SE1161 Place National Evaluation and Learning Partner

Sport England is providing prior notice to interested suppliers on the forthcoming Place National Evaluation and Learning Partner procurement. The contract value is estimated at up to £3.4m over 4 years. The procurement will go live at the beginning of May 2024, with the intention to award the contract to the winning supplier - or consortium of suppliers - during October 2024.

On the 16th April 2024, we would like to invite interested organisations to attend an online session to hear about, discuss and inform the Place National Evaluation and Learning Partner procurement. This is for our £250m investment into Place Expansion across England. More information regarding Sport England's Place Expansion can be found here: https://www.sportengland.org/funds-and-campaigns/place-partnerships

Sport England is committed to high quality, relevant, and rigorous, evaluation which is inclusive and accessible, integrated as part of the work, and facilitates learning and action to improve. We are looking for a National Evaluation and Learning Partner who can enable the places we directly invest in, or organisations who access supports from the Universal Offer, and for colleagues internally, to feel equipped, comfortable, and confident, in:

1. Whole-system and place-based approaches to physical activity
2. Ways of evaluating and evidencing whole-system and place-based approaches to physical activity, which correspond with key principles.
3. Using evaluation and learning to facilitate collective sense-making and action.
4. Understanding, explaining, and presenting progress and impact.

We are also looking for a Place National Evaluation and Learning Partner who can:

1. Iteratively update and build on the knowledge and understanding of whole-systems and place-based approaches so far, through different types of data and sources of data.
2. Produce and facilitate sense-making of findings and learning in relation to key topics, specific outcome pathways, and in contributing to the four strategic aims of Uniting the Movement.

This will be guided by the implementation of Sport England's Place Evaluation and Learning Approach which will be shared during the Supplier Market Engagement session and specified within the Invitation To Tender documentation.

Further information on Sport England's Evaluation and Learning Approach for Uniting the Movement can be found here: https://www.sportengland.org/guidance-and-support/evaluation-and-learning.

The procurement of the Place National Evaluation and Learning Partner builds on our current place evaluation and learning work, and will sit alongside our existing System Partner Evaluation (SE1061) and Learning contract and the Open Funding Evaluation and Learning (SE1157) opportunity that is due to be published in March 2024. Together, these contracts will form three pillars of evaluation across all the main Sport England funding streams.

Additional information: Interested suppliers can book to attend an open webinar with the Sport England Place Evaluation and Learning Working Group, taking place on 10am on Tuesday 16th April 2024 over MS Teams.

This will be an opportunity for you to find out more about the forthcoming procurement, provide feedback and ask questions about the work. A registration link is provided on this notice.

We are also opening up the opportunity for 1:1 conversation with colleagues from Sport England Place Evaluation and Learning Working Group regarding this procurement.

These 30-minute slots are available on a first-come, first-served basis. This is an opportunity to discuss project specifics, ask further questions, and explore any other relevant topics. A booking link is provided on this notice. If no slots are available, all sessions are booked.

Slides from the webinar, alongside Q&A from both the webinar and individual conversations will be attached to this notice once complete.

Update 25th April 2024 - notice updated to include the slides and Q&A from the session.