Official UK procurement notice
Ambitious Essex Enhanced Growth Hub
Authority: Essex County Council (Local council)
What is being bought
Published requirement descriptionEssex County Council (ECC) have awarded the Ambitious Essex Enhanced Growth Hub, due to begin service April 2026.
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.
This approach reflects ECC's commitment to delivering a more coherent and impactful business support ecosystem, better positioned to meet the needs of Essex's large and diverse SME base and to drive inclusive economic growth across key sectors.
CPV: Business services: law, marketing, consulting, recruitment, printing and security · Financial and insurance services
The lotProcurement structure
single lot · value publishedLot #1AwardedRenewalPublished value£1,140,000
What it takes to wini
How this buyer will score bids.
The evaluation criteria and weights exactly as published on the notice, grouped by family (price, quality, social value and so on).
Evaluation split and conditions of participation as published; the tender pack may add morei
How this buyer will score bids.
The evaluation criteria and weights exactly as published on the notice, grouped by family (price, quality, social value and so on).
Published sub-criteria (4)
- Quality: 45%
- Climate: 5%
- Price: 40%
- Social Value: 10%
Published award criteria (4)
- Price
- Quality
- Social Value
- Climate
- Price carries 40 of 100 points: a 10% discount moves about 4 points. The method statement decides this lot, not the discount.
Price arithmetic assumes straight proportional scoring; the tender pack may use another formula.
Procedure terms & legal framework
From the official record- Procedure method
- Open procedure
- Legal basis
- UKPGA · 2023/54 Procurement Act 2023
- Procurement category
- Services
- Notice status
- Awarded
- Procurement threshold
- Above threshold (FTS publication)
- Regulatory regime
- Light touch regime
- Commercial structure
- Stand-alone contract (no framework)
- Competition type
- Competitive procedure
- GPA / WTO covered
- Unspecified in notice
- Recurring procurement
- Unspecified in notice
- First published
- 15 Aug 2025, 13:27 BST
- Last source update
- 5 Mar 2026, 15:08 GMT
- Award evaluation window
- Submission end – 1 Apr 2026
- Authority reference
PL0117- FTS notice number
2026/S 000-001232- Latest notice
- Contract details notice (UK7)
- Classification (CPV)
- Delivery area
- Official registry OCID
ocds-h6vhtk-0588ecFind a Tender
- Risks
- It is anticipated, that during the life of this contract, the LGR process will commence and progress potentially impacting this contract. Impacts may include, but are not limited to, modifications such as a transfer of the legal entity you currently contract with, significant increases and/or decreases in the value/volume of services and works required due to the change in size/scope of the Contracting Authority, and/or changes to the scope of the nature of goods/services/works required. Although any contract scope changes should broadly relate to the nature of the existing scope, new goods/services/works of a related nature may be required that were not previously included.
- As a result of withdrawal or increase in funding there is a risk that funding may change throughout the lifetime of the contract Leading to a need to modify the contract to either decrease or increase the services.
How it was run
Official notice- Submission deadline
- 2 Feb 2026, 12:00 GMT
- Clarification deadline
- 21 Jan 2026, 16:00 GMT
- Submission channel
- Official e-sourcing portal
- Electronic submission
- Allowed
- Accepted languages
- en
The bids to be submitted electronically to Procontract : procontract.due-north.com/RFx/RFxSummary ↗
Timeline
15 Aug 2025 → 1 Apr 2026 · 10 dates- Planning notice published15 Aug 2025, 13:27 BST
- Market engagement5 Sept 2025, 23:59 BST
Essex County Council is conducting soft market testing to inform the development of our future business support offer.
The Council currently has a business support contract in place that will expire in March 2026, alongside our nationally funded Growth Hub contract.
With changes underway in the business support landscape-including the introduction of the national Business Growth Service-we are seeking input to help shape a suitable contract and procurement process.
As part of the Council's pre-procurement work, market engagement for the development of a new countywide business support service has already conducted with businesses who may use the service, via a comprehensive survey. This survey enabled us to better understand the current challenges that businesses are facing, what they would want from a business support offer, growth prospects, business support functions, and many other metrics.
The Council would now like to hear from potential bidders. To respond to soft market testing please complete the questionnaire found here: forms.office.com/e/RPe5nEf3vv ↗ The deadline for responses is Friday 5th September.
- Tender notice published287 days ago7 Jan 2026, 16:58 GMT
- Clarification questions by273 days ago21 Jan 2026, 16:00 GMT
- Submission deadline261 days ago2 Feb 2026, 12:00 GMT
- Assessment summaries sent247 days ago17 Feb 2026
- Standstill ends237 days ago26 Feb 2026, 23:59 GMT
- Latest notice published230 days ago5 Mar 2026, 15:08 GMT
- Contract starts204 days ago1 Apr 2026, 00:00 BST
- Award decision expected by203 days ago1 Apr 2026, 23:59 BST
Notice history
10 events · 4 releases on Find a Tender · since 15 Aug 2025- Preliminary market engagement notice published15 Aug 2025, 13:27 BSTUK2
- Tender notice published7 Jan 2026, 16:58 GMTUK4
- Published value updated to £1,140,0007 Jan 2026, 16:58 GMTwas £1,500,000
- Status changed to active7 Jan 2026, 16:58 GMT
- Procurement method changed7 Jan 2026, 16:58 GMT
- Deadline published: 2 Feb 2026, 12:00 GMT7 Jan 2026, 16:58 GMT
- Contract award notice published17 Feb 2026, 18:01 GMTUK6
- Status changed to complete17 Feb 2026, 18:01 GMT
- Contract signature expected27 Feb 2026, 23:59 GMTscheduled
- Contract details notice published5 Mar 2026, 15:08 GMTUK7
Routine re-releases (4)
- 2025-08: 1 release · 15 Aug 2025
Commercial outcome & contract awards
Published awards, contracts and bid statistics, not a forecast| Awarded to | Value | Date | Status |
|---|---|---|---|
| Smarter SocietySME1 Apr 2026 – 31 Mar 2029 | £1,140,000 | 17 Feb 2026 | Awarded |
Contracts
Contract 1 · Smarter SocietySME
- Signed
- 4 Mar 2026
- Value
- £1,140,000
- Period
- 1 Apr 2026 – 31 Mar 2029
- Status
- active
No agreed KPIs: Contract below £5 million
Bid statistics published by the authority
| Bids | SME | VCSE | Valid bid range |
|---|---|---|---|
| 6final-stage tenders | 6 | 0 | — |
Contracting authority & participating public bodies
Bidders & participating suppliers
1 commercial party on the notice- SMARTER SOCIETY LIMITEDAwarded supplier
Official documents & specifications (4)
Official links; attachments are not copiedNotices published for this procedure
- Contract details notice Contract details notice on Find a Tender
- Contract award notice Contract award notice on Find a Tender
- Tender notice Tender notice on Find a Tender
- Preliminary market engagement notice Preliminary market engagement notice on Find a Tender