NEC SOFTWARE SOLUTIONS UK LIMITED

NEC Hearings Manager

NEC Hearings Manager (HM) is designed to allow the user to bundle relevant audio, video and PDF files together and allows you to present this evidence within a courtroom environment.

Features

• Display evidence bundles live in courtroom, dual-display operator, exhibit modes
• Near instant display of individual pages, large bundles on demand
• Public facing portal for complainants and legal teams
• View and submit evidence in advance
• File upload and storage (multi-format)
• Audio and video playback
• File bundling and case management
• Multi-site management and system reporting
• Active Directory (AD) integration
• SaaS basis, cloud hosting options: AWS, Azure, NEC private cloud

Benefits

• Multi-screen projection
• Quick and easy bundling of related materials
• Quick navigation of large PDF files
• Automatically generated contents table
• Works with your existing AD structure to provide user access
• Clip files to manage your evidence efficiently, retaining integral information
• Upload a wide range of digital file formats

Service documents

• Pricing document

  PDF

• Service definition document

  PDF

• Terms and conditions

  PDF

Request an accessible format

If you use assistive technology (such as a screen reader) and need versions of these documents in a more accessible format, email the supplier at psbidmgmt@necsws.com. Tell them what format you need. It will help if you say what assistive technology you use.

Framework

G-Cloud 15

Service ID

671258594381123

Contact

NEC Frameworks Team
07852 936231
psbidmgmt@necsws.com

About the service

• Service categories:
  • Applications
    • Content workflow and management
      • Persuasive content management
        • Website Software
        • Digital Asset Management Applications
        • Product Content Management Applications
        • Content Marketing Applications
        • Video Platforms
        • Digital Adoption Platform
• Multi cloud support: Yes

Service scope

• Software add-on or extension: No
• Cloud deployment model: Public cloud
• Service constraints: NEC Hearings Manager can be used on PCs, laptops or tablets and is tested for compatibility with latest versions on all common browsers. ; Depending on the sensitivity of your data you can access using the internet or a secure intranet; we will work with your data-owner to set up appropriate controls to protect your data. ; Service desk support is currently 08:00 to 18:00 on working days. Extended support up to 24/7 can be provided on request. ; Maintenance is currently done on weekends. Maintenance windows can be agreed with individual customers.
• System requirements:
  • Modern browser technologies
  • Data owner/accreditor may decide on added security features
  • A PC, laptop or mobile device

User support

• Email or online ticketing support: Yes
• Support response times: Support levels to be agreed at the project outset. Typically, we respond to client queries on either the same or next working day. ; ; For cloud services, where ticketing is required, then all logged incidents or service requests are acknowledged immediately via NEC’s ITSM Support Portal. Timescales will vary in accordance with the priority of the logged ticket, and our targeted response times during contracted support hours are as follows: Priority 1 (Critical) - 15 working minutes, Priority 2 (Medium) - 30 working minutes, Priority 3 (Low) - 60 working minutes, Priority 4 (Minor/ guidance and advice) – 1 working day.
• User can manage status and priority of support tickets: Yes
• Online ticketing support accessibility: None or don’t know
• Phone support: Yes
• Phone support availability: 9 to 5 (UK time), Monday to Friday
• Web chat support: No
• Onsite support: Yes, at extra cost
• Support levels: At NEC, all support is included in the price quoted, with support response available from 09:00 – 17:30 each business day. We provide support in person or remotely via telephone, email, and Microsoft Teams and a dedicated manager is assigned to each project. ; ; ; ; For cloud services, where ticketing is required, NEC provides a single level support service, included in the standard charge for the solution. ; ; ; ; The details of the support services are: ; ; ; ; Available 24x7 excluding planned/emergency maintenance. ; ; The solution achieves a minimum of 99.5% availability. ; ; End-users can log tickets online 24x7. ; ; The end-user has the option to assign the priority when logging the ticket, with four priority options: Priority 1 being critical, whilst Priority 4 is minor and for guidance and advice. ; ; NEC uses reasonable commercial endeavours to provide identification and resolution, obviation and/or mitigation of operational bugs/errors reported by the customer in the solution in accordance with these timescales: ; ; Priority 1: 4 working hours. ; ; Priority 2: 8 working hours. ; ; Priority 3: 36 working hours. ; ; Priority 4: 72 working hours. ; ; A Client Services Manager manages the ongoing relationship. Cloud/support engineers are allocated as appropriate to resolve any technical issues.
• Support available to third parties: Yes

