Earthscope tender & contract, follow up questions - reference 4632837

Summary

The requester sought clarification on procurement irregularities, missing documentation, and potential governance failures regarding the Earthscope contract for the Net Zero Isle of Man project. The authority's response provided the initial service specification and engagement requirements for the project but did not address the specific allegations of procedural breaches or provide the requested audit trails and exemption details.

Key Facts

• The request concerns the Earthscope tender and contract for the Net Zero Isle of Man engagement and training support.
• The Department of Environment, Food and Agriculture responded with a document dated 19th July 2023 outlining service requirements.
• The requester alleges the procurement timeline was compressed and that proper procedures were not followed.
• Specific concerns include the lack of a Conflicts of Interest register, missing market analysis, and the absence of a Certificate of Non-Collusion.
• The contract agreement was signed on 4 August 2023, with a 12-month extension signed on 30 September 2024.

Data Disclosed

• 19th July 2023
• 4 August 2023
• 30 September 2024
• 7 August
• 12-month extension
• June 2023
• FD A2.4
• FPN A.01
• FD A2.1b
• A6.11-12

Original Request

The procurement timeline for Earthscope was compressed to the point of near implausibility if proper procedures were fully followed. Further to my last request and your response, and after further reviewing 'The Isle of Man Government Financial Regulations', issued by Treasury (June 2023 and referenced in this request), please see further questions which I'd like you to respond to (categorised for ease): Documentation and record keeping What is the specific Microsoft Teams retention policy referenced, and why are official procurement communications not stored in a compliant format? Was a Conflicts of Interest register maintained for the Earthscope tender, as required by FD A2.4? If yes, please provide a copy. If not, please state the reason. Exemptions Was an exemption sought under FPN A.01 for: - not retaining minutes or correspondence - accepting Earthscope without financials - not issuing a Certificate of Non-Collusion? Please provide all exemption requests and approvals. If none requested, please state why. Tender transparency and fairness Please confirm the total contract value, including the 12-month extension signed on 30 Sept 2024. Was any market analysis or justification documented for determining Earthscope as the 'only local provider'? Please provide that evidence. Due diligence and risk What risk assessment was conducted regarding Earthscope's financial capability given its recent incorporation? Please provide any scoring sheets, evaluation reports, or tender panel assessments that compare Earthscope with other potential or actual bidders. Oversight and audit Has the Director of Audit Advisory or Chief Financial Officer reviewed this procurement? If so, please provide the findings or audit trail. Direct approach to Earthscope The claim that Earthscope was the only known local provider is used to justify direct marketing. Without documented market analysis, this may undermine fair competition and contravene the principle of Propriety (FD A2.1b). Please provide all market analysis documents. Certificate of non-collusion The lack of a certificate of non-collusion and due diligence documentation are governance failures, please provide all documents and emails pertaining to this and please state who signed off on these apparent breaches. Project documentation drafting and agreement drafting (please refer to attached table for this section): - Expression of interest timeline - response was immediate and raises concerns over fairness. Please provide all documents and emails pertaining to this stage of the process. - Why are there no supporting evidence or dates provided pertaining to the PQQ? This violates FD A2.1 (Transparency) and A6.11-12 (Documentation of objections or concerns) if advice was overridden and if it was, please provide all relevant emails and documents. Please state who signed off on this. - The agreement was signed on the 4 August 2023. It appears that multiple stages of the process have been compressed, please explain why and who signed off on that? - 12 month extension - no justification has been provided or documents, please provide same. Other bidders had until the 7 August to respond but the agreement was signed on the 4 August, please explain the reason for this and please provide all relevant documents and emails. Please state who signed off on this apparent breach.

Data Tables (10)

Full Response Text

19th July 2023

Dear Sir/Madam

QUICK QUOTE REQUEST NET ZERO ISLE OF MAN: ENGAGEMENT AND TRAINING SUPPORT

The Climate Change Team have a commitment in the Climate Change Plan to ‘Embed climate action across the Isle of Man Government’. We want to ensure that the civil service are supported and encouraged to deliver effective emissions reductions while continuing to serve the Manx public.

