Published date: 28 February 2023

Last edited date: 10 April 2023

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.


Closing: 17 March 2023, 12pm

Contract summary

Industry

  • Feasibility study, advisory service, analysis - 71241000

Location of contract

East of England, London, South East

Value of contract

£75,000

Procurement reference

UKSPF Business Advisory Services Tender

Published date

28 February 2023

Closing date

17 March 2023

Closing time

12pm

Contract start date

3 April 2023

Contract end date

28 March 2025

Contract type

Service contract

Procedure type

Open procedure (below threshold)

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

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

Contract is suitable for SMEs?

Yes

Contract is suitable for VCSEs?

Yes

Description

Basildon Borough Council (BBC) are looking to procure a business support provider to deliver additional business support advisory services across two years - 2023/24 & 2024/25 for businesses and residents based within the Borough.

This is a one-off project estimated to last two years (subject to the Council's sole option to terminate in whole or part at the end of Year 1 on at least one months' notice if the Council is not in receipt of or only partially receive the final year of UKSPF where there is a failure to meet outcomes and targets and no realistic plan to address underperformance).

The allocated revenue funding is intended to cover the costs of additional Business Advisory Support Capacity, any lead generation activities and travel expenses over the lifetime of the project and the capital funding is intended to support the cost of any equipment needed, together with a number of capital grants to businesses etc. Basildon Council would envisage working with the nominated supplier to agree the precise nature and structure of the grant award programme once supplier is appointed.

The provider will be expected to generate sufficient leads to achieve the contractual targets set out within the service specification, although the Council may also be able to support with some marketing and promotion.

For example, in response to the situation described above, Basildon Council has been undertaking a pilot project to explore whether we could offer additional support to companies that we have identified as being 'In Distress' and those with 'Scaleup Potential', and we would envisage these companies being particularly good beneficiaries to target with the additional business advisory support capacity we put in place through this contract.

This project is funded by the UK Shared Prosperity Fund. The contractor will need to have regard to the UKSPF Prospectus and Additional Guidance https://www.gov.uk/government/collections/uk-shared-prosperity-fund-additional-information when delivering this project to ensure that Basildon Borough Council can comply with the reporting and performance management, monitoring and evaluation, assurance and risk and branding and publicity guidelines. Basildon Borough's UKSPF Investment Plans can be found at https://basildon.gov.uk/article/9154/Basildon-for-Business-The-UK-Shared-Prosperity-Fund-UKSPF.

Basildon Council requires a specialist organisation to deliver free business support across Basildon Borough for a period of up to two years for the purpose of increasing the number of businesses accessing support services from within the Borough. This will include a series of targeted interventions to raise the profile of the available support, such as (as a minimum) workshops, webinars, targeted marketing campaigns and drop-in sessions.

Interested bidders please read the ITT attached to this notice. Suppliers must submit their bids on: https://www.delta-esourcing.com/delta and use the Access Code: RM6SJ99M29

More information

Attachments

About the buyer

Address

The Basildon Centre
St Martins Square
BASILDON
SS14 1DL
England

Email

procurement@basildon.gov.uk