Onboarding and offboarding

• Getting started: The standard onboarding process is free and consists of the initial set-up of authentication and loading of reference data. NEC set up the relevant accounts for users to access the system. Each customer will have an account manager who takes care of the onboarding process, ensuring the correct set-up of authentication and reference data. Hearings Manager has an individual instance of the Hearings Manager training system for each customer and comes with a free train-the-trainer session. ; Additional on-boarding including cascade training, development of bespoke modules or APIs or individual infrastructure will be quoted on an individual basis. ; The standard offering is a multi-tenanted offering utilised by multiple customers with individual authentication paths to segregate their data. Customers with particularly sensitive data may request an individual bespoke hosting environment (in the cloud hosting environment of their choice) with additional security and defence architecture. MOJ customers already have an accredited multi-tenanted infrastructure in Amazon Web Services (AWS) so additional on-boarding infrastructure is quick and cost-effective.
• Service documentation: Yes
• Documentation formats:
  • ODF
  • PDF
• Documentation accessibility standard: WCAG 2.2 AA
• End-of-contract data extraction: At the end of the contract, customers will be provided with their production data using a CESG certified procedure. The data is extracted from the production system and can be provided in a number of formats including SQL Server, CSV and Excel. If the data is sensitive, we will protect it on a CESG-approved encrypted drive that will be securely transported to the customer using a process approved by the customer data owner. Once the data has been extracted the cloud data storage will be erased using CESG approved techniques.
• End-of-contract process: NEC Hearings Manager is a cloud hosted Software-as-a-Service product and is charged on a usage basis plus a basic monthly subscription. At the start of the contract each customer is provided with a URL to access Hearings Manager and their users are set up with valid authentication to access the system. At the end of the contract, after the customer data has been returned, access will be removed and the customer’s databases (including the authentication) will be erased using CESG approved techniques. There is no additional cost to provision of the data extract or termination.

Using the service

• Web browser interface: Yes
• Supported browsers:
  • Microsoft Edge
  • Firefox
  • Chrome
  • Safari
  • Opera
• Application to install: No
• Designed for use on mobile devices: Yes
• Differences between the mobile and desktop service: NEC Hearings Manager is built using modern application frameworks which allow an easy transition between desktop and mobile devices. Device-aware components automatically switch appearance and behaviour to best suit the device, providing a better experience for touch screens. Finger taps and gestures arrive as normal mouse events, so your event handlers work. Context menus/hovers trigger via touch-and-hold, and drag-and-drop via finger slides. ; As a cloud application, Hearings Manager is compatible with many browsers on tablets, allowing use without the need to install an app.
• Service interface: Yes
• Description of service interface: NEC applications are built to use modern, lightweight REST/JSON web service interfaces; to best enable open and extensible architectures that can integrate between systems, data mining and application extensions.
• Accessibility standards: WCAG 2.2 AA
• Accessibility testing: NEC utilises modern frameworks and technologies which deliver the basic set of requirements for semantic and accessible UI code. We perform assistive technology testing using ZoomText, JAWS and Dragon Naturally Speaking and ensure we are in compliance of WCAG 2.2 AA Standards for accessibility. With each new release of Hearings Manager, we engage with Assistive Technology (AT) users to get feedback and respond to any concerns identified.
• User support accessibility: WCAG 2.2 AA
• API: Yes
• What users can and can't do using the API: NEC Hearings Manager has an easily extendable API for interfacing with Case Management Systems. The standard API operates between any RESTful interface on the CMS and is quick to implement at onboarding. Changes to the interface can be requested and new interfaces developed to interface with other applications (Enterprise Resource Planning, HR and other systems) are bespokely developed prior to on-boarding at additional cost.
• API documentation: Yes
• API documentation formats: Other
• API sandbox or test environment: Yes
• Customisation available: Yes
• Description of customisation: As NEC Hearings Manager has been developed using a microservices architecture, it is easy to extend any external business requirements that can be utilised within your business sector. The HM Roadmap is reviewed at bi-annual user group meetings and the user community agrees on priorities. Representatives from the user group also participate in Agile development of the releases, ensuring that each enhancement benefits from practitioner input. The bi-annual releases are included in the SaaS license subscription but individual customers can also request bespoke development. Customer funded bespoke modules are held in individual micro-services only executed for that customer; these enhancements are developed with the customer using Agile methodologies.

