Official UK procurement notice
WM Collaborator fund- Networks and Leadership Programme
Authority: West Midlands Combined Authority (Local council)
What is being bought
Published requirement descriptionThe West Midlands creative economy is supported by a diverse ecosystem of creative businesses, freelancers, cultural organisations, networks and sector bodies. While the region has significant strengths and growth opportunities, evidence gathered through the Creative Places Growth Fund programme highlights ongoing challenges around fragmented networks, limited collaboration between places and sectors, uneven access to opportunities, and leadership capacity constraints within creative organisations. To address these challenges, West Midland Combined Authority (WMCA) is exploring the development of a support programme combining grant funding and tailored development support across two interconnected workstreams with an indicative value of approximately £2-2.5million.
CPV: Corporate finance and venture capital services · Financial consultancy services · Portfolio management services · Project-management services other than for construction work
The lotProcurement structure
single lot · no lot value publishedPipeline intelligence · planning stage: how this market runs before the tender is published
How West Midlands Combined Authority buys Management-related services (CPV 7942), and who usually turns up
West Midlands Combined Authority’s own published record, next to the published market for the same work. Frameworks and DPS are kept out: they attract a different number of bids. Whole-market view: Management-related services (CPV 7942) →
How the contest usually goes
Winner shares use published awards; bid and price charts use contested lots.
i
How often small and medium firms win.
Share of awards where the winner’s size is known.
The counts under this question show how many awards have a known supplier size.
Small firms have won here. Neither number says whether you qualify; it describes who has been winning.
i
How often local firms win similar work.
Winners with a registered address in the delivery region, out of awards with a known address.
Here, local means registered in West Midlands.
A local branch does not count if the registered address is elsewhere.
Most of this buyer’s recorded winners are registered outside West Midlands.
i
How long buyers here take to decide after bids close.
Middle value in days from the deadline to the first award notice, on competitions that published both dates.
Only decided tenders count, so slow ones still waiting are not in.
Half of these awards were announced within 68 days of the bid deadline.
i
How often work is awarded with no recorded rival.
Direct awards and tenders where every published lot count shows one bid.
Both shares are minimums: some awards have no bid count.
Thin markets produce this too; it is not proof of a tailored specification.
Direct awards or one recorded bid are common here. Check the route before spending time on a bid.
How many bids did past lots attract?
i
How many bids past lots received.
Each colour is a bid-count range. Only competed lots with a published count are included.
Past bids do not predict this tender.
1 bid20% / 17%
2–30% / 33%
4–660% / 33%
7+20% / 17%
How did awards compare with estimates?
i
Where winning prices landed against estimates.
Each colour shows awards below, close to or above the published estimate, one lot at a time.
Past prices are a guide, not a bid price.
Below estimate36% / 36%
Within ±2%50% / 54%
Above estimate14% / 10%
Assess each lot i
What past awards tell you about each lot.
See the forecast, this buyer’s earlier suppliers and firms with relevant wins.
No supplier is confirmed as a bidder.
i
What past awards tell you about each lot.
See the forecast, this buyer’s earlier suppliers and firms with relevant wins.
No supplier is confirmed as a bidder.
Open a lot for its forecast, this buyer’s previous supplier and possible competitors, from published award history, not a bid list
Lot #1CPV 7942Published estimate£2.3m
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How many bids this lot may attract.
The forecast uses similar past competitions. The bar shows either that forecast or past bid counts; the line below says which.
Each lot shows its own forecast based on its own category; forecasts for different lots of the same notice are not comparative. The bar shows 164 past lots.
A forecast, not a list of bidders.
1 bid9%
2–317%
4–629%
7+45%
i
Where the award price may land.
The forecast uses similar awards and the buyer’s estimate. The band covers the middle half of likely prices.
No comparable awards for this lot yet.
A statistical guide from past awards, not a price to bid.
Who has supplied this buyer on similar work? i
Who has done similar work for this buyer.
Past contracts are matched by buyer, title and type of work.
A past supplier may not bid again.
i
Who has done similar work for this buyer.
Past contracts are matched by buyer, title and type of work.
