities and set targets that will be the way Government measures the success of the city (and there's money to incentivise it).
The indicators for the LAA are selected from what's known as the National Indicator Set - a list of 198 priorities each LSP can pick from. LSPs are allowed to pick up to 35 indicators, plus a required 17 which focus on children. Nottingham has got very close to deciding its list of priorities. It now has to negotiate with Government what the targets will be.
- % of people who believe people from different backgrounds get on well together in their local area
- % of people who feel they can influence decisions in their locality
- General / overall satisfaction with local area
- Environment for a thriving third sector
The One Nottingham partnership includes the city council, other public services such as health and police, the private sector, and voluntary and community sector. Once everyone is signed up these areas should be the overriding priorities for everyone in the One Nottingham world.
Groups should be starting to think about how their work is relevant to the LAA priorities. They should also be keeping an eye open for opportunities to deliver new services as One Nottingham starts to commission new work. But don't get over excited. We're not expecting a lot of new work to be commissioned through ON this year that we don't already know about.
All of the above is about the city of Nottingham's priorities. However the county of Nottinghamshire is going through a similar exercise (just like all the other cities & counties in England, in all cases through the Local Strategic Partnership).
You can get the list of all National Indicators (including the ones Nottingham didn't pick) from Communities.gov.uk.
If you'd like to get regular updates about what One Nottingham are doing & how you can influence their decision making you can sign up for our weekly e-bulletin, ask to be on our quarterly newsletter mailing list or join us at any Open Meeting. Find our more at our website or talk to one of us.
To compliment this information, please take a look at 2 sample resource documents (links below) to help plot your own 'strategic fit' clearly using visual diagrams, they are designed around a young-based organisation, but can easily be adapted to suit any organisation.
what core services offer diagram and how the core fits nationally and locally.
Tips from the commissioners!
Commissioning for children young people and families services - Preparing for Tendering Opportunities.
by Sara Meyer - Commissioning Manager, Children's Services
- You can keep up to date with the City's emerging Children and Young People's Plan (CYPP) and LAA priorities by staying in touch with your representative on the Strategic Partnership for Children, Young People and Families - contact Muhaj Mohamed: SPCYPF - VCS Executive Group Representative (details below).
- Visit the website www.nottinghamics.co.uk - this has the latest version of the draft CYPP - this will help you to understand emerging priorities and the context of delivering activities with and for children in Nottingham.
- Talk to partners and other providers - this will help you learn tips about good practice and identify those organisations you might be able to work up partnerships bids with in the future. You might also learn if your organisation offers value for money; has the best quality assurance systems in place and is up to date with innovative practice.
- Get in touch with the Change Team - based at Nottingham CVS (7 Mansfield Road) offering capacity building support to VCS organisations. This includes delivering outcomes based training - an understanding about how to deliver outcomes in future contracts will be crucial to successfully winning tenders in the future. www.nottinghamcvs-changeteam.co.uk
- Make sure you are on our Providers List (contact Peter Morley below) - this means you will be alerted of future tender opportunities as soon as we are aware of them.
- Keep checking the One Nottingham web site - there might be other tender opportunities from the other theme partnerships your organisation may be able to deliver. SPCYPF opportunities will also be advertised. Make it part of your weekly routine to do this. The address is: www.onenottingham.org.uk/
- Most importantly - make sure your organisation is fit for purpose. Ensure your workforce is up to date with safeguarding training, including the Common Assessment Framework; that your policies and procedures are up-to-date, effective and work in practice; and that you have service user consultation embedded as part of your practice (the SPCYPF adopted the 'Hear by Right' model as its preferred model in 2006). Be prepared to meet the requirements of future contracts as much as possible.
Muhaj Mohammed, SPCYPF - VCS Executive Group Representative
Tel: 0115 979 1234, Email: muhaj@n-b-p.org, or
Peter Morley, SPCYPF Administrator and Senior Administrator
Tel: 0115 9150539, Email: peter.morley@nottinghamcity.gov.uk.
