Official UK procurement notice
Economic Inactivity Trailblazer Evaluation
Authority: Greater Manchester Combined Authority (Local council)
What is being bought
Published requirement descriptionGMCA are procuring an evaluation partner to undertake an evaluation of the Economic Inactivity Trailblazer (EITB) programme in Greater Manchester (GM), a detailed overview of which can be found in section 6 of the specification. There are three main elements of this evaluation:
1.) A desk-based summary of insights into effective employment support programmes for economically inactive people using AI.
2.) A qualitative process evaluation to test and evaluate the successes and shortfalls of the EITB design and delivery.
3.) A data preparedness study to inform a future impact and value-for-money evaluation.
The contract period will be for 8 months with the option to extend for up to an additional 12 months. It is intended for the contract to commence in October 2025. The maximum budget available for the initial period (October 2025 - June 2026) is £208,333 (excluding VAT).
The GMCA reserves the right to extend this contract for an additional 12 months. The value of this extension period is up to £208,333 (excluding VAT). Therefore, the estimated total value of the contract, including all optional extension periods, is up to a maximum of £416,666 (excluding VAT).
CPV: Research and development services and related consultancy services
The lotProcurement structure
single lot · value publishedLot #1AwardedRenewalPublished value£416,666
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 (5)
- Research Proposal: 45%
- Project Mobilisation and Management: 15%
- Stakeholder Engagement and Communication: 15%
- Price: 10%
- Social Value: 15%
Published award criteria (5)
- Research Proposal
- Project Mobilisation and Management
- Stakeholder Engagement and Communication
- Social Value
- Price
- Price carries 10 of 100 points: a 10% discount moves about 1 point. 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
- Standard
- Commercial structure
- Stand-alone contract (no framework)
- Competition type
- Competitive procedure
- GPA / WTO covered
- Unspecified in notice
- Recurring procurement
- Unspecified in notice
- First published
- 4 Aug 2025, 17:30 BST
- Last source update
- 7 Jan 2026, 10:58 GMT
- Award evaluation window
- Submission end – 17 Oct 2025
- Authority reference
GMCA 1477- FTS notice number
2025/S 000-045819- Latest notice
- Contract details notice (UK7)
- Classification (CPV)
- Delivery area
- Official registry OCID
ocds-h6vhtk-0580b7Find a Tender
How it was run
Official notice- Submission deadline
- 1 Sept 2025, 12:00 BST
- Clarification deadline
- 26 Aug 2025, 17:00 BST
- Submission channel
- Official e-sourcing portal
- Electronic submission
- Allowed
- Accepted languages
- en
Timeline
4 Aug 2025 → 7 Jan 2026 · 8 dates- Tender notice published4 Aug 2025, 17:30 BST
- Clarification questions by26 Aug 2025, 17:00 BST
- Submission deadline1 Sept 2025, 12:00 BST
- Assessment summaries sent368 days ago17 Oct 2025, 00:00 BST
- Award decision expected by367 days ago17 Oct 2025, 23:59 BST
- Standstill ends356 days ago28 Oct 2025, 23:59 GMT
- Contract starts356 days ago29 Oct 2025
- Latest notice published286 days ago7 Jan 2026, 10:58 GMT
Notice history
5 events · 3 releases on Find a Tender · since 4 Aug 2025- Tender notice published4 Aug 2025, 17:30 BSTUK4
- Contract award notice published17 Oct 2025, 12:34 BSTUK6
- Status changed to complete17 Oct 2025, 12:34 BST
- Contract signature expected30 Oct 2025, 23:59 GMTscheduled
- Contract details notice published7 Jan 2026, 10:58 GMTUK7
Commercial outcome & contract awards
Published awards, contracts and bid statistics, not a forecast| Awarded to | Value | Date | Status |
|---|---|---|---|
| SQW LimitedSMEGMCA 1477 Economic Inactivity Trailblazer Evaluation Partner30 Oct 2025 – 30 Jun 2026 · up to 30 Jun 2027Extensions: Option to extend for an additional 12 months at £196,106.38 | £392,213 | 17 Oct 2025 | Awarded |
Contracts
Contract 1 · SQW LimitedSME
- Signed
- 30 Oct 2025
- Value
- £392,213
- Period
- 30 Oct 2025 – 30 Jun 2026 · up to 30 Jun 2027 with extensions
- Status
- active
- Extensions
- The Authority may extend the contract beyond the initial contract period by a further 12 months.
No agreed KPIs: The evaluation partner will be required to produce a set of outputs against specific deadlines
Bid statistics published by the authority
| Bids | SME | VCSE | Valid bid range |
|---|---|---|---|
| 10final-stage tenders | 9 | 0 | — |
Contracting authority & participating public bodies
Bidders & participating suppliers
1 commercial party on the notice- SQW LIMITEDAwarded supplier
Official documents & specifications (4)
Official links; attachments are not copiedTender pack and attachments
Notices 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