Find a TenderAwarded
Published 5 Jan 2021, 14:00 GMT

Official UK procurement notice

CO0044 SELEP COVID-19 Business Support Funding

Official notice

Authority: Essex County Council (Local council)·Consortium: 2 public authorities

Framework agreement3 lotsServicesOpen procedureMax 2 lots per supplier
Framework ceiling (notional)£3,000,000total for 3 lots · framework ceiling, not attributable revenue
Submissions closed 5 Feb 2021awarded 19 Mar 2021
Lots 3max 2 won per supplier

What is being bought3 lots · detail below

Published requirement description

Essex County Council is managing this procurement process on behalf of SELEP. It is proposed that a framework will be established to allow access for SELEP, and those public sector organisations associated with SELEP, to the services being provided. Ordering and payment processes will be established at the commencement of this agreement.

The SELEP area includes East Sussex, Essex, Kent, Medway, Southend and Thurrock with Essex County Council acting as the Accountable Body for SELEP.

The key outcome of this tender is to ensure a co-ordinated, effective response to COVID-19. As such, we are seeking organisations that can support us through the delivery of services as set out in the Lots below. Interested Bidders are required to highlight which Lot(s) of work they are bidding for and is clearly marked when completing the Bidder questionnaire.

Lot 1: Supporting pre-starts and start ups - The programme must provide structured and set- hour 1-2-1 and 1-2-many support to cohorts of pre-starts and start-ups that have the potential to operate during and/or beyond a COVID-19 climate. The programme shall include provision of learning, advice and mentoring to an audience that includes those made redundant or unemployed as a result of COVID-19.

Lot 2: Digitising Business, supporting e-commerce and retail - The programme must provide a programme of webinars, 1-2-1 and 1-2-many advice and diagnostics to businesses looking to adapt and innovate through digitisation in order to remain viable during and/or beyond a COVID-19 climate. The programme will help businesses to build online presence and competitiveness/ marketing, rebuild supply chains, improve productivity, implement flexible working and/or new/hybrid business models, and employ tools to aid mental wellbeing.

Lot 3: Supporting the Visitor Economy - Provision of a 100% grant scheme with a grant range of £1,000 - £3,000 for visitor economy businesses for the purchasing of tools, equipment and trading approaches needed to adapt or innovate, and facilitating a COVID-19 secure environment and the provision of a programme of support and training that will bring together and facilitate multiple businesses and organisations to curate a place-based offer, to increase visitor footfall and spend and regenerate the area.

CPV: Business and management consultancy and related services · Business and management consultancy services · Business services: law, marketing, consulting, recruitment, printing and security · Marketing management consultancy services

How this framework works

From the published notice
Places
up to 3 suppliers · 17 bids on the busiest of 3 lots (5.7 per place) · 6 appointed (full)

Lots and requirements (3)Procurement structure

3 lots · all with a published value · win at most 2 of them · same evaluation weights on every lot
Lot #1Supporting pre-starts and start-upsAwardedPublished value£600,000

The programme must provide structured and set-hour 1-2-1 and 1-2-many support to cohorts of pre-starts and start-ups that have the potential to operate during and/or beyond a COVID-19 climate.

The programme shall include provision of learning, advice and mentoring to an audience that includes those made redundant or unemployed as a result of COVID-19.

The programme must include a small 100% grant scheme with a grant range of £500 -

£2,000, available to businesses accessing sufficient learning, advice and mentoring through the programme.

The programme should look to apply learning from similar programmes, such as target audience, key sectors and up-take demographics.

Outcomes:

Minimum of 100 businesses created or safeguarded

Evaluation of the programme to measure impact and identify changes to ways of working and behaviours brought about by the process of adapting to the impacts of COVID-19.

Skills and experience:

Bidders will need to demonstrate through their bids that they have the skills and experience required to run the programme competently and successfully.

Experience of working with and the ability to provide support to start-up businesses and new enterprises is important, and bidders should demonstrate their skills and experience in doing this.

