East Midlands EXPO SPECIFICATION WRITING AND ON LINE TOOL for 16 th October 2006

1. East Midlands EXPO SPECIFICATION WRITING AND ON LINE TOOLfor 16th October 2006

2. Contents • Background • Approach and Delivery • Demonstration of On Line Tool • Current Status • Case Study • Website Statistics • Questions

3. About La Gente • La Gente - Professional Services Firm established in 1999 • Learning & Development • Assessment & Development Centres • Executive and Management Coaching • Management Development • Bespoke Specialist Training • eLearning • Executive & Management Recruitment

4. Background • Northamptonshire CC (NCC) published a requirement for Specification Writing Training in relation to Community Benefits and for an Online Support Tool • The programme was sponsored collaboratively by NCC, South Kesteven District Council, Social Enterprise East Midlands and funded from the European Social Fund under the Equal Community Initiative Programme • PQQ in Sept 06 • Awarded Contract end Nov 2006 • Project Planning Dec 2006 • Training in Feb 2007 onwards • Website Live as of May 2007 • Framework Contract (open to all LAs) • Online Support Tool open to all LAs and all Public and Private Sector organisations (foc)

5. Approach and Delivery • Blended Learning Approach • Learning Days • Traditional learning method • Groups drawn from across participating organisations • Feed into platform • Case Study • Drawn from Learning days • Feed into platform • eLearning platform • Distance coach • Support and refresher for course delegates • Designed for use by new learners

6. Approach and Delivery Learning Days • What are Community Benefits (CBs - ESE)? Why are they important? • Are there any legal issues surrounding encouraging and measuring CBs? • How does this fit into specification writing, link to the procurement process and MEAT evaluation? • How can I engage with the 3rd Sector including SMEs, BMEs, Social Enterprises and Voluntary Organisations to maximise CBs, and what are the challenges? • How can I support the development of my existing and future Suppliers to achieve CBs? • I can see an opportunity where greater CBs could be delivered, but the current Supplier base is unable to support me, what should I do? • How does this fit into my Contract Management process?

7. Approach and Delivery Case Study • Worked example on the day • Delegates asked to chose a current or future Specification • La Gente provided a ‘Coach’ to work with the delegates on actual Specifications / Contract Management opportunities • Re-enforced the Learning Day • Deliver Results • Specific Stationery Case Study chosen to be uploaded on the eLearning platform • Think Act Be™ Methodology

8. Approach and Delivery eLearning Platform • 3 Online Courses • Course 1 - Understanding Community Benefits • Course 2 – Procurement (overview of procurement for those not involved day to day in procurement) • Course 3 – Achieving Community Benefits • Overview • Exercises • Online Journal • Case studies • Each course takes c. 1hr and you can revisit as many times as required http://www.specification-writing.info

9. Current Status Northants CC • Stationery Opportunity • Contract with Commercial • Plan to Upload this onto the Online Tool (next few weeks) Web site Stats • 59 registered users • 28 organisations (25 Public / 3 Private Sector)

10. Questions?? Think Act Be™