Department for Education s2

Condition Improvement Fund 2015 to 2016

Scope change request guidance

September 2015 version 1.0

Contents 2

Introduction 3

Process 3

Circumstances of acceptable scope change requests 4

Reduction in third party or provider contribution and size of the works 4

Changes in the details / scale / location of the works 4

Using an underspend on additional works 4

Transfer of CIF funding between projects 4

Payment profile change requests / changes in project timing 5

Requests for additional funding 5

General CIF scope change request form rules 6

Step-by-step CIF portal guidance 6

Introduction

This document sets out the process for submitting Condition Improvement Fund (CIF) scope change requests via the CIF portal. This also includes examples of the types of requests that we are likely to agree to.

Changes are likely to occur where you are unable to proceed with some or all of the approved works due to a change in circumstances, or where there is forecast underspend, which the provider is requesting consent to use on other additional works. The changes are likely to be approved if they are necessary for the project to proceed, or are shown to be a more reasonable option than the original proposal. The changes should be minimal in value and generally less than 15% of the CIF allocation or £50,000, whichever is the lower. However, this may vary depending on the circumstances. A scope change request is more likely to be accepted if the original aims of the approved application are still being met. We will only consider requests for additional funding up to a maximum of 10% of the approved EFA grant.

Proposed changes are unlikely to be accepted if the changes are not necessary or are an attempt to allocate an underspend on additional works outside the original scope of the project which do not relate to the original project.

Process

You can submit a scope change request at any point following receipt of notification that your project has been successful up to project completion, in order to request consent to change the scope of the works.

In all cases the proposed changes will be reviewed against the original CIF assessment criteria and rescored to see if the project still meets the appropriate CIF successful project threshold. If the threshold is met then the changes are likely to be acceptable, subject to the criteria set out below.

Changes that occur in build which are required in order for the project to complete will generally be approved, if the alternative is an incomplete project, depending on the specific circumstances of each case.

You can request that the CIF team alter your payment profile and we will assess the submission and decide if it is necessary. An exception to this is where your funding total changes and a payment profile change will be triggered by the CIF team.

Payment profile change requests, scope changes and the CIF team raising a payment profile on your behalf are all mutually exclusive processes. This means if one of these is active you will not be able to access the other two. If this happens please either await the resolution of the change request or withdraw the request (if applicable).

Circumstances of acceptable scope change requests

Reduction in third party or provider contribution and size of the works

A request is likely to be acceptable if the proposal is to scale back the scope of the works as a result of an unavoidable reduction in your financial contribution or the contribution of a third party as long as the project still meets the successful project threshold following reassessment.

Changes in the details / scale / location of the works

Changes in the detail of the works, or a reduction in the scale as a result of increased tender costs, are likely to be accepted if the alternative is that the project will not be able to proceed or only proceed with additional CIF allocations. Changes to the location of expansion projects are likely to be acceptable as long as it can be demonstrated that the original project aims are still being met. This is unlikely to be acceptable for condition projects as we will not usually agree to a different set of works. The project should always seek to meet its original aims. In exceptional circumstances, we may agree to the CIF allocation being transferred to works that have a higher priority than the originally approved project, especially where the higher priority works are required to keep the building open.

Using an underspend on additional works

Where tender costs received are lower than the project estimate and you would like to use the underspend on additional works, are likely to be accepted if the project still meets the successful project threshold and the additional works are connected to or are a continuation of the project. This is not acceptable if the additional works are completely unrelated to the original project, eg. toilet refurbishment for a re-roofing project. The underspend should also be less than 15% of the CIF allocation. We will not pay out the grant on any underspend which is greater than 15%. Where the grant has already been paid in full and the additional works are not eligible we will claw back any underspend.

Transfer of CIF funding between projects

Providers with more than one approved CIF project, under paragraph 8 of the terms and conditions, you can transfer funding between the projects where there is an underspend on one project and an overspend on another. A scope change request is still required so that we are aware of these changes and consent will usually be given as long as all both projects still meet their original aims.

Payment profile change requests / changes in project timing

Payment profile change requests as a result of changes in project timing are not classed as scope change requests and you should submit a separate on-line Payment profile change request guidance. In some cases you may also need to submit a separate payment profile change request after we have accepted a scope change request that requires changes to the payment profile.

You do not need to submit a separate payment profile change request if the scope change request results in changes to the total amount of CIF funding, as we will trigger this as part of the scope change process.. We may also amend your payment profile at any time, where we become aware that this is necessary, and you will receive a communication explaining this.

Requests for additional funding

Providers are expected to meet any project cost increases. If the increased costs cannot be met, we would expect savings to be made elsewhere on the project or parts of the project to be scaled back or removed. In exceptional circumstances where this is not feasible, we will consider agreeing additional funding if the project still meets the successful project threshold taking into account the increase in costs and any other changes in circumstances.

Any additional funding will be up to a maximum of 10% of the approved CIF allocation or £50,000, whichever is the lower amount. Additional project costs greater than this, we may consider offering a CIF loan for part of the additional costs, but this will be subject to you meeting the CIF loan criteria. We will only consider requests for more than this amount in cases where the project has progressed significantly through the construction phase. We will then need to understand the reasons for this which may have implications on us agreeing any future capital funding.

General CIF scope change request form rules

Please read these general scope change request rules before completing a submission.

· The user can select the category of change being requested (multiple selections can be made where necessary)

· Text boxes have a word limit of 300 (for revised scope) and 500 (for reason of scope change and alternatives considered). Please consider your comments to keep them concise and relevant

· Revised milestone dates cannot be placed in the past and cannot be placed after the project completion date

· If the funding amount changes and your request is accepted, we may update your payment profile to reflect this. If you would like to amend your new payment profile, you may submit a payment profile change request. Please refer to the Payment profile change request guidance on the CIF portal for further details about this

· You can upload up to two supporting documents, which you can view and delete before you submit

· If information is entered incorrectly, you will receive an error and will not be able to submit until this has been corrected and the save button has been pressed to re-validate the form

Step-by-step CIF portal guidance

This is a step-by-step guide showing how to access and submit a scope change request on the CIF portal.

1. Go to the CIF portal website.

2. Log on to the CIF portal using the username associated with the project.

3. Select current projects from the navigation menu.

Select Request under Change Scope/Project Monitoring.

The user is then presented with the Scope Change & Project Monitoring page.

Select Raise Scope Change Request. If a request is saved select update scope change.

The Raise Scope Change Request button is not available if there is an outstanding payment profile change request. Please wait for resolution of this or withdraw the request to gain access to raise a scope change.

The user is then presented with the Scope Change Request form

Once all relevant sections are complete select Save (this is a required step). This checks to ensure any change in funding, cost or milestones are valid. Once saved a user can return to complete or amend the scope change request at a later period. Once saved and the user is satisfied all of the information entered is correct, select Submit (which at this stage is active).

The user can select Withdraw Scope Change Request when a saved or submitted request is active. This option will be unavailable after a CIF administrator has reviewed the request.

This will be assessed by a member of the CIF team and an email notifying you of the outcome will be sent to your attached email address.