TOP TEN STEPS TO...
sus-tain-a-bil-i-ty noun - from sus-tain (maintain) verb 1: to cause or allow something to continue for a period of time. 2: to keep alive.
- Plan for change...
Looking towards the long-term is the only way to ensure you can get there. Thinking about where your organisation would like to be in the future will help you plan activities and actions around achieving those aims. - Identify Strengths...
and weaknesses within your organisation. Review your current management systems and processes and examine the skills, expertise, resources you have in place - continue with what is working well and try to build on what is not yet up to standard. - Be contract ready...
Service delivery under contract can provide a long-term income alternative, or addition to grant aid. But check: are you constitutionally allowed to gain income under a contract? Does it fit with your primary purpose? Is your Board behind you? - Make good contacts...
Make and keep contact with all stakeholders - funders, users, partners and colleagues in all sectors. Develop and maintain your relationships with others - particularly if they can 'champion' your cause. Cultivate professionals who could be a referee, and potential partner organisations. - Use full cost recovery!
Identifying, understanding and requesting the actual, total costs of any activity you run is imperative to making sure you can keep that activity going after the initial monies start to run out... - Market your services...
Know your unique selling points - what makes you better than the rest? How can you let people know this? Use different media like radio and IT to raise awareness of your services and celebrate your success stories. - Go for a quality standard...
Many funders now require some form of Quality Mark to show the value and high standards an organisation has when providing activities or services. If you haven't already achieved - or are not working towards - a Quality Mark then think about which one/s will suit your organisation. - Keep others informed & involved...
Staff, volunteers, trustees and service users will be more motivated to work towards change if they are kept informed and have the opportunity to be involved. - Evidence the need...
Evaluate your services by getting regular user feedback, from funders and referral agencies as well as beneficiaries. Consider implementing an Outcomes focus in your organisation to monitor and evaluate the success of your activities and the results your work has on your service users - also useful for identifying gaps in services or evidence needs for further delivery. Keep information up-to-date and make sure its relevant to the person you are giving it to. - Change takes time...
Be realistic about this.. don't overstretch yourself or attempt the impossible. Make sure your timetabling is sensible (never underestimate how long it could take) and that everyone involved moves together towards the same goal.
"If It's Broken, Fix It!" - Compact Consultation for Nottingham
Voluntary and Community organisations in Nottingham can be sure of a better relationship with their local authority, with a newly revised 'Compact' - or agreement - between Nottingham's City Council and the voluntary and community sector, which is currently out for consultation.
Nottingham has had a Compact since 2002 - widely recognised as being in need of review in order to make it effective. The new Compact will outline commitments that both sides will sign up to, and an Action Plan will be established to ensure that these pledges actually make a difference and help to improve the relationship between Nottingham City Council and voluntary and community organisations (VCOs).
Helen Voce, Chief Executive at Nottingham CVS said, " It's so important that VCOs feel they can complain, challenge and even change things about their relationship with their local authority - even if they are also funded by them. A local Compact sets out clearly how the two sectors aim to work better together for mutual benefit and is invaluable when resolving disputes. Making sure your voice feeds into its development is the only way to ensure the Compact will work for you".
A great example of a good Compact working well is shown in on the NCVO website where an application deadline for a Children, Young People and Families grant was extended in the wake of a voluntary sector campaign pressurising the Department of Education and Skills (DfES) to comply fully with the Compact.
More than 20 voluntary and community organisations that wanted to apply for the £50,000+ grants joined forces with the Compact Advocacy Programme (CAP) to challenge the department to provide a 'reasonable deadline', as stated in the Compact. The original deadline would have given the organisations only a handful of working days to complete the application over the Christmas period. This could have meant charities might have missed out on the £3.3m available due to the logistical problems of finding enough working hours to apply and gaining agreement from trustees. This challenge prompted the minister for Children and Families to confirm that the deadline had been extended by a further 2-1/2 weeks. Saskia Daggett, manager of the CAP, which advocates on behalf of voluntary organisations when the Compact has been breached, said: "The Compact isn't optional and we are therefore seeking assurances from the DfES that this situation will not arise again."
