Business Support Services Future Growth Programme 2

Essex County Council (ECC) are seeking to commence procurement in March 2024 to procure an integrated Business Support, Financial Support, Skills Consultancy & Brokerage service. The service, working closely with the Government funded Growth Hub, will help provide the front door for businesses seeking advice and support in the County, enabling them to have the knowledge necessary to achieve growth and prosperity as well as access to business finance. The area covered by the service will be the Ceremonial County of Essex, excluding Southend and Thurrock Unitary Authority areas.

This procurement will be subject to internal governance.

The proposed term of the contract will be 21 months. Bids can be from a single organisation, a consortium or a lead entity with sub-contracting; this will be at the supplier's discretion but is subject to agreement from Essex County Council.

We are proposing tendering as a single lot with 3 main areas of focus:

Focus Area 1 : Business Support Service

Focus Area 2: Financial Support Service

Focus Area 3: Skills Consultancy and Brokerage Service

More information regarding the Focus Areas are available in the document attached.

This Prior Information Notice (PIN) has been issued to the open market to obtain expressions of interest as well as details of indicative bidding model (single supplier, part of a group or consortium or subcontractor).

We are requesting that interested suppliers respond via emailing sam.hadi@essex.gov.uk to confirm their interest, as well as their indicative bidding model.

Responses should be submitted by EOP Friday 23rd February 2024.

Additional information: This Prior Information Notice (PIN) has been issued to the open market to obtain expressions of interest as well as details of indicative bidding model (single supplier, part of a group or consortium or subcontractor).

We are requesting that interested suppliers respond via emailing sam.hadi@essex.gov.uk to confirm their interest, as well as their indicative bidding model.

Responses should be submitted by EOP Friday 23rd February 2024.

Please note this PIN/Early Engagement/Request for Information (RFI) is not intended as a call for competition and as such you will need to express your interest in any future tender opportunity once the contract notice is published in Find a Tender and on Contracts Finder.

Please note the invitation to tender (ITT) for this project will be carried out via Essex County Council's eSourcing portal, Proactis ProContract. If you have not already registered, it is recommended that you do so in good time ahead of the planned procurement publication date in March 2024 as suppliers will require a registered account to participate in the tender once published. Registration is free of charge and gives bidders access to opportunities from several other Local Authority and Public Sector organisations. To register, visit: Supplier registration (due-north.com)

The Proactis supplier helpdesk (https://www.proactis.com/uk/support-login/support/) can help with registration queries.