WISE Ability Services' Building Better Opportunities (BBO) UCan Project: Procurement of an Evaluation Partner

WISE Ability Services are requesting tenders from interested organisation to evaluate the overall impact of the BBO UCan Project in Dorset. The evaluation should assess: the UCan Project design; appropriateness; relevance; efficiency; effectiveness; impact; outcomes; and, progression, delivered through the BBO UCan project in Dorset. Bidders should note that the UCan Project Evaluation has a maximum budget of £86,000, inclusive of expenses and VAT. This funding is a fixed value and therefore no bids over this will be accepted. WISE Ability Services' BBO UCan project is an education, training and employment-focused project operating in Dorset with the aim of supporting disadvantaged adults and their families living in deprivation across the Dorset LEP area and facing multiple and complex barriers. The project offers significant holistic support to overcome personal challenges, gain and enhance skills, build resilience, complete training, gain sustainable employment, independence, and social inclusion. The evaluation will need to report upon and provide understanding of: • The success of the UCan project in terms of achieving the originally specified outcomes, outputs and targets; • The impact WISE Ability Services have had through the delivery of the BBO UCan Project on the individuals who participated; • The impact and success of specific interventions accessed through UCan including WISE Choices, Weymouth Community Volunteers, Relate and Livability (Flourish); • The cost benefit analysis, cost per outcome, social value, and return on investment provided by the UCan Project; • The project's overall impact across Dorset, including its effect on the people, how it is embedded in the local community; • The project's resilience and potential for realising a sustainable legacy in the area of Dorset; • Key successes of the UCan Project, including those over and above the specified objectives; • Activities or areas of the UCan Project that haven't achieved expected outcomes, and the reasons for this; • The wider benefit of the UCan Project, for individuals and the communities in addition to its original aims and objectives; • The impact of the UCan Project for participants in comparison to those who have not been able to access the service; • The impact of the UCan Project for participants in comparison to those who are engaged with other programmes such as Individual placement and Support (IPS) programmes across Dorset; • The comparative impact of UCan when compared to similar BBO projects, and similar projects in the Dorset area, by way of a benchmarking comparison.; • Specific recommendations as to how the project could be modified and/or scaled up to a regional, and/or national approach; • A specific evaluation of WISE Choices, assessing its benefits, any notable weaknesses and recommendations for enhancement. Further information about this opportunity can be found in the accompanying tender documents.