Bidders will need to show that they understand the challenges that many new businesses face, particularly in the current climate, and what support they need. This should include details of the proposed delivery model and how it will address these needs and challenges. Additional information: Lot 1 awarded to WSX Enterprise Limited

Variant bids: not allowed
Lot #2Digitising Business, supporting e-commerce and retailAwardedPublished value£750,000

Activity:

The programme must provide a programme of webinars, 1-2-1 and 1-2-many advice and diagnostics to businesses looking to adapt and innovate through digitisation in order to

remain viable during and/or beyond a COVID-19 climate.

The programme will help businesses to build online presence and competitiveness/ marketing, rebuild supply chains, improve productivity, implement flexible working and/or new/hybrid business models, and employ tools to aid mental wellbeing.

The programme must include a small 100% grant scheme with a grant range of £500 -

£2,000 for the purchase of new IT hardware/software identified or recommended and that will enable the adoption of new to business technology and approaches, available to businesses accessing sufficient advice and guidance through the programme.

Outcomes:

Minimum of 100 businesses safeguarded.

Minimum of 100 grants awarded to assist safeguarding of businesses and jobs, and to bring about operational/ behavioural change.

Evaluation of the programme to measure impact and identify changes to ways of working and behaviours brought about by the process of adapting to the impacts of COVID-19.

Skills and experience:

Bidders will need to demonstrate through their bids that they have the skills and experience required to run the programme competently and successfully.

Experience of working with and the ability to provide support to businesses is important, and bidders should demonstrate their skills and experience in doing this.

Bidders will need to show their skills and experience in undertaking relevant diagnostics with businesses, identifying their business needs and how the business can digitise to meet them. Additional information: Awarded to WSX Enterprise Ltd

Variant bids: not allowed
Lot #3Supporting the Visitor EconomyAwardedPublished value£1,000,000

Visitor Economy Support Element 1 - Visitor Economy Grant Scheme:

Provision of a 100% grant scheme with a grant range of £1,000 - £3,000 for visitor economy businesses for the purchasing of tools, equipment and trading approaches needed to adapt or innovate, and facilitating a COVID-19 secure environment.

Grants shall be awarded to businesses who have already accessed recognised support/advice on how to innovate and/or remodel. For example, though the Growth Hubs, South East Business Boost, the South East Business COVID Recovery (SEBCOR), the Sector Support Fund Project Rebuilding Confidence and Demand in the

Visitor Economy

Consideration will be given to the use of the Grant Scheme for the purchase of specialist support/ advice to enable businesses to adapt or innovate, if demand and/or a marketplace gap can be demonstrated at time of tender. Such proposals must align with complementary/ similar live schemes.

Visitor Economy Support Element 2 - Rebooting the Visitor Economy in 2021:

Provision of a programme of support and training that will bring together and facilitate multiple businesses and organisations to curate a place-based offer, in order to increase visitor confidence, footfall and spend and regenerate the area.

The approach will provide a holistic and innovative approach to supporting visitor economy industries including creative, cultural, hospitality, leisure and accommodation, as they acclimatise to new trends and ways of working resulting from COVID-19.

The campaigns and curation of place-based offers will align with other live place-specific initiatives, such as the SELEP Sector Support Fund Rebuilding Confidence and Demand in the Visitor Economy project, and Future High Street Fund projects.

Outcomes:

Minimum of 150 grants awarded to enable businesses to adapt and innovate, with potential for a minimum of 150 businesses and jobs to be safeguarded.

Places supported to recover and regenerate through the curation of placed-based offers and associated campaigns, driven by business needs to increase visitor confidence, footfall and spend.

Business needs will be identified and curated through the bringing together of a specified number (or numeric range) of relevant businesses and organisations, representative of the visitor economy, to generate a specified number of place-based offers that will shape the reboot campaigns.

Evaluation of the programme to measure impact and identify changes to ways of working and behaviours brought about by the process of adapting to the impacts of COVID-19.

Skills and experience:

Bidders will need to demonstrate through their bids that they have the skills and experience required to run the programme competently and successfully.

Experience of working with and the ability to provide support to relevant businesses is important, and bidders should demonstrate their skills and experience in doing this.

