Subcontract requirement for the delivery of Adult Skills Funding (Adult Skills Core non-devolved only) provision on behalf of South Hampshire College Group 2025/2026

South Hampshire College Group - Adult Skills Funding Subcontractor Procurement (Adult Skills Core non-devolved only)

We are pleased to confirm the start of our open procurement for the period November 2025 through to July 2026. Our approach is aligned with the Department for Education's subcontracting requirements and follows the light-touch regime outlined in the Procurement Act 2023. Contracts will cover the academic year 2025/26 only.

Our priority focus is on delivery to local leaners within Hampshire and the Isle of Wight where provision does not duplicate any existing College delivery. Any duplicated provision offered within this region will not be considered. As a secondary focus we will consider delivery in neighbouring counties (Dorset, Wiltshire, Berkshire, Surrey and Sussex) where it is to learners with home postcodes close to the Hampshire County boundary. The College will consider provision that duplicates existing College delivery within those neighbouring counties.

The College will not consider standalone delivery of maths or English qualifications.

Provision should be wholly aligned to the following Sector Subject Area's, with those sectors identified as a high priority to the College in the tender documents being scored more favourably:

• Accounting & finance
• Administration
• Animal care and veterinary science
• Building & construction (high priority)
• Business management
• Child development & wellbeing (high priority)
• Crafts, creative arts & designs (high priority)
• Digital technology (practitioners) (high priority)
• Digital technology (users) (high priority)
• Engineering
• Environmental conservation
• Foundations for learning & life
• Health & social care (high priority)
• Horticulture and forestry
• Hospitality & catering
• Law & legal services
• Manufacturing technologies
• Marketing & Sales
• Media & communications
• Nursing and subjects and vocations allied to medicine
• Performing arts
• Preparation for work (high priority)
• Public services
• Retailing and wholesaling
• Science
• Sport, leisure and recreation
• Teaching and lecturing
• Transportation operations and maintenance (aviation, maritime and rail focused only) (high priority)
• Travel and tourism
• Warehousing and distribution (high priority)
• English, English as a second language or maths only where this provision is offered as a secondary qualification alongside any of the provision listed above

The College is seeking to procure up to four suitable training providers to deliver non-devolved Adult Skills Core funded training in line with our subcontracting policy and the Department for Educations published guidance.

The maximum aggregate value of funds available will be up to £624,000 for the 2025/26 academic year in line with the timings stipulated in our Department for Education allocation breakdown (August-March and April-July).

The timeline for the procurement is as follows:

• 8th September 2025: Procurement Launch at 9:00am
• 19th September 2025: Closing date for PSQ/EOI and Due Diligence Check List returns. All submissions must be received no later than 5pm.
• 22nd September to 26th September 2025: Initial shortlisting and scoring.
• 26th September 2025: Outcome of initial shortlisting and scoring to be confirmed. Up to 8 organisations will be shortlisted to progress to the next stage of the procurement.
• 29th September to 17th October 2025: Interview Panels, Due Diligence documents and financial health scoring.
• 20th October to 23rd October 2025: Final Shortlisting and scoring
• 24th October: Procurement Conclusion and awards.
• 27th October to 5th November 2025: Standstill (8 working days)
• 10th November 2025: Contracts issued electronically for signing
• 11th November 2025: Contracts start date for 2025/26

Key procurement requirements

• We are only seeking to subcontract provision that is wholly aligned to the Sector Subject Areas (SSA's) stated above. Procurement submissions for subject areas outside of our stated specialism will be excluded and not scored.
• Providers with a current full inspection outcome of 'outstanding' or 'good' will score higher.
• Monitoring visit judgements of 'reasonable' and 'significant' progress will also score positively.
• We will consider training providers with no standing Ofsted grade.
• Providers whose most recent full inspection outcome is 'inadequate' or whose most recent monitoring visit report includes one or more 'insufficient progress' judgments will be excluded from this procurement process.
• Though Hampshire and the Isle of Wight are our key target areas for delivery and will score more favourably than provision outside of these geographic areas, procurement submissions for provision to be delivered in our neighbouring counties (Dorset, Wiltshire, Berkshire, Surrey and Sussex) will also be considered. Provision delivered beyond those counties will not be considered. Provision delivered within neighbouring counties must be to learners with home postcodes close to the border with Hampshire.
• The College will retain 20% of the funding drawn down against the provision to be delivered. This figure represents the total cost that the College incurs in effectively identifying, selecting and managing all subcontracted provision. This figure also includes the minimum amount of quality management that the college would attach to the lowest possible risk subcontractor. Our intent is to only collaborate with the best training providers who share our commitment to excellence, and whose curriculum is aligned to the stated Sectors Subject Areas (SSA's) and regional demands.
• However, contracts will have a clause that will allow us to increase the level of funding retained should our costs increase due to subcontractor underperformance. This fee increase will be a result of subcontractor underperformance which will result in a formal notice to improve (NTI) being issued. An NTI will trigger College intervention which will increase our expected costs of managing the contract.
• Successful organisations will be required to spend their allocation in prescribed stages across the academic year, while adhering to targets in both spend and learner recruitment numbers.
• The College expects that all learners funded via a subcontract will have started their learning no later than June 30th 2026.
• The College will not be procuring for Tailored Learning, funding for innovative provisions or Free courses for jobs (FCFJ). This procurement is for Adult Skills Core provision only.
• Successful organisations will need to evidence a commitment to equality, diversity and inclusion.
• Successful organisations will need to evidence a commitment to environmental sustainability and carbon reduction.