You may have your own suggestions for short, medium or long-term key actions that you want to see included in Nottingham's Compact Action Plan. For a draft and to add your comments, contact Sandra Case - 0115 9158801, email compact@nottinghamcity.gov.uk or contact the NCVS Helpdesk - 0115 934 8400, email: helpdesk@nottinghamcvs.co.uk.
This public consultation 'If it's Broken - Fix It!' ends April 2007.
A summary document of the consultation is available - or if you would prefer a hard copy of the draft Compact please contact the Change Management Service.
A Beginner's Guide to Procurement
The Change Management Service has produced a 8-page leaflet as a brief introduction to the key themes around public procurement, entitled 'A Beginner's Guide to Procurement'.
This looks at the procurement process, how procurement works with the voluntary sector, the tendering process, the Pre-Qualification Questionnaire, tips and advice on preparing for bids, useful websites and resources and key terms and definitions in this agenda.
If you would like a free copy of this Guide please contact Jon Stevens on 0115 934 8457 or email: jons@nottinghamcvs.co.uk, or Kaye Brennan on 0115 934 8458 or email: kayeb@nottinghamcvs.co.uk.
New Database for Children, Young People and Families Organisations and Groups
Changes in Funding Structure - Support to Voluntary and Community Groups
If you're a voluntary or community group that supports children, young people or families through services and activities, you'll probably already know that there may be changes in the way you receive funding from statutory agencies - whether that's Local Authority Education, Social Services, Leisure Services or Primary Care Trusts or through the Voluntary Sector Improvement Programme. This is a result of the new Integrated Children's Services and what will be the new commissioning process.
We need to make sure everyone knows what all this means - it probably will affect most of you!
To get information flowing in an accessible way to everyone, we are setting up a database for Nottingham City Voluntary and Community Groups and Organisations that work with children, young people and families. Everyone then gets the information together and in an accessible format.
This is also a good way to get information generally about children's services, whether you are funded by the Local Authority or Primary Care Trust or not.
So please sign up, that way you'll get information just as soon as it's available … … … …………… in fact this could be the quickest way to get to know about anything!
This will not affect your membership of any network, umbrella organisation or mailing list and is not meant to replace these. You may already be on NAVO F&C Forum, NYON, Nottingham CVS, Community Network, Early Years mailing lists … … … this is a bonus!
In the first instance the information will arrive as email updates.
Please download and fill in the form (MS-Word format) to join (making sure you sign on behalf of your group/organisation) and return to:
Change Management Service Database, Nottingham CVS, 7 Mansfield Road, Nottingham NG1 3FB
Training & Events
NEW NCSCB Training Programme 2007/2008
The new NCSCB training programme for 2007/2008 is now available for downloading from their website.
NCSCB offer free child protection training for all agencies and organisations and volunteers working with families in Nottingham.
To apply for a course please complete the application contained within the programme and return to Anthony Lancaster at The Lindens, 379 Woodborough Road, Nottingham NG3 5GX or alternatively email at anthony.lancaster@nottinghamcity.gov.uk.
Training Requirements
The Change Management Service would like to learn what training events you would like to see in the future. Please complete our feedback survey and let us know what training topics interest you
Previous Training & Events:
Funding the FUTURE - CMS Conference 2008, held on 12th February 2008 at The Vine Centre, Bobbersmill, Nottingham
Training Material and Presentations from the conference: Funding the Future
"Does Every Child Matter" Conference held on the 4th October 06 at Trent Vineyard, Nottingham
Training Material and Presentations from the conference: Does Every Child Matter
"Sustainable Futures" Conference held on 3rd March 2006 at Citilodge, Nottingham
Training Material and Presentations from the conference: Sustainable Futures