Our internal colleagues throughout Government include statutory boards, offices and local authorities, and we are now embarking on a new internal communications programme to better educate and inform these stakeholders to carry out actions which reduce emissions and increase sequestration.

(A) Service Requirement/Specification

The Climate Change Transformation Team (‘CCTT’) are seeking an Engagement Partner to help us with our internal engagement programme. The internal engagement programme is a plan to help us educate, inform and engage inspire public bodies to:

1. Ensure all employees have the right knowledge and skills by becoming Carbon Literate and therefore fully understand the science underpinning climate change and the urgency to act – making better informed decisions, changing behaviours and inspiring others to do the same.
2. All employees understand that the transition to net zero is the responsibility of everyone across Government and underpins all activity
3. To fully embed net zero thinking across Government, Statutory Boards and Offices
4. To ensure civil servants make decisions (inc procurement) which align to net zero and know of the tools available to help them (Climate Impact Assessments)
5. To ensure that public bodies understand their role in the Public Body Duties and Reporting
6. Every employee understands the potential of policy areas to support or undermine climate objectives
7. All employees understand where to seek further advice on climate action or climate anxiety to support them
8. To help public bodies better understand the actions they can take to reduce emissions at work and at home
9. To highlight the ecological/biodiversity crisis in addition to the Climate crisis

Scope The deliverables for this piece of work centre on objectives 1-3 above, in particular to assist us with the rollout of our new Civil Service Carbon Literary Training in conjunction with the Carbon Literary Trust and the UK Government. We have a target for 5% of staff to be Carbon Literate by September 2024. There are currently ~8,000 people working in Isle of Man Government.

The work involves: • Pre-course administration, setting up the training sessions and engaging with Departments, Boards and Offices to encourage participation • Ensuring the training materials are up to date and correct for the intended audience (e.g. Department specific policies referenced) • Running the training course, either virtually or in person or hybrid dependent on the audience, arranging and booking venues as required • Answering climate specific questions during the course, facilitating the conversation and dialogue • Ensuring that post course pledges by all participants are suitable and send onward to the Carbon Literary Trust for verification and certification • Gathering post event feedback assessment from attendees (including testimonials) and submission of this feedback back to CCTT to inform internal engagement plans • Organising a short post-event follow up to understand how people have managed to turn their pledges into reality, or help with any areas which they have become stuck with • Support or signpost to any further opportunities that may be of interest to individuals (participation/ learning opportunities via an IOMG Civil Service Climate & Environment Network which is currently being investigated with senior leadership teams within government) Key requirements

We require the contractor to:

• Have experience in delivering training, prior training in Climate Change would be highly advantageous • Be already Carbon Literate
• Have an excellent understanding of Climate Science, climate change impacts in the local context of the Isle of Man and be unafraid to answer technical questions
• Be a confident and positive, enthusiastic presenter
• Have experience in facilitation Rollout of the course is expected to begin in September 2023. The successful bidder will be involved in the development of a rollout plan. We are currently estimating that the work will take around 5 days per month. Each course is 2 half days.

Ad-hoc engagement work We may also call upon the contractor to provide additional engagement support. This could include facilitating events, running focus groups, supporting the planning of such events, liaison with attendees and other ad-hoc engagement. The contractor is asked to provide an hourly rate for ad-hoc engagement support.

(B) Evaluation Criteria

The Quick Quote Response will be evaluated by an approach that takes into account both price and quality. This approach is referred to as the "most economically advantageous tender". The weighting split used when evaluating Quick Quote Responses will be:

• Price
30% • Quality 70%

(C1) Pricing

Please note: All prices quoted are to be exclusive of VAT.

Requirement[4] Unit
Charge for provision of services
Training and administration

per month (approx. 5 days) £ Adhoc duties

per hour £ Total charge for provision of services £

Offers shall remain valid for a period of 60 days from the closing date of the request.

