Apprenticeship Training Providers DPS to go live 3rd April
LPP is building an Apprenticeship Training Providers Dynamic Purchasing System to support all public sector organisations to procure training providers under the new Apprenticeship Levy rules.
From 1st April 2017, all public sector organisations with a paybill of more than £3m will have 0.5 per cent of their pay bill deducted for the apprenticeship levy. Those organisations can then draw down from those funds from 1st May to pay for apprenticeship training.
Where provider training procurement exceeds the EU thresholds (currently £106,047), the procurement process must follow OJEU procurement rules - which is where the LPP Dynamic Purchasing System (DPS) provides an essential route to compliance for all public sector organisations. The DPS is due to go live on 3rd April 2017 - the PQQ and OJEU advertisement will be published week commencing 27th February. A link to the OJEU notice will be available on the LPP website as soon as it is available.
It will operate as a Dynamic Purchasing System instead of a traditional framework because, as LPP's Professional Services Senior Category Manager Laura Whitworth says, "A DPS is different to a traditional procurement ‘framework’ – it is a completely electronic system to enable a public sector organisation to purchase goods, works or services through an ‘open market’ of potential suppliers, and new potential suppliers can join at any time. Public sector organisations then undertake mini competitions to find the provider or providers from the DPS best suited to their needs. A mandatory criteria at mini competition stage will be registration on the Skills Funding Agency register (RoATP) which will be open to new applicants every three months.
"It will also be split into different categories of apprenticeship schemes and 13 regions, giving organisations easy access to appropriate local providers and flexibility in how they approach the market."
LPP will be hosting events in London for suppliers wishing to apply to join the DPS, on 8th, 13th and 14th March. Because of demand, places are limited to just ONE per organisation. To book a place, select and click on the preferred date:
LPP will be working with stakeholders to define the specification for mini competitions and will be holding workshops on Friday 24th and Monday 27th March. Any organisation wishing to take part on either of these dates should contact Laura Whitworth for further details: Laura Whitworth (laura.whitworth@lpp.nhs.uk.)