Public procurement notice: Contract Award Notice
Published: 2021-01-26
Buyer: Infrastructure and Projects Authority (IPA) and Crown Commercial Services (CCS) acting as it’s agent
Country: UK
Contract type: Services
Procedure: Open procedure
CPV classification: 72000000 | 72220000: Systems and technical consultancy services | 75000000 | 75121000 | 80000000
Estimated value: 22500000 GBP
Award criteria: The most economic tender

Technical requirements: IPA has formally undertaken the re-procurement of the project leadership programme, a development programme run for project leaders in government.
Government projects are complex and delivered under intense political and public scrutiny, often in volatile and uncertain contexts. They can be of significant scale and uniqueness. Of critical importance to the IPA is to build project delivery capability through enhancing project leadership.
The IPA has established 2 key project leadership development programmes, one of which is the Project Leadership Programme (PLP).
The programme has enrolled since inception over 1000 leaders from across 30 different government departments and currently delivers up to 6 cohorts a year of between 30-50 participants per cohort.
The current PLP is based on three key leadership competencies: leadership of self, commercial leadership and technical project leadership. Its content combines expert academic theory with practical hands-on learning. Its format currently includes 4 residential modules, elective classes, coaching and online tools such as bespoke 360
The value provided in Section II.1.7) is only an estimate. We cannot guarantee to suppliers any business through this commercial agreement.
3) Customer list on 2 April 2014 Government introduced its Government Security Classifications (GSC) scheme which replaced Government Protective Marking Scheme (GPMS). A key aspect is the reduction in the number of security classifications used. All bidders were required to make themselves aware of the changes as it may impact this requirement.
This link provides information on the GSC at: https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/government-security-Classifications
Cyber Essentials is a mandatory requirement for Central Government contracts which involve handling personal information or provide certain ICT products/services. Government is taking steps to reduce the levels of cyber security risk in its supply chain through the Cyber Essentials scheme. The scheme defines a set of controls which, when implemented, will provide organisations with basic protection from the most prevalent forms of threat coming from the internet. To participate in this procurement, bidders were required to demonstrate they comply with the technical requirements prescribed by Cyber Essentials, for services under and in connection with this procurement.
1) The Covid-19 outbreak is a Public Health Emergency of International Concern as declared by the World Health Organisation on 30 January 2020. The WHO Director-General characterised Covid-19 as a pandemic on 11 March 2020. As of 6 April 2020, scientific knowledge regarding the disease and its transmission was still emerging, however the WHO advised that Covid-19 transmission can occur via ‘infective respiratory droplets’ and wearing a mask represented one prevention measure that can limit the spread of viral diseases such as Covid-19.
2) In April 2020 the UK did not possess any face covering manufacturing capability and was reliant on securing supplies from overseas producers. Problems were experienced in obtaining reliable supplies of medical PPE-grade masks in a global market due to increased global demand and the disruption to the supply chain caused by the pandemic. There was a concern that insufficient volumes of non-medical masks would become available or, if available, they would be of inferior quality or charged at exorbitant prices.
3) In May 2020 Cabinet Office (CO) considered it crucial in the public interest to source initial supplies of face covering raw materials as part of a wider face coverings programme in order to secure the UK’s domestic manufacturing capacity to:
(b) create an immediate and reliable supply of high-quality non-medical face coverings at affordable prices for the domestic market; and
This was because in April 2020 there was a considerable shortage of medical and non-medical PPE globally, there was real fear that items available would be impounded at borders so domestic production was urgently required to mitigate the impact of Covid-19.
4) In May 2020 CO purchased 10 non-automated production machinery lines (see CAN 141-348171). This was followed later by the purchase of automated production machinery lines (see CAN 2020-S/1430352966). In light of the urgent requirement to place the machinery with identified producers as soon as practicable and to commence their prompt operation, the CO also procured 13 weeks’ supply of the necessary raw materials to enable the immediate domestic production of non-medical face coverings. Due to the heightened international demand for raw materials utilised in the production of face masks/coverings, the long lead times, and the price volatility in the global market due to Covid-19, the CO procured the raw materials in order for them to be immediately available to the domestic producers. Waiting for the identified producers to be appointed and then for them to procure the raw materials individually would have caused delays of up to a month to the production commencement date, which would have severely impacted HMG’s effort to stimulate the urgent production of face coverings for the domestic market.


Winner: Cranfield Management Development Ltd
Award value: 22500000
Number of bids: 5