Procurement Process for Inspired Programme

Delivering projects under the Inspired programme of Places People Play is different to the normal approach taken in delivering Lottery Funded projects. There is no requirement to develop a project through feasibility or outline planning permission prior to submission to Sport England for consideration of an Award. Therefore, should the project be rejected at this stage, the Applicant will not have incurred potentially abortive costs, which could have put a further strain on the club’s limited funds.

Below is the summary of the process. Find out more about the Inspired programme, catalogue and funding.

In order for a prospective Client/Applicant to formulate their proposals to Sport England under the Inspired Programme, a simple web based 'catalogue' has been prepared to guide Applicants through the process.

This catalogue allows an estimate of the works required to be prepared quickly and efficiently. Clearly such would include a number of assumptions, but allows a prima facie opinion to be made on whether or not an idea is viable.

Sport England then reviews the application and where Sport England offers a Conditional Award to the Applicant to proceed with the project, the process incorporated within the frameworks requires a feasibility study to be prepared within 28 days of Lottery Applicants signing up to their “Conditional Award” letter to Sport England.

Sport England Technical Team considers each project and advises the most appropriate Contractor (Framework Provider) on a “direct” basis ie without entering any further mini competition / tender thereby reducing timescales, paperwork and tendering costs, unless by exception the Applicant already has a professional team on board capable of delivering the project. Sport England may review the ability of the Applicant’s proposed “professional team” to ensure suitability, as often club members may not be appropriate to lead the project but can offer support to the project delivery therein..

The Contractor appointed, will cast an expert eye over the project specifics, meet the Applicant on site and re-assess the costs and areas of risk, etc. The Contractor prepares a detailed feasibility report highlighting any issues, risks, deliverability within budget, the need for statutory compliance etc.

This report is submitted to Sport England the Applicant for review and, should the project still be viable, funding is made available to allow the project to proceed through the detailed design and planning application stages. Once the design and final costs have been established and planning approval obtained, final approval is sought to construct the works. This 'gateway' process allows the project to be de-risked throughout and also enables the funder to re-consider the business case viability at two key stages in the pre-construction phase.

Dependent on the nature of each project the above processes can merge, be altered to meet the project specifics as no one process can fit all project types.

There is no subsequent requirement for further tendering, “dutch auctioning” or similar procedures by Applicants.

Further detail of each Framework’s scope/process is detailed within each Framework Agreement main page.

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