Skills Bootcamps - CN240143

Skills Bootcamps seek to unlock UK economic growth by improving the pipeline of intermediate and higher-level skills among adults (19+), particularly in priority sectors such as digital, construction and green skills. Courses are designed to increase participation in adult training, especially those wishing to retrain or upskill, and employer engagement is intrinsic to delivery.

Skills Bootcamps are free, flexible courses of up to 16 weeks in sectors

where there are evidenced skills gaps nationally or locally. Kent County Council therefore intends to commission this type of provision for 2025/2026 and beyond. The provision will focus on the areas with skill gaps which require training interventions to meet the sector suitability assessment criteria.

Furthermore, due to changes in procurement regulations moving from Public Contract Regulations (2015) to the Procurement Act 2023, the Council wants to conduct market engagement to raise awareness of the implications of the changes in these regulations and to further determine the most appropriate service model for this provision.

As part of Kent County Council’s commitment to fairness, openness and transparency the Prior Information Notice (PIN) is issued solely for the purpose of conducting pre procurement market testing with the following aims:

• To develop a suitable delivery model.
• To understand the market and readiness to deliver Skills Bootcamps across Kent.
• To explore the most viable commissioning approach to deliver Skills Bootcamps.

As part of this process workshops are available to interested providers, with two time slots available. To register an interest in this opportunity providers must submit an ‘Expression of Interest’ (EOI) through the Kent Business Portal and send a message through the messaging function with their preference for a time slot.

These workshops will be delivered via Microsoft Teams and will last for 1.5 hours.

They are scheduled on the following dates:

Wednesday 12th February 2025: 14:30 to 16:00

Friday 14th February 2025: 09:00 to 10:30

Please note that feedback from the workshops will be shared with every provider who has expressed an interest, and this information will be made available to all bidders in any future tender.

Please be aware that Expressions of Interest must be received by Tuesday 11th February 2025 @ 2pm, and all responses will need to be submitted via the Kent Business Portal by this time.