Scaling

• Independence of resources: Performance on all customer systems is monitored with real-time dashboard displaying utilisation of processor, memory and disk. Automatic alerting provides timely warning or the need to augment resources and new virtualised resources can be implemented before any impact occurs. Network analysis tools display all internal traffic within applications so any constraints building on any system node are anticipated and managed. ; ; Customers with particularly sensitive data may opt to operate on dedicated virtual cloud infrastructure for security reasons; regardless of whether running on dedicated or shared infrastructure resources are maintained well above thresholds and monitored to ensure better than SLA performance.

Analytics

• Service usage metrics: Yes
• Metrics types: Case Publishing Manager provides detailed usage metrics. The NEC Service Desk statistics on incident management and SLA performance are also available to users and to the user group. We, as a standard, provide monthly service desk reports, which include a usage report.
• Reporting types:
  • Regular reports
  • Reports on request
• Resource tagging: No
• FOCUS resource tagging: No

Supplier type

• Supplier type: Not a reseller

Staff security

• Staff security clearance: Conforms to BS7858:2019
• Government security clearance: Developed Vetting (DV)

Asset protection

• Knowledge of data storage and processing locations: Yes
• Data storage and processing locations: United Kingdom
• User control over data storage and processing locations: Yes
• Datacentre security standards: Supplier-defined controls
• Penetration testing frequency: At least once a year
• Penetration testing approach: ‘IT Health Check’ performed by a CHECK service provider
• Protecting data at rest:
  • Physical access control, complying with another standard
  • Encryption of all physical media
  • Scale, obfuscating techniques, or data storage sharding
  • Other
• Other data at rest protection approach: NEC utilise a variety of cloud and datacentre infrastructure, including NEC Managed datacentre services and public cloud platforms such as Azure, OCI and AWS. In addition to encryption, various measures are implemented such as active monitoring and robust access processes to protect data at rest. These controls are regularly reviewed by our Security Architects to ensure they are relevant to current threats and only authorised users can access customer data. ; ; NEC Hosted Datacentres are approved against the Police-Approved Secure Facilities (UK) standard. All data centre services are ISO27001:2022 certified.
• Data sanitisation process: Yes
• Data sanitisation type:
  • Data Erasure
  • Explicit overwriting of storage before reallocation / Secure Erase
  • Physical Destruction / Hardware containing data is completely destroyed
• Equipment disposal approach: Complying with a recognised standard, for example CSA CCM v4.0, CAS (Sanitisation) or ISO/IEC 27001

Data importing and exporting

• Data export approach: NEC Hearings Manager is designed to provide easy access to data within and outside the application. The containerised, microservices architecture facilitates interfacing through APIs including a standardised CMS interface which passes all attendance and progress data back to the CMS and the potential for customised interfaces with other customer applications. Standard reporting provides comprehensive dashboards and KPI monitoring and users can build their own reports and data extracts. Search screens are customisable and the data from any search can be exported to Excel.
• Data export formats:
  • CSV
  • Other
• Other data export formats: MP4
• Data import formats:
  • CSV
  • Other
• Other data import formats: MP4

