Procurement Opportunity to deliver Innovation Assessments

As part of the UK government Levelling Up Agenda, the East Riding of Yorkshire Council (ERYC) has been allocated funds through the UK Shared Prosperity Fund (UKSPF) to support us in the development of our communities, local businesses and personal skills, training, and professional development.

Through supporting local businesses our priority aims are, to:

East Riding of Yorkshire Council (ERYC) Business Support Team wishes to procure a company / companies to work alongside us to deliver a programme of support to help our business community to recognise and maximise opportunities for innovation within the workplace.

This support will be provided directly to East Riding businesses to help them at any stage of their journey to identify where they are on the technology readiness level scale (TRL), through reviewing the progress made up to the point of consultation to help the business to understand what the next steps might be and compile a future plan on what further actions are required to commercialise the product / service ideas, and accelerate the path to market.

The engagement with these businesses could come in from two different approaches: from support received by the ERYC Business support team and therefore be referred in via the team, or it is anticipated that the majority of business opportunities funnelled through our successful company will be generated through their own client services network/portfolio, as the focus on innovation in this arena will be expected with the skills and attributes to further support this.

Given the geography of East Riding, it is important that the support provided is flexible and responsive across the range of business sizes from micro, small, and medium sized SMEs. We are wanting to work with a responsive, adaptable partner organisation(s) or individual(s) to deliver this support on our behalf.

The innovation support programme will therefore need to be flexible with a clear project management plan in place to ensure effective working and communication with the ERYC Business Support Team to enable the programme to be responsive in terms of the needs of our business community, providing clarity of business progress at every stage of the journey.

Questions about the specification should be directed to Josh Elliott-Shircore via email business.support@eastriding.gov.uk by noon Thursday 23rd May 2024.

If you are interested in this opportunity responses should be sent to Josh Elliott-Shircore via email business.support@eastriding.gov.uk by 5PM Tuesday 4th June 2024.

Additional information: Proposal Requirements

Response should include as a minimum:

Knowledge & experience

Project Management skills

Price

Clear cost breakdown either hourly rate/s to be applied or cost per business supported.

The maximum value of the contract is £30,000 + VAT to include any additional costs including travel and other expenses. These costs should be factored into your submission.

Marketing of the project

ERYC will undertake marketing activities aimed at promoting the programme and it is expected that the successful bidder will also undertake their own marketing activity to their current database of clients and networks.

ERYC will develop marketing collateral as needed.

Where businesses are identified by ERYC these will be forwarded to the successful bidder for consideration for support through the programme.

Timescales:

Attachments

Tender Brief - Appendix 1 & 2: Award criteria & Scoring criteria Appendix 3: ERYC terms and conditions