One of these applications was together with our client VitaVis, a highly experienced provider of services within staffing, recruitment, coaching, transition and leadership, both to private business and on assignment for the public sector.
The objective
The objective of the collaboration was to build, together with VitaVis, an application strong enough to pass Arbetsförmedlingen's examination. In this assignment much of the focus lies on making sure the two reference assignments meet the far-reaching and complex requirements the agency sets. In this type of procurement it is exclusively a matter of making sure the application meets the requirements, which makes it critical to have a very clear picture of what is being asked for and how it is to be proven.
If the application meets the requirements, it is approved and you get a contract with Arbetsförmedlingen. That differs from ordinary LOU procurements, where there is often one place or a handful that everyone competes over. In KROM you can apply on a rolling basis and there is no limit to how many are awarded, but the requirements, and not least the requirements on evidence, are very extensive.
How we approached the assignment
We started by analysing the earlier application the client had submitted and had rejected, because one of the reference assignments did not correspond to what Arbetsförmedlingen asks for. We went through why the answer had been negative, and Anbud Direkt set out a picture of what would count as a qualifying assignment.
The conditions were clear: we needed a new reference assignment. After discussion we concluded that our client would probably have to go outside its own organisation to find an assignment that would meet the requirements. The client then began an intensive effort to find a partner with a qualifying assignment who was at the same time an organisation they wanted to work with under a future contract. It is a requirement that if you rely on someone else's experience, you also have to bring that company or that person in as part of the delivery.
After many meetings and discussions back and forth we landed on an arrangement we felt confident would work. We had a plan A and a plan B. After further meetings, discussions and a review of the documentation we concluded that we were not 100 percent sure about plan A, so we scrapped it and went ahead with plan B.
Then the operational work began: producing the right kind of documentation to prove that the assignments met the requirements. In this assignment we knew that one reference assignment was already approved through the previous application, so all focus was on securing the evidence for the new one. The challenge is that there is no exact template for what counts as correct evidence. It is up to us as the applicant to make sure Arbetsförmedlingen has enough material to judge whether the application meets the requirements. Much of the work therefore lies in interpreting what the documents say, and in reading through and interpreting the large volume of questions and answers, 700 to 800 questions at the time of writing, that have been put in the procurement.
Since the new assignment came from outside the client's own organisation, we also had to produce an agreement for relying on the capacity of another party. In this case that meant proving that a specific individual had the qualifications we were relying on, a so-called principally responsible person.
We support that partly through a description of the assignment together with official information about it showing that the person has worked on an assignment of the right character and focus. We also have to establish that the person held a role carrying principal responsibility for the assignment, that is, overall responsibility for it. That is supported either by an employment certificate stating as much, or by the person obtaining personal references attesting to their role. We chose the latter. Beyond that we had to prove that the assignment had the right scope in number of participants and the right duration.
Taken together, the above meant we produced a series of documents: cooperation agreements, draft contracts and statistical material showing that our client had what was being asked for.
This was a time-consuming assignment both for us and for our client, above all because we had to go outside the client's own organisation to secure the application. The initial conversations began in August 2021 and we had a finished application, which we submitted, in November 2021.
The outcome
Our hard work and our client's paid off. After around three to four months of conversations, discussions and joint writing we had a completed application. After a further four months or so of processing at Arbetsförmedlingen, our client received word that the application had been approved, and that they would shortly be able to receive participants for preparatory and matching services.
Written by Sören Björnstad, CEO and bid specialist at Anbud Direkt. We work with Swedish public procurement every day.