GB-Cheshire: The Appointment of Research Organisation Partner

Golden Gates Housing Trust (GGHT) part of the Torus Group are leading a large multi-agency partnership called New Leaf to deliver the Building Better Opportunities Programme across Warrington and Cheshire East and West.

The BBO fund is a key part of the Local Enterprise Partnership's (LEP) European Funding Programme and is being match funded by the BIG Lottery. An allocation of £10.66million has been committed to the programme in Cheshire and Warrington in a single call under the heading of: "Multiple and complex needs". This is aligned with Thematic 09 of the LEP's European Social Investment Fund (ESIF) Strategy: "supporting those in greatest need and ensuring that all residents of Cheshire and Warrington can benefit from economic growth and prosperity".

New Leaf is a learning project and partnership which is both proactive in identifying gaps and reactive to addressing any future emerging needs or client groups and tackling any particular delivery challenges and barriers. Within the Business Plan, an Action Research and Pilot Fund of over £1 million has been created.

Therefore, New Leaf are seeking to appoint a research partner organisation to undertaken a gap analysis in regards to:

1. Unemployed and economically inactive local people with complex barriers across the Cheshire LEP to support them into positive destinations. Building on the analysis of need carried out in 2016; emerging need identified by New Leaf partners and participants; and taking account of other mainstream and funded services targeting those experiencing multiple disadvantage across Cheshire and Warrington.

2. The need of capacity building of Voluntary Sector partners, by increasing skills and infrastructure to improving their capacity to deliver and win future work and contracts

Utilising the collated data, the research partner will inform specifications for service design of additional activity which avoids duplication and enhances the impact of the New Leaf Programme.

Organisations responding to this opportunity are required to set out their proposal demonstrating how they would undertake this work together with a fixed price proposal for delivery between July and September 2017. They should draw on and detail any relevant experience they have in undertaking similar projects and are encouraged to state innovative ways to boost the robustness of the data and service design which will ensure effectiveness of impact of new activity going forward.

Tender documents can be accessed online via the Delta eSourcing portal with completed submissions required to be submitted in the 'Tenderbox' no later than 12:00 noon on the 7 July 2017.