Scoring Expression of Interest submissions

Our EOIs are scored fairly and transparently in line with Merlin Guidelines:

  • Organisational details, including turnover/DUNS number/quality marks, are unscored, and used for reference only. These would only be scored to provide guidance where there is a tie break situation
  • Yes/no questions such as “is your organisation interested in end to end delivery?” are unscored and used for reference only
  • Some “yes/no” questions may be scored out of 1, for example “Does your organisation have experience delivering [service]?”
  • Qualitative questions are generally scored out of 5, as per the below:
    • 5: Complete confidence in provider’s ability to deliver, all elements of the question fully answered. Specific detail provided
    • 4: Overall confidence in provider’s ability to deliver – all elements of the question answered, with only minor omissions, some specific detail provided
    • 3: Satisfactory level of confidence in provider’s ability to deliver – most elements covered and some detail provided with gaps
    • 2: Provider does not demonstrate their ability to deliver in most areas, although some areas are covered
    • 1: No confidence in provider’s ability to deliver. Scant and irrelevant detail provided

Tips for submitting a high-scoring EOI

  • Answer all points in the question, ideally reflecting the order of any bullet points
  • Headings and bolded key text make responses easier to follow
  • Include specific detail and examples
  • Process questions (e.g. “explain your NEET engagement approach”) should be answered as a process (e.g. we work with partners such as X,Y,Z to engage NEET young people) not as a case study (e.g. “we worked with Tom, a young ex-offender) , although some specific detailed examples may add value.
  • Provide specific statistical performance details in the Performance question (with justification/explanation where required) – “hit all our targets” will not score as highly as “97% of sustainment target”
  • Max word count gives an indication of the detail expected, so it is advisable to use as much of the space available as possible. For example, a 100 word response to a 400 word max question is not likely to score as well as a longer one as it will probably not contain the required detail
  • EOIs are tailored to each bidding opportunity, reflecting the specific requirements of the commissioner. Answers which clearly address these requirements will achieve higher scores than generic responses.