Ansible Education Consulting Ltd

Ansible Education Consulting Ltd was established by David Lee in 2016 to build on his extensive experience of working on an employed and freelance basis with further education colleges and independent training providers in business development roles since 2000, including bid writing, subcontractor management and managing apprenticeship, other workplace and classroom-based training delivery.

To date, Ansible Education Consulting has supported providers to submit a wide range of successful tenders, including:

• Education and Skills Funding Agency (ESFA) Register of Apprenticeship Training Providers (RoATP) – 2016-2023: 100% success rate under the original and the December 2020 and May 2021 RoATP “refresh” application processes, including supporting new providers to successfully apply to join through the current process (RoATP became the Apprenticeship Provider and Assessment Register (APAR) in August 2023)
• ESFA procured Adult Education Budget (AEB) – 2017: Wrote successful bids for six providers, five of which were subsequently awarded contracts to deliver AEB-funded education and training and reviewed bids for two other providers, both of which were also awarded contracts with a total annual contract value of £2.22m
• ESFA apprenticeship delivery to non-levied employers – 2017: Wrote successful tenders for five providers, all of which were awarded contracts to deliver non-levied apprenticeships (cumulative annual contract value of over £2m) and reviewed successful tenders for two other providers, both of which were similarly awarded contracts
• ESFA European Social Fund (ESF) – 2018: Wrote successful Skills Support for the Unemployed, Skills Support for the Workforce and Skills Support for those that are NEET or at Risk of Becoming NEET tenders worth a total of £3.25m
• Department for Employment (DfE) Flexible Learning Fund – 2018: Wrote one of the 32 successful applications to deliver the Flexible Learning Fund
• DfE Institutes of Technology (IoTs) – 2018-2019: Wrote successful Stage 1 and Stage 2 tenders for a partnership of a further education college and university to establish an IoT
• Mayor of London’s Construction Academy (MCA) Quality Mark and Hub – 2018: Wrote successful applications for a London further education college to be accredited with the MCA Quality Mark and to set up an MCA Hub
• Greater London Authority devolved AEB – 2019: Supported seven providers to successfully bid to deliver GLA devolved AEB, including writing bids for five providers, and reviewing bids for two others equivalent to 24% of the total number of successful bids by Lot and 30% of total AEB funding awarded, with a total annual contract value of over £9.6m
• Liverpool City Region Combined Authority (LCRCA) devolved AEB – 2019: Supported an independent training provider to successfully bid to deliver LCRCA devolved AEB worth £581k (annual contract value)
• West Midlands Combined Authority (WMCA) devolved AEB – 2019: Supported an independent training provider to successfully bid to deliver WMCA devolved AEB worth £531k (annual contract value)
• North of Tyne Combined Authority (NCTA) devolved AEB – 2020: Supported an independent training provider to successfully bid to deliver NCTA devolved AEB
• Greater Birmingham and Solihull LEP (GBSLEP) Open Call Investment Priority 1.1 ESF – 2019-21: Supported an independent training provider to submit two applications to support unemployed and economically inactive adults into employment worth over £2.5m
• GLA ESF Sector Skills – 2020: Supported an independent training provider to successfully apply to deliver GLA ESF Sector Skills provision, worth over £2m
• ESFA Traineeships – 2020: Two independent training providers supported to successfully apply to deliver Traineeships worth a total of £1.1m
• South Yorkshire Mayoral Combined Authority (Sheffield City Region) devolved AEB – 2021: Supported an independent training provider to successfully bid to deliver a £1m AEB with a score of over 98% (annual contract value))
• GLA Good Work for All AEB/Free Courses for Jobs – 2021: Supported an independent training provider to successfully bid to deliver GLA Good Work for All AEB/FCFJ provision worth £500k (annual contract value)
• GLA ESF Higher Level Skills – 2021: Supported a University to successfully apply to delver GLA ESF Higher Level Skills provision worth £5m
• GLA ESF Creative Enterprise Zones – 2021: Supported an independent training provider to successfully apply to deliver GLA ESF Creative Enterprise Zones project worth £500k
• D2N2 LEP Open Call Investment Priority 1.1 ESF – 2019-21: Supported an independent training provider to submit an application to support unemployed and economically inactive adults into employment worth £560k
• ESFA AEB/FCFJ – 2021: Supported two independent training providers to successfully apply to deliver ESFA-funded AEB and FCFJ provision from August 2021 worth a total of £1.7m (annual contract value)
• GLA Open Call Investment Priority 1.1 ESF – 2021: Supported an independent training provider to submit an application to support unemployed and economically inactive adults into employment worth over £600k
• GLA Mayor’s Academies Programme Hub – 2021: Supported an independent training provider to run an Academies Programme Hub valued at £250k
• DfE HGV Skills Bootcamps – 2021-22: Supported an independent training provider to successfully apply to deliver HGV and Construction Skills Bootcamps worth £200k
• GLA Skills Bootcamps – 2022: Supported an independent training provider to successfully apply to deliver GLA-funded HGV Skills Bootcamps worth £150k and a University to deliver Green Skills Bootcamps worth £120k
• LCRCA HGV Skills Bootcamps – 2022-3: Supported an independent training provider to successfully apply to deliver LCRCA-funded HGV Skills Bootcamps worth £497k
• GLA Jobs and Skills for Londoners AEB/FCFJ – 2022: Supported three providers to successfully apply to deliver GLA Jobs and Skills for Londoners AEB and FCFJ provision worth over £5.3m in total (value of initial two-year contract)
• WMCA Dynamic Purchasing System AEB/FCFJ – 2022-3: Supported two providers to successfully apply to deliver WMCA-funded AEB and FCFJ with a total annual contract value worth £3m across DPS1, DPS6 and DPS7 mini-competitions
• ESFA AEB/FCFJ 2023-24 – 2023: Supported six providers to successfully apply to deliver ESFA-funded AEB and FCFJ provision with a total annual contract value of £10,248m, representing 11.1% and 11.9% of providers awarded AEB and FCFJ contracts respectively and 13.7% of all funding awarded