The above price should include all costs of providing the services and no additional costs may be charged to the Department for this service.

Note: The Department does not bind itself to accept the lowest or any Quick Quote Response and reserves the right to accept part only of any one or more Quick Quote
Response.

(C2) Quality
The quality element will be assessed through a series of delivery questions, some of which will be mandatory to provide the Services under this contract. The service delivery questions are detailed below with mandatory questions indicated.

Where responses are supported by separate documentation, the tables below must be completed with clear references to the additional documents, which must also be cross- referenced back to the relevant question.

Failure to clearly cross-reference answers could result in Quick Quote Responses receiving lower scores.

Scoring In order to ensure the evaluation of quality is applied consistently, requirements are marked using a scoring system of zero (0) to five (5).

Score Criteria for awarding Score 0 Completely fails to meet required standard or does not provide a proposal. 1 Proposal significantly fails to meet the standards required, contains significant shortcomings and/or is inconsistent with other proposals. 2 Proposal falls short of achieving expected standard in a number of identifiable respects. 3 Proposal meets the required standard in most material respects, but is lacking or inconsistent in others. 4 Proposal meets the required standard in all material respects. 5 Proposal meets the required standard in all material respects and exceeds some or all of the major requirements.

Minimum Score/Pass Fail A number of requirements have been identified that are fundamental to the delivery of the Service, these requirements are annotated "Minimum score applies". Only Tender Responses that score a minimum of three (3) will be considered for contract award.

A number of requirements have been identified as Pass/Fail and are deemed to be a core requirement. Tenderers responding 'No' to any of these questions will not be considered for contract award.

Service Requirements Req. No. Minimum Score or Pass/Fail Question Scope 1.0 [6] Describe your experience in delivering climate change training

Weighting: 15[7]

2.0 Demonstrate experience and success in facilitation and/or running events to engage with stakeholders

Weighting: 15

3.0 Pass/Fail Provide copies of your certification for your carbon literacy training

Weighting: 10

Environmental and Sustainability [8] 5.0 The Isle of Man Government is committed to achieving net zero greenhouse gas emissions by 2050 http://www.gov.im/climatechange
and is committed to the reduction of single use plastic. https://www.gov.im/about-the-government/departments/environment- food-and-agriculture/ecosystem-policy-and-energy/plastics/
In no more than 400 words, please identify how your Tender Response supports these commitments and provide details of your organisation’s wider policies on environmental and sustainability issues. Weighting: 10

Each question will be score evaluated.

Contract Documents

The contract documents between the Department and contractor shall include the Quick Quote, the Quick Quote Response, a Department purchase order and
shall also include and be subject to the Isle of Man Government Standard Terms and Conditions for the Purchase of Goods and/or Services[10] or such other documentation as may be agreed between the parties.

Quick Quote Response

Bidder:
(Please insert your full company name)

I/We, having fully acquainted myself/ourselves with all the documents, appendices, instructions and conditions referred to herein, do hereby offer to supply the services requested in accordance with the submitted Rates set out in the Pricing Schedule.

Signed:

Name in block letters:

Position:

For and on behalf of:

Date:

In responding to this formal Quick Quote competition request, I give the Department of Environment, Food & Agriculture permission to share my information with the Isle of Man Government Treasury Income Tax Division for the purpose of identifying any potential tax liabilities.

Signed:

Name in block letters:

Position: Date:

Your response must be submitted on this form and returned by noon (12.00hrs) on Monday 7th August 2023 through the online Procurement Portal.