Data-in-transit protection

• Data protection between buyer and supplier networks:
  • Private network or public sector network
  • TLS (version 1.2 or above)
  • IPsec or TLS VPN gateway
  • Other
• Other protection between networks: Private MPLS circuits or equivalent and FastConnect. NEC hosted solutions can be accessed using a fixed circuit or IPsec VPN. Access uses encrypted TLS 1.2 connection with 2048-bit RSA/SHA256 encryption keys, recommended by National-Cyber-Security-Centre (NCSC). NEC implements attack protection involving our perimeter firewall, traffic manager and application-specific filters. Our perimeter firewall supports intrusion detection/intrusion prevention and has request-flooding protection based on thresholds and dynamic address blocking based on feeds from high confidence sources. Traffic manager and application-specific filtering is implemented that recognises and dynamically blocks sources of unusual high-volume traffic, typical of an attack that is outside of expected bounds.
• Data protection within supplier network:
  • TLS (version 1.2 or above)
  • IPsec or TLS VPN gateway
  • Other
• Other protection within supplier network: Privileged user access to Windows servers requires an encrypted TLS channel configured to use industry-standard Transport Layer Security (TLS) 1.2 protocol with 2048-bit RSA/SHA256 encryption keys, as recommended by NCSC. Privileged user access to Linux servers, Unix Servers and network devices is configured to use SSHv2 using AES-256 encryption. ; ; All hosted services are backed up to the NEC Backup solution, where data is encrypted using AES-256 encryption when transferring data from the system to the backup devices.

Availability and resilience

• Guaranteed availability: NEC Hearings Manager SLA is 99.9% availability during core hours (08:00hrs to 18:00hrs weekdays) except public holidays) and 99% outside core hours with the exception of agreed maintenance windows. Maintenance windows for application enhancements and system patching and security updates are agreed with the User Group (currently Wednesday night after 22:00hrs and Saturday night from 18:00hrs to Sunday at 12:00 midday). Individual customers on dedicated cloud infrastructure can agree to different maintenance windows to suit their operations.
• Approach to resilience: NEC Hearings Manager is designed for resilience. Defence-in-depth architecture requires single purpose servers so for security purposes web-front-end-servers are separated from applications servers, database servers and authentication servers with firewall controls on access between. Each function has redundant servers so for example if one web-front-end server should fail user access automatically fails over to another working server. Monitoring ensures that any outage is immediately recognised and dealt with quickly so single component failures are short and do not impact the service. We also provide a range of cost-effective site disaster recovery scenarios to cover the unlikely event of a full site disaster. More detailed resilience design information is available to customers on request. In addition to the standard high-resilience offering, there are a number of individually tailored, cost-effective options available.
• Outage reporting: The NEC Service Desk maintains a list of key stakeholders for each Hearings Manager customer. In the unlikely event of an unplanned outage, emails are sent to those stakeholders notifying them of the outage. Periodically, they are given updates as to Incident Management progress, estimated time of resumption and eventually, root-cause analysis. Additionally, the URL is redirected to a screen informing users of the outage and offering an anticipated recovery time. Planned maintenance outages are agreed with the User Group or with individual customers (running on dedicated cloud infrastructure) and posted in advance on the logon splash screen.

Identity and authentication

• User authentication needed: Yes
• User authentication:
  • Public key authentication (including by TLS client certificate)
  • Username or password
• Access restrictions in management interfaces and support channels: NEC Hearings Manager is supported by the NEC Service Desk supported by second-line live services support and applications support. Access to the live environment is strictly controlled to SC cleared staff on the principle of least privilege. Access is issued by security management to specific individuals for specific tasks and periods and controlled through rigorous authentication policies. A full audit trail of all activity is maintained for forensic purposes.
• Access restriction testing frequency: At least every 6 months
• Management access authentication:
  • Public key authentication (including by TLS client certificate)
  • Username or password
  • Other
• Description of management access authentication: Hearings Manager is accessed via browsers on desktop PCs, laptops, tablets. Users sign in using username, password and two factor verification. Only users with existing accounts can access Hearings Manager

Audit information for users

• Access to user activity audit information: Users contact the support team to get audit information
• How long user audit data is stored for: User-defined
• Access to supplier activity audit information: Users contact the support team to get audit information
• How long supplier audit data is stored for: Between 6 months and 12 months
• How long system logs are stored for: Between 6 months and 12 months

