Get ready for that local

authority contract:

Summary report
February 2008
Finance Hub
c/o Charities Aid Foundation
St Andrew's House
18-20 St Andrew Street
London
EC4A 3AY
E-mail: financehub@cafonline.org
Tel: 020 7832 3016
Web: www.financehub.org.uk

SCEDU
53 Mowbray Street
Sheffield
S3 8EN
E-mail: sdt@scedu.org.uk
Tel: 0114 281 4168
Web: www.scedu.org.uk

Pelican
Consult Pelican LLP
101 Avondale Road
Wavertree
Liverpool
L15 3HF
E-mail: info@consultpelican.co.uk
Web: http://www.consultpelican.co.uk
Introduction
The “Get Ready for that Local
Authority Contract” work was
undertaken by SCEDU and partner
Pelican between September 2007 and
February 2008 for the Finance Hub.
The work has produced materials
aimed at providing front line third
sector organisations with information
to help them become ready to tender
for public sector contracts (if that is
their desired route).
The work produced showcases
examples of existing organisations
involved in public sector contracting,
and provides an opportunity for
organisations to learn from these and
glimpse what is possible.
A benchmarking process has drawn
out characteristics of success from a
sample range of third sector
organisations supplying the public
sector. These are illustrated by case
studies of organisations that have
gone through the process of getting
ready and are now supply services to
the public sector. In some cases this
includes a range of services under
several contracts to customers spread
across the country. In other cases it
includes only one or two small and
shorter contracts to a distinct
community. Some organisations have
a longer trading history than others but
all started out somewhere and had the
desire for growth that has brought
them to their current level.
To grow by delivering public sector
contracts the organisations have
invariably embraced an enterprising
and flexible culture to spot
opportunities, promote and sell their
services, and have efficiently
managed the tendering process.
Little direct correlation between public
sector contracting and floor targets
was uncovered. Despite large
changes being in the pipeline
3
following 2007’s comprehensive
spending review and disparate pieces
of work on social clauses and
measuring social impact, there appear
to be different approaches used by
different public sector departments
buying in services.
It is wise to highlight that organisations
were focussed on delivering what their
customers want and not
predominantly caught up in trying to
demonstrate their social impact. The
case studies emphasise the
importance of competing as
sustainable businesses, submitting
good tender responses and delivering
contract requirements.
The Finance Hub’s strategic outcome
1 aims for “VCOs to understand how
they can grow and diversify income.”
This project responds to the need to
raise awareness of and planning for
rapidly changing opportunities for
smaller voluntary and community
organisations and social enterprise.
What
The Get Ready for that local authority
contract has produced the following
documents:
Summary report
This document
Benchmarks of success
The findings of a benchmarking
process into the characteristics of
successful third sector organisations
that supply the public sector. The
benchmarks provide a useful picture of
areas to address for organisations that
want to ‘get ready’, and provides
useful links to other materials and
resources.
Case studies of third sector
organisations supplying to the public
sector
Twelve case studies showing
examples of organisations that have
gone through the process of being
ready for contracts and successfully
tendered for and delivered public
sector contracts.
Achieving more than just financial
impact and success
A report looking at the role of floor
targets in the contracting process and
the possibility of establishing a
‘national measure of success’ for
service delivery to take account of not
just financial impacts and successes.
How
Third sector organisations from across
England were contacted to develop
the case studies and draw out
information to provide raw data for the
benchmarking process and the report
on floor targets. An online survey was
conducted and consultation and
feedback was sought on draft work.
Work was trialled on the weblog
http://contracting.wordpress.com as it
was produced.
Recommendations to front line
organisations
Learning from other people’s
successes and failures can help you,
as a front line organisation, avoid
similar situations and learn from what
works. The case studies show that
organisations and individuals also
learn from experience by trying new
ventures, experimentation and trial
and error.
If you work for, are involved with or
lead a third sector organisation
following the benchmarks of success
will give you an idea of how your
organisation shapes up compared to
others.
The document provides links to other
resources to help with each specific
benchmark.
4
General recommendations
• The benchmarks are intended
as a general overview as each
individual organisation will
have distinct circumstances
and thus should plan their
approach carefully.
• Benchmarking as a concept
and a mechanism is still in its
infancy in the third sector,
despite longer use elsewhere.
Further detailed work into key
factors that enable success
would provide more valuable
information to funders of
support services, and
commissioners designing
contracts.
• Ascertain the value of the
benchmarks in practice with a
pilot study of organisations.
• Raise the profile and
disseminate the findings further
to government bodies, media,
policy makers, third sector
organisations and public sector
so that the findings will have a
life beyond that of the project
and avoid future duplication.
The dissemination event held
in Sheffield, and subsequent
requests for information, show
an appetite from around the
country for this work.
• Undertake a comparative study
with a benchmarking process
of private sector contractors.
• A long-term recommendation
would be to develop a training
and support package to help
third sector organisations learn
about and adopt the
benchmarks to aid ‘contract
readiness’.
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