Bidders will need to demonstrate a good understanding of the particular challenges and issues faced by the visitor economy and show both their skills and experience in working with key visitor economy industries or sectors, and facilitating collaborative place-based activities. Additional information: Awarded to Visit Kent Ltd

Variant bids: not allowed

What it takes to win
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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 more
How bids were scored · same split on all 3 lots
Quality: 60%Price: 40%
Published sub-criteria (2)
  • Quality Evaluation: 60%
  • Price Evaluation: 40%
Published award criteria (2)
  • Quality Evaluation: 60
  • Price Evaluation: 40
What this means for your bid
  • Price carries 40 of 100 points: a 10% discount moves about 4 points. The method statement decides this lot, not the discount.
  • “CO0044 SELEP COVID-19 Business Support Funding” is a framework: the contest is a place on its panel, up to 3 suppliers, not a single contract.

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
CELEX · 32014L0024 Public Contracts Regulations 2015 (Directive 2014/24/EU)
Procurement category
Services
Notice status
Awarded
Procurement threshold
Unspecified in notice
Regulatory regime
Standard
Commercial structure
Framework agreement
Who may use this agreement
Not stated in the notice; call-off rights may be limited to the establishing authority
Competition type
Competitive procedure
GPA / WTO covered
Yes (GPA)
Recurring procurement
No (one-off requirement)
First published
5 Jan 2021, 14:00 GMT
Last source update
13 Apr 2021, 12:46 BST
Award evaluation window
5 Feb 2021 – …
Authority reference
CO0044
FTS notice number
2021/S 000-007692
Classification (CPV)
Business and management consultancy and related servicesBusiness and management consultancy servicesBusiness services: law, marketing, consulting, recruitment, printing and securityMarketing management consultancy services
Delivery area
East of England (UKH3)South East (UKJ2)
Official registry OCID
ocds-h6vhtk-0287be Find a Tender

How it was run

Official notice
Run through: portal not identified
Language: EN
Appointment period ends
5 Feb 2021, 12:00 GMT
Submission channel
{"electronicSubmission"}
Accepted languages
en
Bid validity
270 days from the deadline
Bids opened
5 Feb 2021, 13:00 GMT
Detailed submission instructions & authority contactsFrom official release

Timeline

5 Feb 2021 → 13 Apr 2021 · 3 dates
  1. Admission / appointment period endsperiod end, not a bid countdown
    5 Feb 2021, 12:00 GMT
  2. Bids opened
    5 Feb 2021, 13:00 GMT
  3. Notice published
    13 Apr 2021, 12:46 BST

Notice history

2 events · 2 releases on Find a Tender · since 13 Apr 2021
  1. Status changed to complete
    13 Apr 2021, 12:46 BST
  2. Buyer details updated
    13 Apr 2021, 12:46 BST

Commercial outcome & contract awards

Published awards, contracts and bid statistics, not a forecast
Suppliers appointed 6admitted to the panel · see the list ↓
Bids received 17busiest of 3 lots
Contracts signed 3latest 19 Mar 2021

3 suppliers are admitted to this framework without individual award values or dates, see the supplier list below.

Contracts

  • Supporting pre-starts and start ups

    Signed
    19 Mar 2021
    Value
    £363,000
    Status
    active
  • Digitising Business, supporting e-commerce and retail

    Signed
    19 Mar 2021
    Value
    £490,000
    Status
    active
  • Supporting the Visitor Economy

    Signed
    1 Mar 2021
    Value
    £500,000
    Status
    active

Bid statistics published by the authority

LotBidsSMEVCSEValid bid range
1 · Supporting pre-starts and start-ups17bids · 17 electronic———
2 · Digitising Business, supporting e-commerce and retail7bids · 7 electronic———
3 · Supporting the Visitor Economy2bids · 2 electronic———

Contracting authority & participating public bodies

2 public bodies on the notice

ESSEX COUNTY COUNCIL

Contracting authorityLocal CouncilRegional or local authorityGeneral public services COUNTY HALL, CHELMSFORD, East of England, CM1 1QHContact name, email

Dispute resolution & review bodies

  • High Court, Royal Courts of JusticeReview body London

Framework contractors & participating bidders

7 commercial parties on the notice

Official documents & specifications

Official links; attachments are not copied

No document links were published on the notice.