Building a Resource for Racially Equitable Public Engagement - Expression of Interest

The NCCPE’s mission is to build an inclusive Higher Education (HE) sector where publics and communities contribute to and benefit from knowledge, teaching and research. We support Higher Education Institutions (HEIs) through services, training and guidance to improve public engagement and inspire culture change. 

We are committed to inclusion and are working with our Inclusion Advisory Group – Racial Equity (IAG – RE), who advise on internal and external processes, with regards to racial equity. They will be supporting the development of this resource. 

The purpose of the resource is to promote racially equitable and anti-racist practices in public engagement. 

We want to commission a resource that supports Public Engagement Professionals to: 

• Consider how racial equity affects public engagement
• Design public engagement programmes in a racially equitable way
• Reflect on their practice through an anti-racist lens
• Challenge assumptions about racial equity in their work
• Take action to challenge racism and enact anti-racist policies 

What is the offer  

We are offering a budget of up to £18,000+VAT to produce this online resource over a suggested period of 5 months. 

You will be able to outline how you would spend your budget if you are invited to submit a full proposal. 

We are looking to appoint an individual, organisation or partnership with: 

• Significant experience in racial equity and equitable engagement
• Experience supporting organisations to address racism
• Expertise in creating engaging content that fosters reflection and change
• Expertise in working collaboratively in the design and development of resources – including utilising focus groups, to inform resource content and approach
• Commitment to being inclusive in their work 

We recognise that bidding for work can take time. Therefore we will take a 3-stage approach to the application process. 

For now, we are asking for Expressions of Interest from suppliers who are interested in tendering for this work. The Expression of Interest asks you to share information about your commitment to inclusion, experiences and initial ideas about your vision for the resource. These will be assessed and up to 6 potential suppliers will be shortlisted. These applicants will be given the final brief and invited to respond with a full proposal.  

We hope this process reduces burden on potential suppliers wishing to work with us to develop the guide. 

Stage 1: Suppliers are invited to respond to the following questions:

• Lead applicant, contact details
• A short description of the individual, organisation or collaboration / partnership
• Up to 250 words detailing your commitment to inclusion
• Up to 250 words describing your initial ideas about your vision for the resource
• Up to three examples of relevant experience and a description about each

Stage 2: No more than 6 applicants will be invited to submit a full proposal.

Evaluation Criteria 

The full proposals will be reviewed in light of: 

• Experience and commitment to EDI, specifically racial equity
• The outlined approach to developing the resource
• Creativity in communicating the information and engaging the user
• Proposed budget

Stage 3: Once the full proposals have been submitted, a panel will review the applications and shortlist no more than 3 submissions. These applicants may be invited to a short online interview. 

For questions or to discuss the brief further, please email NCCPE.directors@uwe.ac.uk. 

If you have any questions you would like to ask anonymously please post your queries on our Padlet board here. We will endeavour to respond via the Padlet within 3 working days.