A past supplier may not bid again.
No earlier contract of this buyer matches this lot on the published record.
Who could compete for this lot? i
Who could compete for this lot?
Firms with relevant past wins. On a framework, we show firms on that agreement.
None is confirmed as a bidder.
i
Who could compete for this lot?
Firms with relevant past wins. On a framework, we show firms on that agreement.
None is confirmed as a bidder.
Candidate suppliers for this notice have not been worked out yet, so this is not a verdict that nobody fits.
About this data
- Source. Official UK public procurement notices (Find a Tender), reused under the Open Government Licence v3.0. New notices arrive through the day; the figures are rebuilt nightly.
- Two views, kept apart. The authority’s own track record and the wider market for the same kind of work sit side by side and are never mixed. Where the local picture is too thin, a figure widens to a broader market and says which one it used.
- Forecasts are labelled. The price forecast and its range, possible competitors and the earlier-work matches are our estimates from past awards: not published facts, not win chances and not price advice. Official notices do not say who is bidding.
- Every figure shows what it rests on. Not every notice publishes a bid count, a value or a delivery region, so each figure carries the number of records behind it, and one built on few records is marked as such. The on a figure explains it; the counting rules are in the methodology. Spotted something wrong? Tell us.
Procedure terms & legal framework
From the official record- Procedure method
- Competitive flexible procedure
- Legal basis
- UKPGA · 2023/54 Procurement Act 2023
- Procurement category
- Services
- Notice status
- Planned procurement
- 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
- 18 Aug 2026, 14:15 BST
- Last source update
- 8 Oct 2026, 07:55 BST
- Authority reference
RFQ-CREATE-ESG-2026-0004- FTS notice number
2026/S 000-094985- Latest notice
- Pipeline notice (UK1)
- Classification (CPV)
- Delivery area
- Official registry OCID
ocds-h6vhtk-06e69bFind a Tender
How it was run
Official notice- Submission deadline
- —
Timeline
18 Aug 2026 → 17 May 2027 · 5 dates- Planning notice published63 days ago18 Aug 2026, 14:15 BST
- Market engagement49 days ago1 Sept 2026, 23:59 BST
The West Midlands creative economy is supported by a diverse ecosystem of creative businesses, freelancers, cultural organisations, networks and sector bodies. While the region has significant strengths and growth opportunities, evidence gathered through the Creative Places Growth Fund programme highlights ongoing challenges around fragmented networks, limited collaboration between places and sectors, uneven access to opportunities, and leadership capacity constraints within creative organisations. To address these challenges, West Midland Combined Authority (WMCA) is exploring the development of a support programme combining grant funding and tailored development support across two interconnected workstreams with an indicative value of approximately £2-2.5million.
WMCA is undertaking this pre-market engagement exercise to better understand current challenges, test the proposed approach, identify effective delivery models, and gather feedback that will inform the design of any future programme and associated procurement activity. Responses will help shape the scope, outcomes and delivery approach of any intervention that may be commissioned.
Suppliers should read and complete responses to a set of questions attached within the advert by 1st September 2026. Please see link to the advert here: procontract.due-north.com/Advert ↗
- Latest notice published12 days ago8 Oct 2026, 07:55 BST
- Today20 Oct 2026
- Tender notice expectedin 41 days30 Nov 2026, 23:59 GMT
- Contract startsin 208 days17 May 2027
Notice history
3 events · 2 releases on Find a Tender · since 18 Aug 2026- Preliminary market engagement notice published18 Aug 2026, 14:15 BSTUK2
- Pipeline notice published8 Oct 2026, 07:55 BSTUK1
- Status changed to planned8 Oct 2026, 07:55 BST
Commercial outcome & contract awards
Pipeline notice- Awards (0)
- No award published
- Contracts (0)
- No contract published
- Bid statistics
- No aggregate bid statistics published
Contracting authority & participating public bodies
Official documents & specifications (2)
Official links; attachments are not copiedNotices published for this procedure
- Pipeline notice Pipeline notice on Find a Tender
- Preliminary market engagement notice Preliminary market engagement notice on Find a Tender