--- title: "Strengthening Higher Education for Female Empowerment Programme (SHEFE)" ocid: "ocds-h6vhtk-045424" canonical_url: "https://d3tenders.com/contract/?ocid=ocds-h6vhtk-045424" markdown_url: "https://d3tenders.com/contract/ocds-h6vhtk-045424.md" json_url: "https://d3tenders.com/contract/ocds-h6vhtk-045424.json" source: "Find A Tender Service" current_stage: "Planning" buyer: "FOREIGN COMMONWEALTH AND DEVELOPMENT OFFICE" published: "2024-04-22" --- # Strengthening Higher Education for Female Empowerment Programme (SHEFE) Buyer: FOREIGN COMMONWEALTH AND DEVELOPMENT OFFICE Current stage: Planning OCID: ocds-h6vhtk-045424 [View canonical contract page](https://d3tenders.com/contract/?ocid=ocds-h6vhtk-045424) [Download OCDS JSON](https://d3tenders.com/contract/ocds-h6vhtk-045424.json) ## Summary The Foreign Commonwealth and Development Office is planning the Strengthening Higher Education for Female Empowerment Programme (SHEFE). The programme aims to reform higher education systems to support women and girls, focusing on promoting STEM degrees and inclusive digital education. This planned procurement, valued at £40 million, involves two main areas of work - grant selection and project management, and the creation of a Centre of Expertise for Higher Education. Suppliers are invited to engage in early market feedback by midday on the 7th May 2024. This tender by the Foreign Commonwealth and Development Office presents an opportunity for businesses involved in foreign economic-aid-related services, particularly those with expertise in higher education and women empowerment initiatives. The procurement stage is currently in planning, with the deadline for market feedback set for the 7th May 2024. Businesses interested in contributing to this programme's objectives can engage with the FCDO team through the provided channels to provide feedback and potentially participate in the tender process. ## Notice The Strengthening Higher Education for Female Empowerment Programme will reform higher education systems to deliver a better future for women and girls by breaking down barriers preventing women from accessing and thriving in the HE sector. There will be a focus on promoting STEM degrees, inclusive digital education and greater safeguarding practices for women and girls. This will build on previous work done in this space since 2016. SHEFE aims to improve the quality and relevance, scale and affordability of higher education, including to make it more accessible to underrepresented groups, and the performance, governance and influence of HE systems and HE institutions. There will also be a strong focus on ensuring current HE systems and institutions enable graduates to become active, productive members of the workforce. SHEFE is anticipated to consist of two main areas of work consisting of the facilitation of two phases of grant selection and subsequent grant management of the 12 selected projects. The second area of work will be the creation of a Centre of Expertise for Higher Education, which will be a demand led facility to ensure the FCDO's global network has access to high-quality technical expertise, best practice and tailored policy advice. The total value of the potential programme will be PS40 Million (Excluding options). As well as holding overall administrative responsibility of the grants and establishing grant arrangements and provide technical expertise where required. The supplier will be expected to work closely with the projects, FCDO London team and the three FCDO regional higher education advisors. This is the second stage of early market engagement for SHEFE, the FCDO is looking to engage with suppliers to provide feedback on the current draft Terms of Reference for the programme to aid with their development and inform the sourcing strategy approach. We ask that Suppliers register on the Jaggaer Portal and sign up to the PQQ titled 'Strengthening Higher Education for Female Empowerment (SHEFE) EME 2'. Once registered Suppliers will be able to access the draft Terms of Reference and link to complete the Questionnaire. All future communications relating to market engagement and pre-procurement messaging will be sent through the portal. Please note that this is not the PQQ stage of the formal procurement process and non-attendance will not impact any bidder's opportunity to participate in the tender process. Any issues with accessing this PQQ should be reported to Marco.Hurst@FCDO.gov.uk There is also the opportunity for suppliers to provide verbal feedback in virtual 1-1 engagement sessions with the SHEFE Programme team alongside submission of the questionnaire. Should you wish to do so please should indicate availability within the dedicated section of the questionnaire. Thank you for your time in advance in reviewing the Draft Terms of Reference and providing feedback, please can responses to the survey be provided by Midday on the 7th May 2024. This is not a call to competition or tender at this time. ### Lot Information Lot 1 This is not a call for competition or tender at this time. Early Market Engagement will inform FCDO's approach to this procurement. ## Key Details | Field | Value | | --- | --- | | Publication source | Find A Tender Service | | Latest notice | https://www.find-tender.service.gov.uk/Notice/013014-2024 | | Notice type | Planning Notice | | Procurement type | Standard | | Procurement category | Services | | Procurement method | Not Specified | | Procurement method details | Not specified | | Tender suitability | Not specified | | Awardee scale | Not specified | | All stages | Planning | ## Dates | Field | Value | | --- | --- | | Publication date | 22 Apr 2024 | | Submission deadline | Not specified | | Future notice date | 30 Jul 2024 | | Award date | Not specified | | Contract period | Not specified | | Recurrence | Not specified | ## Values | Field | Value | | --- | --- | | Tender value | Not specified | | Lots value | Not specified | | Awards value | Not specified | | Contracts value | Not specified | ## Status | Field | Value | | --- | --- | | Tender status | Planned | | Lots status | Planned | | Awards status | Not specified | | Contracts status | Not specified | ## Buyer | Field | Value | | --- | --- | | Main buyer | FOREIGN COMMONWEALTH AND DEVELOPMENT OFFICE | | Locality | LONDON | | Post town | South West London | | Postcode | SW1A 2AH | | Country | England | | ITL 1 | TLI London | | ITL 2 | TLI3 Inner London - West | | ITL 3 | TLI35 Westminster and City of London | | Local authority | Westminster | | Electoral ward | St James's | | Westminster constituency | Cities of London and Westminster | | Delivery location | Not specified | ## CPV Codes ### Divisions - 75 - Administration, defence and social security services ### Codes - 75211200 - Foreign economic-aid-related services ## Release History - 22 Apr 2024 at 14:41 - Planning - Planning Notice - https://www.find-tender.service.gov.uk/Notice/013014-2024 ## Notice URLs - http://www.gov.uk/fcdo - https://fcdo.bravosolution.co.uk/ ## Provenance This Markdown file is an alternate public rendering of the D3 Tenders contract record. The canonical page is https://d3tenders.com/contract/?ocid=ocds-h6vhtk-045424. The underlying structured data is available as OCDS JSON at https://d3tenders.com/contract/ocds-h6vhtk-045424.json.