Security governance

• Named board-level person responsible for service security: Yes
• Software Security Code of Practice: Yes
• Security governance certified: Yes
• Security governance standards: ISO/IEC 27001
• Information security policies and processes: The NEC Information Security Management System (ISMS) is registered to the International Standard (ISO 27001:2022). Our security policies and procedures have been created to fully comply with the requirements of this ISO 27001 standard. NEC runs a full information security internal audit programme and is independently audited by the British Standards Institute (BSI). This audit reviews our security management controls, policies and processes and ensures these meet the required standard. ; ; Our security policies and procedures are updated at least annually, and include an Information Security Policy, Data Protection Policy and an Acceptable Use Policy. ; ; We have a Cyber Security Breach Response Plan providing a plan that will be initiated in the event of NEC experiencing a major cyber security breach, or in response to a high-risk situation that will cause a significant breach if the necessary co-ordinated, preventative action is not taken. Incidents are managed within the context of our ISO/IEC 20000-1 compliant IT Service Management system by dedicated Information Security personnel. ; ; NEC has achieved NCSC Cyber Essentials Plus certification demonstrating our ability to implement processes and procedures that result in protection against the most common cyber threats and demonstrate commitment to cyber security.

Operational security

• Configuration and change management standard: Complies with a recognised standard, for example CSA CCM v4.0 or SSAE-18 / ISAE 3402
• Configuration and change management approach: NEC is certified for ISO20000:2018 for Service Management. ; ; The status, location and configuration of service components are tracked throughout their lifetime in the NEC Configuration Management Database (CMDB). This is held within the NEC IT Service Management System. Changes to that asset are made via a Change Request or Service Request. ; ; An Impact Assessment (IA) is produced for each Change Request (CR), and a risk score is generated based on the content of the Impact Assessment. ; ; The CR and risk score is reviewed and approved by NEC, including members of the security team, before going to the customer for approval.
• Vulnerability management type: Complies with a recognised standard, for example CSA CCM v4.0 or SSAE-18 / ISAE 3402
• Vulnerability management approach: NEC employs several different technologies related to vulnerability management, ensuring that all devices are updated regularly. Where possible automated patching is performed to ensure the timely implementation of updates and patches. Critical and security related updates and patches are proactively monitored and where necessary implemented as soon as possible. ; ; NEC is a member of the NCSC Cyber Security Information Sharing Partnership (CiSP) and subscribes to the NCSC Early Warning Service which scans for network abuse events on an organisation’s network, as well as vulnerable network services on an organisation’s Internet-facing services. Threats and CVEs are triaged by the InfoSec team.
• Protective monitoring type: Complies with a recognised standard, for example CSA CCM v4.0 or SSAE-18 / ISAE 3402
• Protective monitoring approach: The NEC security monitoring policies/procedures are aligned with incident management policies and practices. Any significant security issues identified by analysis of monitoring alerts and/or reports will result in the NEC InfoSec team raising a security incident to initiate the associated detailed analysis process. ; ; NEC uses an advanced SIEM monitoring service as part of our protective monitoring solution. Our SIEM provides predefined alerts and reports that enable log sources to be processed and comply with NCSC guidance and the Data Protection Act 2018. ; ; Network monitoring-related alerts are sent to our central service management tool and monitored by a 24x7 Service Desk.
• Incident management type: Complies with a recognised standard, for example, CSA CCM v4.0 or ISO/IEC 27035:2011 or SSAE-18 / ISAE 3402
• Post-quantum cryptography secure: Yes
• Incident management approach: Our Incident Service Management Tool is available online 24/7 and updates will be communicated via email and/or telephone. The NEC Service Desk and ISMT is based on ITIL principles; all staff have ITIL foundation training. Key team members also hold qualifications in ITIL Service Management. High priority incidents can be reported by telephoning or emailing the NEC Service Desk. ; ; Our ISMT enables incident and support requests to be centrally managed as a unique event providing full traceability and audit history.

Secure development

• Approach to secure software development best practice: Independent review of processes (for example CESG CPA Build Standard, ISO/IEC 27034, ISO/IEC 27001 or CSA CCM v4.0)

Public sector networks

• Connection to public sector networks: Yes
• Connected networks:
  • Health and Social Care Network (HSCN)
  • Other
• Other public sector networks:
  • LECN (Law Enforcement Community Network)
  • PSN-P

Pricing

• Discount for educational organisations: No
• Free trial available: No

Discount percentage by annual call-off contract value (excluding VAT)

• Less than £250,000: 0%
• Between £250,000 and £500,000: 0%
• Between £500,001 and £1,000,000: 0%
• Between £1,000,001 and £2,500,000: 0%
• Between £2,500,001 and £5,000,000: 0%
• Over £5,000,001: 0%

