UK SBS BLOJEU-CR17100OME Barriers to application for judicial appointment

The final date and time for the submission of bids is 31 /08/2017 at 14:00 - DO NOT apply directly to the buyer.

The Senior Salaries Review Body (SSRB) is undertaking a Major Review of the judicial salary structure (the Major Review) with the aim of submitting its advice to the Lord Chancellor by June 2018. Such reviews occur approximately every five years (the last was in 2010-11) to examine the suitability and soundness of the judicial pay system.

The endorsed terms of reference for the Major Review and the SSRB's terms of reference are at Annex A. The SSRB will consult with an Advisory and Evidence Group (AEG) comprising representatives of different levels and jurisdictions within the UK judiciary and other major stakeholders.

The purpose of this project is to provide the SSRB with qualitative information which, along with other data gathered by the SSRB outside of this project, will help the SSRB to understand the factors which influence recruitment to the judiciary. Specifically, this work will examine the reasons why some eligible people do not apply and enable a qualitative assessment as to how these factors might vary according to individual characteristics and experience and across the different levels of the judiciary.

This work is modelled on the methodology used in research commissioned in 2008 by the Judicial Executive Board, The attractiveness of senior judicial appointment to highly qualified practitioners .

The research would need to focus on potential candidates for the categories of the judiciary where individuals are generally appointed to the judiciary for the first time (High Court, Circuit Court, District Court and Lower Tribunal judges ) capturing reasons as to why they have not applied for salaried or fee-paid roles . Potential candidates would be identified according to criteria provided by the judicial appointments bodies for England and Wales, Northern Ireland and Scotland and in discussion with judges on the AEG as a starting point, followed by an element of "snowball" sampling (see below). A key challenge will be to identify potentially strong applicants (e.g. those who might meet quality thresholds set by the Judicial Appointments Commission (JAC) while not implying in any way that participation in the study is an informal signal that the individual should consider applying or that they would be successful if they did.

Please disregard any content in this notice that requests your organisation "to apply directly to the buyer" as this unfortunately a system generated error, that is outside of the Contracting Authorities control.

Additional information: DO NOT APPLY DIRECTLY TO BUYER

All submissions will be assessed in accordance with the Public Contracts Regulations 2015, for procurement values that exceed Regulation 5 (Threshold amounts)

Responses must be received by the date in the bid documents.

Responses received outside or concurrently using the eSourcing process will not be accepted or considered further for this opportunity.

Please disregard any content in this notice that requests your organisation "to apply directly to the buyer" as this unfortunately a system generated error, that is outside of the Contracting Authorities control

How to Register on the CCS eSourcing Suite

Full details of this opportunity can be found on the e-sourcing portal please follow instructions below. If you have not yet registered on the eSourcing Suite, this can be done online at https://gpsesourcing.cabinetoffice.gov.uk by following the link 'Register for CCS eSourcing'.

Please note that, to register, you must have a valid DUNS number (as provided by Dun and Bradstreet) for the organisation which you are registering, who will be entering into a contract if invited to do so.

Once you have registered on the eSourcing Suite, a registered user can express an interest for a specific procurement. This is done by emailing expressionofinterest@crowncommercial.gov.uk.

Your email must clearly state:

Crown Commercial Service will process the email and then enable the Bidder to access the procurement online via the e-Sourcing Suite. The registered user will receive a notification email to alert them once this has been done. The Sourcing documents can then be accessed on the eSourcing Suite at: https://gpsesourcing.cabinetoffice.gov.uk using the instructions detailed in the Specification documents within Contracts Finder.

As a user of the e-Sourcing Suite you will have access to Emptoris email messaging service which facilitates all messages sent to you and from you in relation to any specific RFX event.

Please note it is your responsibility to access these emails on a regular basis to ensure you have sight of all relevant information.

For technical assistance on use of the e-Sourcing Suite please contact Crown Commercial Service Helpdesk: Telephone: 0345 010 3503

Training documents to support Bidders to utilise Emptoris CCS eSourcing are available in the Contracts Finder Tender documents section.

How to Apply

As part of the strategic alliance between UK Shared Business Services Ltd (UK SBS) and Crown Commercial Service (CCS), UK SBS will be using the CCS eSourcing Suite for this procurement.

To register on the CCS eSourcing portal please follow the details contained within the Additional Information section of this notice.