Yours faithfully,

Jade Foster Engagement Manager

From: Gallacher, Scott To: Foster, Jade Cc: Lewin, Aly; Gallacher, Scott Subject: RE: Approval request - extension to Carbon Literacy Training Date: 11 September 2024 15:12:18 Attachments: image001.png image002.png Thanks Jade.   Yes, agreed and approved.   From: Foster, Jade Jade.Foster@gov.im Sent: 05 September 2024 09:20 To: Gallacher, Scott Scott.Gallacher@gov.im Cc: @gov.im>; Lewin, Aly Aly.Lewin2@gov.im Subject: Approval request - extension to Carbon Literacy Training   Morning Scott, I hope you can assist with this request. Earthscope were appointed the quick quote contract in September 2023 to deliver internal engagement and training support and we committed to a 12 month purchase order. This has now expired. -We'd like to extend it to continue the roll out of Carbon Literacy Training -Spend to date: £25,800.76 (on payment of final invoices) -Projected maximum spend next year: £29,588.76 Committing to another 12 months is within the quick quote procurement threshold and therefore on advice of Procurement and AGs, following internal sign off, a signed letter with the contractor and a new purchase order would be acceptable.    Can you please approve? Kind regards, Jade   JADE FOSTER ENGAGEMENT MANAGER Climate Change Transformation Team NZ   Department of Environment, Food & Agriculture Rheynn Chymmyltaght, Bee as Eirinys REDACTED REDACTED Thie Slieau Whallian | Foxdale Road | St John's | Isle of Man | IM4 3AS (07624) 353463   Reducing your emissions from emails: when sending information via email, consider using a link to the document rather than sending copies to all recipients. A document shared by email with 5 people and held for 3 years generates 1.8g of CO2e. Sending a link generates 0.36g in the same period.   1 From: Foster, Jade Sent: 05 August 2024 09:56 To: Lewin, Aly Subject: FW: Training contract FYI I’ll send you a copy of all this for your return.     REDACTED REDACTED 2   Many thanks for your help,    Jade    JADE FOSTER ENGAGEMENT MANAGER
Climate Change Transformation Team

Department of Environment, Food & Agriculture   Rheynn Chymmyltaght, Bee as Eirinys  Thie Slieau Whallian | Foxdale Road | St John's | Isle of Man | IM4 3AS  (07624) 353463    Reducing your emissions from emails: when sending information via email, consider using a link to the document  rather than sending copies to all recipients. A document shared by email with 5 people and held for 3 years  generates 1.8g of CO2e. Sending a link generates 0.36g in the same period.   

       Department of Environment, Food and Agriculture

Rheynn Chymmyltaght, Bee as Eirinys

Earthscope Email: hello@earthscope.im Website: https://earthscope.im/

24 September 2024

Dear Contractor

EXTENSION TO SERVICES UNDER QUICK QUOTE REQUEST NET ZERO ISLE OF MAN: ENGAGEMENT AND TRAINING SUPPORT

Further to the past 12 months which included preparing and accrediting the Carbon Literacy course for Isle of Man Public Bodies and delivery training sessions launched in January 2024 and delivered to August 2024, that said Agreement shall be extended for an additional term of (12 months) commencing upon the expiration of the original term and now expiring on 25th August 2025.

A purchase order attached to this agreement commits to this term at the original agreed monthly fee, together with ad-hoc engagement work up to a value of £12,000 in the 12-month term.

This extension shall be on the same contract in the original Quick Quote Agreement under the IOMG Standard Terms and Conditions and signed Data Processing Agreement save where otherwise varied and referenced in this letter;

 Maintaining the slides, trainer script/manual and resources handout in line with any updates from the Carbon Literacy Project or the Climate Change Transformation Team (‘CCT’).  Administering one set of review points per applicant for their Carbon Literacy accreditation submission.  Maintaining registers of attendees, including name and Department name, to track who has completed the training and accreditation across the public service and identifying public bodies that may need to be encouraged to undertake the training – maintain and process the data on behalf of IOMG in line with GDPR and data protection laws (and the signed Data Processing Agreement) and to allow public bodies access to their data to fulfil their own Climate Public Body Reporting duties.
Climate Change Transformation Team E-mail climatechange@gov.im
Website: http://netzero.im

 Put in place diary reminders fo

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