Standards and certifications

• ISO/IEC 27001 certification: Yes
• ISO/IEC 27001 accredited by: British Standards Institute (BSI)
• ISO/IEC 27001 accreditation date: Friday 7 June 2024
• What the ISO/IEC 27001 doesn’t cover: All our supporting services are in scope.
• ISO 28000:2022 certification: No
• ISO 9001 certification: Yes
• ISO 9001 certification accredited by: British Standards Institute (BSI)
• ISO 9001 accreditation date: Sunday 23 March 2025
• What the ISO 9001 doesn’t cover: Services provided by NEC that are not development, test and support of our products.
• Quality management systems (QMS): Yes
• CSA STAR certification: No
• PCI certification: No
• Cyber essentials: Yes
• Cyber Essentials Certificate Number: 7f5cb813-628a-41f1-aaf5-c37764551202
• Cyber essentials plus: Yes
• Cyber Essentials Plus Certificate Number: Cd276d2d-b032-4133-ae64-3e04eb38b000
• Other security certifications: Yes
• Any other security certifications:
  • ISO 20000:2018
  • ISO 22301:2019
  • ISO 14001:2015

Social value

• Mission: Kick start economic growth:

  To secure the highest sustained growth in the G7 - with good jobs and productivity growth in every part of the country making everyone, not just a few, better off.

  Policy Outcome 1: Fair work: That offers fair wages and good working conditions. Help people get a job, stay in work, and progress in their careers, with good employment opportunities across the country. Notes: Where there is a large proportion of labour costs in the contract, commercial teams should consider MAC in Outcome 1 as a priority

  • New or retained jobs on the contract workforce in the relevant area that meet the criteria set out in MAC 1b, 1c and 1d
  • New apprenticeships on the contract workforce in the relevant area that meet the criteria set out in MAC 1b
  • Providing opportunities for, and measuring and monitoring of, staff workforce conditions over time, including employee engagement, involvement in decision-making and satisfaction and adapting to any changes in the results, with clear processes for acting on issues identified
  • Plans to engage the contract workforce in deciding the most important workplace issues to address
  • Ensuring new workers are informed of their right to join a trade union
  • Monitoring of employee engagement rates (by protected characteristic) and, where necessary, the development of actions to ensure all voices are heard across the diversity of the workforce
  • Employment contracts that reflect actual hours worked; steps taken to ensure employees understand their contracts and have the ability to review and adjust them if actual hours regularly exceed contracted hours
  • Activities that support an environment where staff are educated about, and feel empowered to, address their physical wellbeing
  • Activities that support an environment where staff are educated about and feel empowered to report and address bullying and harassment
  • Activities to cascade good practice on fair working conditions throughout the supply chain
  • Offer a pay and leave entitlement to all eligible staff who become kinship carers, ideally equivalent to statutory adoption pay and leave
  • Payment of more than the National Minimum Wage or National Living Wage (as appropriate) to the contract workforce
  • Monitoring and reporting of gender and ethnicity pay gaps and plans to address them where necessary
  • Entitlement to sick pay for the contract workforce, with provision in place for any staff who do not meet the earnings threshold for statutory sick pay, payment of sick pay from day one of absence and payment of staff on the contract workforce who are off sick a replacement income of 100% of their usual earnings for as long as possible
  • Plans for an appropriate income replacement policy for staff who are required to spend time away from work to care for a sick dependent or close relative
  • Understanding of in-work progression issues affecting the market, industry or sector relevant to the contract, and in the supplier’s own organisation and those of its key sub-contractors
  • Measures to support in-work progression to help people in the contract workforce, to move into higher paid work by developing new skills relevant to the contract
  • Support for the contract workforce by providing career advice, and providing opportunities for staff working on the contract with in-work progression career development into known skills shortages or high growth areas
  • Support for educational attainment relevant to the contract, including training schemes that address skills gaps and result in recognised qualifications
  • Volunteering opportunities for staff
  • Understanding of the modern slavery risks and issues affecting the market, industry, sector or country (of origin or of source) relevant to the contract, and the workforce in the supplier’s own organisation and those of its key subcontractors
  • Measures to identify, mitigate and manage modern slavery risks relating to the contract and how these will be implemented
  • Outline policies and practices to be applied to or put in place for the contract to mitigate and manage modern slavery risks, including: Pre-employment checks, recruitment practices. Workplace conditions, safeguarding plans and processes in place and regular monitoring with relevant groups considered, which may include sampling
  • How these flow down the supply chain and are monitored Illustrative examples include reporting, site visits, audits, etc.
  • How to ensure business decisions re: price/cost, short lead times, payment timescales do not create modern slavery risks in the supply chain
  • How the supplier will work with NGOs, trade unions or other businesses to address modern slavery risk
  • Means of influencing staff, suppliers, customers, communities and/or any other appropriate stakeholders with respect to modern slavery risks relating to the contract

