Competitive procurement of arts practitioners/arts organisations
In the delivery of Summer Arts Colleges, there is a requirement that a competitive procurement process is undertaken for the selection and commissioning of arts organisations and practitioners.
Competitive procurement is intended to obtain the best possible delivery of the services required. As Summer Arts Colleges seek to reach the highest standards, to ensure that young people are offered the best quality provision, it is important that all aspects of the planning and preparation for a Summer Arts College aspire to be the best possible. The procurement of arts organisations and practitioners who can contribute to this is critical.
An effective procurement process will therefore obtain:
- best quality of delivery
- best value for money (which does not necessarily mean the cheapest)
- transparency of proces.
The procurement process requires project managers to consider:
- what services are needed
- how they are to be delivered
- how providers will be selected.
The Youth Justice Board are keen to ensure that the principles of a competitive procurement process are adhered to in the selection and appointment of arts practitioners/organisations to work on Summer Arts Colleges.
All project managers must comply with the following:
All project managers must adhere to their local authority procurement process. To the extent that the requirements outlined in this document contradict or do not comply with any requirements for a fair procurement process implemented by the local authority, the local authority’s requirement(s) shall take precedence and the YOT Manager shall immediately notify Unitas of any discrepancy between Unitas’s and the local authority’s requirements (and provide Unitas with any further details it requires).
In addition, Unitas requires that:
- all contracts for delivery of arts activities are awarded through a properly conducted competitive procurement process
- a minimum of two arts organisations/practitioners’ applications and quotations are considered as part of the competitive procurement process, and evidence is kept of the basis of the choice of artists selected
- all arts practitioners/organisations in order to be available to be contracted to deliver on the Summer Arts College must be registered on the Unitas website Artists’ Directory.