Thursday, 25 November 2010
ERSS Framework
The DWP has issued the list or organisations that have been selected as preferred suppliers for the Employment Related Support Services Framework. There are 11 "lots" or different areas of the country, and A4e is included in 7 of them. But there are between 9 and 17 organisations selected in each area. You can find the full list here. There's a useful description of what it all means on the Navca site. The DWP says that, "The Work Programme will be the first contract to be called off the Framework and the procurement exercise for this will commence shortly." It looks very much like contracts have been shared out amongst the main established companies; Serco, JHP, Working Links, Seetec and Reed all have 7, and Avanta has 6.
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I think 7 was the maximum allowed by DWP-so a bit of a result for a4e(and others)-considering the performance results from fND
ReplyDeleteIs there any truth in the rumour that DWP only want to contract with 20 primes in total across all of the 11 CPA's though?
I don't know that they've ever given a figure, but they've made it plain that the primes have to be the big companies which can raise the finance up front, so that does limit it.
ReplyDeleteI don't think they would ever say officially-but I have been told this by staff from 2 potential primes- (both now on the framework) -if it was true(and driven by financial capability) then the guys with 5/6/7 cpa's(14 by my count) are a shue in!- i was kinda hoping for some new blood-but maybe not!
ReplyDeleteAs long as the taxpayer isn't expected to fund this cobbled together Work Programme that in itself is progress of a sort.
ReplyDeleteI'll stick my neck out and predict the Work Pogramme, will appear later than scheduled, be on a much smaller scale both geographically and by number of particpants, and be short lived.
Interesting to look through the lists, it is noticeable that non of the semi-public bodies, such as FE Colleges got though, I had thought that this might be the case as if a College goes down its the Governments problem not the banks. The only exception to this Newcastle College Group, which has an arm’s length private training provider, the rump of Carter and Carter. Remember them? It’s a carve up as you rightly say.
ReplyDeleteAs to the West Midlands, the announcement exposes as a lie any commitment the coalition has to third or voluntary sector engagement, or local knowledge or commitment. The existing providers who survived have not excelled in involving local organisations or in showing any understanding of local issues. The general view when I phoned round a number of voluntary and community organisations and talked about the fifteen who have got through on the framework was 'Who the f—k are they?' and the rather nice term 'parasites on parachutes'.
I value your comment, RichardT, but can you please avoid sentences like your last.
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