  Policy Outcome 2: Skills for growth: Supporting growth sectors and addressing skills gaps.

  • Understanding of employment and relevant skills issues, and of the education and training issues relating to the contract. Illustrative examples: demographics, skills shortages, new opportunities in high growth sectors, geographic/local community and skills/employment challenges
  • Support for educational attainment relevant to the contract, including training schemes that address skills gaps and result in recognised qualifications
  • Activities to support relevant sector related skills growth and sustainability in the contract workforce. Illustrative examples: careers talks, curriculum support, literacy support, safety talks and volunteering
  • Delivery of apprenticeships, supported internships and T Level industry placement opportunities (Level 2, 3 and 4+) in relation to the contract

  Policy Outcome 3: Resilient, innovative and flexible supply chains: Support economic growth through enabling resilient businesses, opportunities for small businesses and voluntary, community and social enterprises

  • Understanding of the types of businesses in the market and the level of participation by new businesses, entrepreneurs, start-ups, SMEs, VCSEs and mutuals
  • Activities to identify opportunities to open up sub-contracts under the prime contract to a diverse range of businesses, including new businesses, entrepreneurs, start-ups, SMEs, VCSEs and mutuals
  • Plans for engaging a diverse range of businesses in engagement activities prior to appointing subcontractors (including activities prior to award of the main contract and during the contract term)
  • Activities that demonstrate a collaborative way to work with a diverse range of businesses as part of the supply chain
  • Advertising of supply chain opportunities openly and to ensure they are accessible to a diverse range of businesses, including advertising all subcontracting opportunities on Contracts Finder
  • Ensuring accessibility to contracting and subcontracting opportunities for disabled business owners and employees
  • Structuring of the supply chain selection process to ensure fairness (e.g. anti-corruption) and encourages participation by a diverse range of businesses, including with regard to new businesses, entrepreneurs, start-ups, SMEs, VCSEs and mutual
  • Understanding of local demographics, needs and opportunities for the co-design of the goods, services and works to be delivered under the contract
  • Methods for engaging with different parts of the community (including the education system and charities representing the community) and how communities come together to inform decisions, strategy and projects to leave a positive legacy for future generations
  • Measures to involve local stakeholders and/or users in design (e.g. in the design of services, systems, products or buildings)
  • Plans for positive actions with community groups.
  • Measures for making facilities used in the delivery of the contract available for community groups, education or training
  • Measures to engage users and communities and build relationships to increase community integration build trust and influence how the contract is delivered
  • Plans to respond flexibly and adapt approaches to community engagement and initiatives
  • Support for community-led initiatives relevant to the contract. Illustrative examples: improving transport links; reducing loneliness; helping with English language proficiency; and facilitating social mixing among people with different backgrounds
  • Collaborating with anchor institutions and community groups to make facilities available for education, training or community events
• Mission: Make Britain a clean energy superpower:

  To cut bills, create jobs and deliver security with cheaper, zero-carbon electricity by 2030, accelerating to net zero

  Policy Outcome 4: Sustainable procurement practices: Reducing carbon footprints, minimising waste, and promoting the use of clean energy and green technologies.

