The most useful resources on commissioning and procurement

Commissioning, procurement and how accessible public sector contract opportunities are to voluntary sector organisations will always be a considerable issue. It’s one that isn’t short of people’s time, thoughts and efforts – either in the past, present or future.

Such efforts tend to fall into one of 3 categories:

1. Resources that support voluntary sector organisations to be better at responding to procurement / tendering opportunities (toolkits, masterclasses, training courses etc.)
2. Resources that support commissioners to make procurement and tendering more accessible for voluntary sector organisations (example policies, legislative or regulatory incentives etc.)
3. Examples of where efforts have worked in practice (case studies, events etc.)

It wouldn’t be an exaggeration to say there are hundreds of publications dedicated to this topic. This post very briefly notes some of the most useful resources on commissioning and procurement that already exist or are on their way in each of the above, particularly for disabled people’s user-led organisations.

Resources that support voluntary sector organisations / DPULOs

• NCVO – Commissioning and procurement guide
• Institute of Public Finance / NCVO – Guide to procurement and contracting (pdf)
• NAVCA – Local commissioning and procurement unit
• NAVCA – Commissioning and procurement resources
• NAVCA – Commissioning and procurement training
• ACEVO – Procurement and commissioning publications and factsheets
• NCVO – Before signing on the dotted line… all you need to know about procuring public sector contracts
• Disability LIB – Funding, tendering and commissioning
• Cabinet Office – Voluntary sector masterclasses (announced)

Resources that support commissioners

• SCIE’s Commissioning toolkit – A commissioner’s guide to developing and sustaining user-led organisations
• SCIE – brief guide to commissioning to develop and sustain user-led organisations
• NCVO – Third sector commissioning guide: a checklist to intelligent commissioning and bidding (pdf)
• OPM / Commissioning Support Programme – Learning from the Commissioning Support Programme (pdf)
• Commissioning Support Programme – In-depth commissioning publications
• Mutuals Advice Service – Commissioner support
• Enabling DPULO contributions through commissioning

Practical case studies

• NCVO – Best practice case studies
• NAVCA – Commissioning and procurement case studies
• ACEVO – Procurement and commissioning case studies
• National Skills Academy for Social Care – User-Led Organisations and Commissioning: 18 good practice learning resources  (pdf)
• See also Compact Voice

By definition, this post hasn’t tried to capture all resources on commissioning and procurement. However, if there are particularly good resources that aren’t included in the above please do let me know in the comments below or via Twitter (@rich_w).

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Strengthening DPULOs Programme monthly update, no.9 (October 2012) #dpulo

This is the ninth monthly update about the Strengthening DPULOs Programme, which aims to ensure DPULOs can provide a strong voice for disabled people by being more sustainable. You can find all 8 of the previous updates here.

There has been so much useful information published this month that this update is a bumper edition of useful links and resources. A special edition of the update – with some good news about the Strengthening DPULOs Programme and about our work with partners on Healthwatch – will follow very soon.

Useful resources

One key part of the Strengthening DPULOs Programme is to share learning and useful resources. Our bumper edition of useful links and resources is below:

• Big Lottery Fund has launched a new £65m funding stream for frontline advice services
• Healthwatch and DPULOs: a big opportunity
• On the same topic, a spreadsheet with information on all local Healthwatch contracts we know about (please feel free to update this)
• The Equality and Human Rights Commission has published its “Manifesto for Change” to tackle disability hate crime
• On a similar topic, some incredibly useful statistics on disability hate crime from True Vision
• 3 steps to Making It Real for DPULOs
• DPULOs are central in new guidance published by Skills for Care to support people when they employ their own Personal Assistants
• Doing Services Differently: a report from New Economics Foundation on innovation in services for disabled people, including the role of DPULOs
• Mapping and analysing the DPULO sector: what should we look for?
• A presentation on DPULOs at the social care NCASC conference, in partnership with Research in Practice for Adults
• All of Research in Practice for Adults resources on DPULOs in one place
•  “About that first tweet”: a useful guide to people and organisations considering getting started in social media
• “Why Social Enterprise?” A useful guide for charities from Social Enterprise UK
• The Office for Disability Issues has published a guide for businesses on how to grow their customer base to include disabled people
• Myths and misconceptions about charity “lobbying” (from NCVO)
• 5 expert tips on how to create an effective campaign (from Third Sector)
• 78% of people think the media should do more to promote disabled people as positive role models in society
• Minister for Disabled People, Esther McVey MP, meeting with Paralympian gold medallist Sophie Christiansen at a DPULO celebration event hosted by Redbridge Centre for Independent and Inclusive Living:
• Opportunities are available for people to work with judges to ensure the right decisions are made in benefit appeals cases involving disability
• Funding Central is a free funding database that any DPULO can use to find out what funding is available
• The Government publishes every contract opportunity over £10,000 on Contracts Finder

If you have any learning or resources you’d like to share or have any resources you’d particularly like, please let us know (contact details are at the bottom of this update).

Find out more about the Programme

To find out more about the Strengthening DPULOs Programme, you can visit our website.

We have 193 “likes” on our Facebook page. If you are on Facebook, can you help us get to over 200? We regularly update the page with lots of information you will hopefully find useful, plus news from other DPULOs: www.facebook.com/dpulos

If you are on Twitter, you can share information and find out more about DPULOs using the hashtag #dpulo.

As always, we’d be grateful if you can spread the word and publicise this news throughout your networks / newsletters / websites etc. We’d also be grateful for any feedback you have on this regular email.

Contact us

For information, biographies, contact details and details of the areas covered by each of the DPULO Ambassadors covers, please visit the Ambassadors page.

If you have any questions about the Facilitation Fund or any part Strengthening DPULOs Programme, please contact odi.businessperformance@dwp.gsi.gov.uk

Please feel free to forward this information on to any DPULOs, networks or stakeholders you think might find it interesting. If you didn’t receive the original email, please share your contact details with us so you can receive our monthly emails.