(Unless indicated, contract values are for the initial one-year contract. Most contracts are for at least two years.)

In addition to the above, David has assisted various independent providers to successfully bid to prime providers to deliver over £4m of subcontracted classroom, workplace and apprenticeship delivery.

David is also a member of two independent training providers’ advisory boards, one of which he also chairs, taking full advantage of over 20 years’ experience of the Further Education sector.

Prior to establishing Ansible Education Consulting, David’s notable bid writing successes include:

• 2000-2004: Over £5m Government Office and Learning and Skills Council (LSC) ESF contract value for a range of projects including supporting NEETs, family learning and workforce development
• 2005-2008: Over £7m LSC ESF and £250k Birmingham City Council Enterprising Communities ESF
• 2008-2010: £5.3m DWP Flexible Routeways ESF, £2.8m LSC Response to Redundancy ESF and £1.3m Young Person’s Guarantee amongst others
• 2011: £12m Skills Funding Agency (SFA) Skills Support for Redundancy and Skills Support for the Unemployed ESF
• 2012: £19m SFA Skills Support for the Workforce ESF and £2m London Councils ESF
• 2014: £2m SFA Skills Support for Work Programme Participants ESF
• 2016: £2.7m SFA NEET, Careers Education, Information Advice and Guidance and Basic English Language for the Unemployed ESF

David’s bid writing takes full advantage of his BA (Hons) degree in English Language and Literature and Master of Philosophy in Canadian and American Studies, both from the University of Birmingham. He has worked in both public and private sectors, including the Manpower Services Commission (the precursor of the Education and Skills Funding Agency), Department of Employment, Collins COBUILD Ltd (a subsidiary of Harper Collins publishers), Birmingham City Council and five leading further education colleges.

Ansible Education Consulting takes its name from the Ansible, an instantaneous, faster than light communication device imagined by the wonderful, feminist, humanist and thought-provoking writer Ursula K. Le Guin (21 October, 1929 – 22 January, 2018) and featured in a number of her novels including The Left Hand of Darkness and The Dispossessed: an Ambiguous Utopia.