  • Understanding of opportunities for additional environmental benefits delivery in the performance of the contract, including working towards net zero carbon emissions and use of clean energy and green technologies
  • Collaborative ways of working with the supply chain to deliver additional environmental benefits in the performance of the contract, including working towards net zero carbon emissions and use of clean energy and green technologies
  • Delivery of additional environmental benefits through the performance of the contract, including working towards net zero carbon emissions and use of clean energy and green technologies
  • Understanding of how to influence staff, suppliers, customers, communities and/or any other appropriate stakeholders through the delivery of the contract to support climate and nature protection and improvement
  • Activities to reconnect people with the environment and increase awareness of ways to protect and enhance it
• Mission: Break down barriers to opportunity:

  By reforming our childcare and education systems, to make sure there is no class ceiling on the ambitions of young people in Britain

  Policy Outcome 6: Employment and training: For those who face barriers to employment

  • Understanding of employment and skills issues, and of the skills and employment shortages of high growth sectors relating to the contract
  • Creation of employment opportunities particularly for those who face barriers to employment, such as prison leavers, care leavers and/or who are located in deprived areas, and for people in industries with known skills shortages or in high growth sectors
  • Delivery of training schemes and programmes to address any identified skills gaps and under-representation in the workforce for the contract (e.g. prison leavers, care leavers, kinship carers, disabled people)
  • Advertising, promotional and outreach activities designed to raise awareness of the offer to reach the target cohort
  • Understanding of the issues affecting the representation of disabled people in the workforce in the market, industry or sector relevant to the contract, and in the supplier’s own organisation and those of its key sub-contractors
  • Collection of the views and expertise of disabled people and their representative organisations on successfully supporting disabled employees or applicants
  • Inclusive and accessible recruitment practices, and retention-focused activities, including those provided in the Guide for line managers on recruiting, managing and developing people with a disability or health condition
  • Introducing transparency to pay and reward processes
  • Offering a range of quality opportunities with routes of progression if appropriate, e.g. T Level industry placements, students supported into higher level apprenticeships.
  • Working conditions which promote an inclusive working environment and promote retention and progression
  • Other measures to provide equality of opportunity for disabled people and those with health conditions into employment, including becoming a Disability Confident employer and inclusion of supported businesses in the contract supply chain
  • Understanding of the issues affecting inequality in employment, skills and pay in the market, industry or sector relevant to the contract, and in the supplier’s own organisation and those of its key sub-contractors. Measures to tackle inequality in employment, skills and pay in the contract workforce
  • Inclusive and accessible development practices, including guidance for line managers on recruiting, managing and developing people with a disability or health condition

  Policy Outcome 7: Creating a pipeline of opportunities: For the contract workforce, reducing barriers to entry for under-represented groups.

  • Understanding of the issues affecting the development of new skills by target cohort
  • Understanding of the underlying factors affecting improvements to reduce barriers to entry and training schemes for the target cohort(s) related to the contract workforce
  • Other measures to offer development opportunities for the target cohort(s) in the contract workforce
  • Advertising, promotional and outreach activities designed to raise awareness of the offer to reach the target cohort
  • Understanding of issues relating to entering the contract workforce
  • Creation of outreach activities to create a pipeline of employees for the future contract delivery
  • Content of the outreach activity is designed to suit the target cohort
  • Advertising, promotional and outreach activities designed to raise awareness of the offer to reach the target cohort
• Mission: Build an NHS fit for the future:

  That is there when people need it; with fewer lives lost to the biggest killers; in a fairer Britain, where everyone lives well for longer.

  Policy Outcome 8: Increasing productivity through physical and mental wellbeing: In the supply chain and communities in the relevant area.

  • Understanding of issues relating to health and wellbeing, including physical and mental health, in the contract workforce
  • Understanding barriers to access to health and social care services or employment opportunities e.g. digital inclusion
  • Inclusive and accessible recruitment practices, development practices and retention policies that support-focused activities including those provided in the Guide for line managers on recruiting, managing and developing which support people with a disability or health condition
  • Actions to invest in the physical and mental health and wellbeing of the contract workforce

Service documents

• Pricing document

  PDF

• Service definition document

  PDF

• Terms and conditions

  PDF

Request an accessible format

If you use assistive technology (such as a screen reader) and need versions of these documents in a more accessible format, email the supplier at psbidmgmt@necsws.com. Tell them what format you need. It will help if you say what assistive technology you use.