MaPS - Strategic Evaluation Partner 2025

Description

MaPS wishes to appoint a Strategic Evaluation Partner (please refer to section 11.2.4 of this notice for more information on this requirement). MaPS are looking to run a procurement exercise via the Crown Commercial Service Framework named Research and Insights (framework reference RM6126). Please see the following link to the framework: https://www.crowncommercial.gov.uk/agreements/RM6126 If you are interested in bidding for this contract and are not currently a registered supplier on this framework, then please request additional information via email: commercial@maps.org.uk (placing SEP in the header). Suppliers who are not currently on Framework RM6126 may also wish to consider collaborating with the suppliers who are already on this framework. MaPS are holding a supplier engagement event on the 11th July 2024 between 11am - 12noon via a Webinar (please refer to section 11.2.14 of this notice for details on how to register for this session). Lot 1: 1. Introduction: Money and Pensions Service We are an arm's-length body, sponsored by the Department for Work and Pensions, with a joint commitment to ensuring that people throughout the UK have guidance and access to the information they need to make effective financial decisions over their lifetime. We deliver this across five core functions. We are funded by levies on both the financial services industry and pension schemes. More information about MaPS can be found on our website, including our research pages where we publish the reports from all our evaluation studies See: www.maps.org.uk/category/research 2. Background: Evaluation at MaPS One of MaPS' five organisational 'Principles and Values' is that we are evidence-led. We invest in the creation of robust evaluation evidence so that we can improve the reach and effectiveness of our services, support the design and development of new initiatives, and identify what works best to improve people's financial wellbeing. Our starting points for any evaluation we carry out are: • That we reflect the guidance set out in HM Treasury's Magenta Book. • That we use the principles set out in our Evaluation Toolkit as far as possible - leaning towards a Theory-based, 'Realist' approach that helps us understand what works and how, for who and in what circumstances. See: http://www.fincap.org.uk/en/articles/evaluation-toolkit-overview • That we use our outcomes frameworks when measuring financial wellbeing outcomes. See: https://www.fincap.org.uk/en/articles/outcomes-frameworks-and-question-banks • And, that we are proportionate in our choice of methods, something we explored in a joint publication with New Philanthropy Capital, 'Balancing Act: A Guide to Proportionate Evaluation', which is part of our Evaluation Toolkit. See: http://www.thinknpc.org/resource-hub/balancing-act-a-guide-to-proportionate-evaluation/ As well as using evidence to improve our own services, we share what we learn for the benefit of others - so they can be clear about what works to improve people's financial wellbeing and can use that evidence to inform their work. 3. The requirement We are seeking a Strategic Evaluation Partner (SEP) to deliver multiple evaluations for MaPS, on a call-off contract between January/February 2025 until March 2028. We expect the SEP to carry out most or all of our evaluation work, which we envisage being between three and six evaluations per year, with a range of length, methods, scope and complexity - plus a number of smaller projects including scoping studies and literature and evidence reviews. We have described the range of evaluations we might commission in paragraph 4, to give a sense of the work that the Strategic Evaluation Partner might undertake. By commissioning a SEP, we hope to carry out our programme of evaluation with greater agility - enabling us to begin evaluations more quickly, or earlier in the programme development cycle. We want the SEP to improve consistency across the evaluations we conduct and to support the strategic building of evidence across multiple projects that they deliver. We want a close, ongoing relationship with the SEP to help us raise the quality of our evaluation work and we want the SEP to be a proactive partner in helping us to think about how we do this - challenging us to achieve the best possible evaluation quality and helping us to identify ways to improve key resources such as our Evaluation Toolkit and Evidence Hub. 4. Evaluation at the Money and Pensions Service: One of MaPS' organisational 'Principles and Values' is to be evidence-led. We invest in the creation of evaluation evidence so that we can improve the reach and effectiveness of our services, support the design and development of new initiatives, and identify what works best to improve people's financial wellbeing. We also share what we learn with others - so they can understand what works to improve people's financial wellbeing and use that evidence to inform their work. We could divide our evaluation work into two broad categories: 1. Evaluating our own services: helping us to understand how our services work, where they can be improved, and the outcomes and impact they achieve. 2. Evaluating funded pilot and pathfinder projects: to build our evidence base, including pilots to test new interventions, and 'pathfinders' to test at greater scale or in different contexts. The types of evaluation we commission range in purpose, method and complexity, for example: • Experimental and Quasi-Experimental Trials: Pension\ Wise: Stronger Nudge: a randomised control trial to understand the impact of a pilot, and therefore suitability for national rollout. Talk Learn Do evaluation: a financial capability intervention for parents: a quasi-experimental trial to understand the impact and processes of the Talk Learn Do (TLD) intervention, providing the basis for subsequent pathfinder projects exploring how to embed and scale TLD. See: http://www.maps.org.uk/2020/07/16/pension-wise-the-stronger-nudge/ See: https://maps.org.uk/en/our-work/talk-learn-do#Evaluation-of-Talk-Learn-Do • 'Pathfinder' evaluations: The Savings & Credit Pathfinders Programme, Embedding Talk Learn Do in Wales, Teacher Training Pathfinder in Wales. These projects tested promising evidence from earlier studies, or in different contexts. They typically involved outcomes measurement plus process evaluation to help us understand engagement, or how to embed interventions in existing structures and services. See: http://www.maps.org.uk/2021/06/17/the-savings-and-credit-pathfinder-programme-evaluation-report/ See:http://www.maps.org.uk/2020/12/17/talk-learn-do-evaluation-in-wales/ See:http://www.maps.org.uk/2022/05/11/financial-education-professional-learning-for-teachers-in-wales-pathfinder-evaluation/ • Pilot evaluations: The Children & Young People Innovation and Evaluation Programme funded seven interventions that were either brand new, or existing but not yet evaluated, to fill gaps in our knowledge. The evaluations focused on intervention development and processes, with light-touch outcomes measurement. Prize-Linked Savings and Smarter Signposting to Pensions Guidance were funded through our Financial Capability Lab, a multi-year partnership with the Behavioural Insights Team to test innovative ideas to improve financial wellbeing. See:http://www.maps.org.uk/2022/03/11/children-and-young-people-innovation-programme-evaluation/ See: http://www.maps.org.uk/2022/06/15/developing-saving-habits-through-prize-linked-savings-accounts/ See: http://www.maps.org.uk/2021/12/03/smarter-signposting-to-pensions-guidance/ • MaPS programme evaluations: Money Guiders pilot programme evaluation is a process evaluation of a MaPS service pilot, aiming to tell us how different programme components were working and engaging with the target group of money guidance practitioners, with agile 'real-time' learning to enable us to adjust the pilot as it was running. See: http://www.maps.org.uk/2022/01/26/money-guiders-programme-evaluation-headline-report/ 5. Timings We intend to publish the Invitation to Quote in September 2024 . We expect the SEP to be on board in January or February 2025 until March 2028. Additional information: SUPPLIER ENGAGEMENT SESSION MaPS is holding a supplier engagement webinar event on Thursday 11th July 2024 between 11am - 12noon via MS Teams. To attend this event; please register using the following link: https://events.teams.microsoft.com/event/82dc50c8-24aa-40ab-87e9-6bc6706cd094@bbe41032-8fce-4d42-bab5-44e21510886d Many thanks