New Podcast: Key Reasons Why CIF Bids Fail

In our latest podcast, Warneford Consulting’s, Tim Warneford, looks at the impact of the delay of the Condition Improvement Fund (CIF) announcement, key reasons why CIF bids fail and how to ensure a submission stands every chance of success.

The ESFA have recently announced that the publication of the 2021-22 round of Condition Improvement Fund (CIF) awards would not be until ‘mid-June’.

This delay will have an impact on the preparedness of consultants and their supply chain in terms of lead-in periods for Brexit/CV19 affected materials and also on programmed allocation of resources.

The domino effect will also increase health and safety risks associated by in-term, live building environments, that would otherwise have been delivered during the summer holi-days. Furthermore, the likely overrun in to September will see a greater chance of disrup-tion to day-to-day school operations.

Some schools may be forced to defer the project and as a result, the condition of the fabric and the teaching and learning environment will continue to deteriorate.

In our latest Podcast, Tim looks at 3 key reasons why CIF bids fail, emphasising the volume of annual applications and the risks associated with placing a higher value on the quantity over the quality of submissions themselves. Finally, he focuses on the need for trusts and their consultants to work collaboratively and for the trust to appreciate the value of invest-ing in a financial contribution to the overall project cost.

Tim also looks at ways in which a trust, their chosen consultant and their supply chain part-ners can best prepare their submissions to ensure that it is afforded the depth of care and attention that is now required to compete for finite funds, against an increasing level of applicants.

Listen to the podcast here for more (approximately a 15 minute listen).