Published date: 5 July 2018

This notice was replaced on 9 October 2018

This notice does not contain the most up-to-date information about this procurement. The most recent notice is:

Awarded contract (published 9 October 2018)

Closed opportunity - This means that the contract is currently closed. The buying department may be considering suppliers that have already applied, or no suitable offers were made.


Contract summary

Industry

  • Administration services - 75100000

Location of contract

North East, North West, Yorkshire and the Humber, East Midlands, West Midlands, East of England, London, South East, South West

Value of contract

£7,200,000 to £12,000,000

Procurement reference

Invitation to Tender - The Reach Fund

Published date

5 July 2018

Closing date

6 August 2018

Contract start date

13 October 2018

Contract end date

13 October 2021

Contract type

Service contract

Procedure type

Open procedure (above threshold)

Any interested supplier may submit a tender in response to an opportunity notice.

This procedure can be used for procurements above the relevant contract value threshold.

Contract is suitable for SMEs?

Yes

Contract is suitable for VCSEs?

Yes

Description

Access - The Foundation for Social Investment are seeking a partner to deliver grant administration services for
"The Reach Fund", our investment readiness grant programme for charities and social enterprise in England.
Access was set up in 2015 by the UK Government, Big Lottery Fund and Big Society Capital.
2 / 5
Access works to make charities and social enterprises in England more financially resilient and self-reliant, so that they can sustain or increase their impact. We do this through supporting the development of enterprise activity to grow and diversify income, and improving access to the social investment which can help stimulate
that enterprise activity. In 2016 Access established the Reach Fund to test a new model of providing investment readiness support to charities and social enterprises. Following the successful piloting of the fund over the last two years, Access wishes to contract a provider to deliver the Reach Fund for at least a further three years, from 13/10/2018. We are looking to work with an experienced grant administrator who will be comfortable with the iterative nature
of delivering this programme, with the ability to learn and adapt as the programme progresses. We plan to support this programme for at least a further three years, with a possible extension of up to two more. Given the programme is already in place with 23 Access Points appointed to date, we do not expect a significant build
up period will be required so would expect broadly even volumes of applications over the next three years.We expect the average investment readiness grant made to charities and social enterprises to be £15k and we expect 480 organisations over 3 years to benefit. This results in a total expected grant spend of £7.2m over three years. If the programme is extended for a further 2 years, we would expect a further grant spend of up to £5m. We ask prospective grant administrators to estimate the costs of delivering a programme with the above quoted grant volumes. The tenderer should evidence the ability to:
a) Manage the relationship with the current Access points and maintaining the application process for new
Access Points
b) Establish and maintain positive relationships with each of the Access points
c) Show why they are well placed to manage these relationships
d) Maintain the website to manage the online diagnostic and grant application process for charities and social
enterprises working with their Access points
e) Manage the grant application, scoring, decision making, payment and grant monitoring processes
f) Manage any issues related to State Aid
g) Monitor the grants made to charities and social enterprises
h) Gather, report and publish data from the fund's activities in coordination with Access
i) Solicit and respond to feedback from lenders, grant recipients and support providers and work with Access to
refine the programme
Further detail as well as the award criteria are included in the ITT available on our website

More information

Attachments

Links

Additional text

Following the successful piloting of the Reach Fund over the last two years, Access wishes to contract a provider to deliver the Reach Fund for at least a further three years, from 13th October 2018. For more information or if you would like to apply, please read our Invitation to Tender for the Reach Fund and submit a proposal of no more than 20 pages to applications@access-si.org.uk by noon on Monday, 6 August 2018.

About the buyer

Contact name

Janie Oliver

Address

8-10 New Fetter Lane
London
EC4A1AZ
England

Telephone

02070846834

Email

janie.oliver@access-si.org.uk

Website

https://access-socialinvestment.org.uk