Invitation to Tender - Cheshire & Warrington Local Enterprise Partnership (the “LEP”) – Procurement of Supplier to provide services to establish and

develop a Business Growth Hub

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Invitation to Tender - Cheshire & Warrington Local Enterprise Partnership (the “LEP”) – Procurement of Supplier to provide services to establish and develop a Business Growth Hub

Section 1 – Scope

1. This contract is for a supplier to provide services to establish and develop a Business Growth Hub and work with other entities to ensure that there is a co-ordinated approach to business support within Cheshire and Warrington as detailed in the Specification.

Contract Duration2. The contract initial term of the contract expires on 31 March 2016 and has an approximate value

of £300,000. The contract may, at the LEP’s discretion, be extended beyond 31 March 2016 by up to three further periods each of one year in the event that further funding is secured for the continued development of the Growth Hub.

3. If further funding is secured (from the Department of Business Innovation and Skills (“BIS”)) or other public sources, including the European Commission), the contractual value is expected to rise to £2.1 million. Bidders should note that at the contract award date, only funding from BIS is confirmed.

4. If the LEP receives funding from other public sources and exercises its right to extend the contract, the supplier would be required to comply with the terms and conditions attached to this grant funding, which could amend the service delivery model, outputs, targets, audit and evidentiary requirements and the value of the contract.

Background5. In order to enhance prospects and economic growth within local areas, the Government has

been supporting a series of Growth Hubs across the country to make it easier for businesses to start and grow by ensuring business support is simpler, more co-ordinated and easier to access by business.

6. Growth Hubs are locally-led partnerships which cooperate to provide coordinated business, innovation and trade support within a Local Enterprise Partnership area and make it simpler for businesses to access the support they need.

7. Growth Hubs should bring together all of the local bodies involved in supporting businesses and work with national bodies such as UK Trade and Investment (“UKTI”), Innovate UK, Growth Accelerator and Manufacturing Advisory Service to ensure that national and local business support works together in the most streamlined and effective way possible, putting the business customer at the centre of the system.

8. Specifically, a Growth Hub must raise awareness of national and local business support, provide a single point of access for businesses and provide a diagnostic and signposting service to make sure that all businesses, regardless of their size or sector, are aware of what is available and can access the right support for them.

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9. The LEP covers the local authority areas of Cheshire West and Chester, Cheshire East and Warrington. The LEP’s ambition is to grow the economy of Cheshire and Warrington from a £19 billion to a £35 billion economy by 2030; and to be home to an additional 100,000 residents, 75,000 new jobs and 70,000 new homes.

10. The LEP has identified three main strategic priorities: Science Corridor; Atlantic Gateway; and Crewe High Growth City and it is also looking at Energy as a future fourth priority. The competiveness of local business will be a key driver in achieving this growth.

11. Like many areas of the country, the fragmented business support landscape and lack of co-ordinated promotion and access to appropriate funding opportunities have been identified as key challenges facing the Cheshire &Warrington areas.

12. The LEP is seeking to procure a Bidder in accordance with the open procedure as set out in Regulation 27 of the Public Contracts Regulations 2015 (the “Regulations”).

13. A contract notice for the provision of the services was dispatched to the Official Journal of the European Union (“OJEU”) on 18 May 2015.

14. This Invitation to Tender (“ITT”) has been produced to allow the LEP to evaluate the most economically advantageous tender, from the point of view of the LEP, of the organisations which respond to the OJEU contract notice. The LEP will score each Bidder’s response against the criteria set out in this ITT.

15. When the evaluation process has been completed, the LEP will inform all Bidders of its decision to award the contract, the reasons for the decision and details of the mandatory standstill period in accordance with Regulation 87 of the Regulations.

16. Each organisation which completes the ITT (whether it is a single organisation or a consortium) is referred to as a Bidder in this ITT.

17. The maximum total contract value for this procurement is £2.1m as stated at section II.2.1 of the OJEU contract notice.

18. The LEP reserves the right to contract with other suppliers if it deems it necessary to deliver the establishment and development of the Growth Hub effectively.

Instructions for submission of completed tenders19. The LEP will only accept tender submissions made via e-mail to Martin.Forbes@local.gov.uk.

20. The deadline for submission of completed tenders is 17:00 on Friday 26 June 2015.

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21. The completed tender submission, together with the Pre-Qualification Questionnaire and any requested supporting information must be submitted by no later than the time and date specified above.

22. Bidders are advised to allow adequate time for uploading documents and to dispatch the electronic response well in advance of the closing time to avoid any last minute problems.

23. Failure to submit the tender submission as required will result in the relevant Bidder being excluded from any further participation in this procurement. Any tender submitted and or received after the time specified above will not be considered and the Bidder will be advised of this. Please note that submissions not received via the means identified in the ITT will not be accepted or considered.

Conditions of Submission of the ITT24. The LEP will not reimburse Bidders for any expenses or costs incurred for any reason in

preparing their ITT responses or through taking part in this procurement process.

25. This ITT sets out the rules for and conditions of preparing applications in order to ensure that they are both compliant and comprehensive. Bidders who breach any of these rules or conditions may be rejected. Bidders are strongly advised to make sure that all those involved in the preparation of their application have a copy of these instructions.

General Requirements

26. Bidders should answer all questions as concisely as possible and provide the information required in a user friendly format.

27. Bidders should not provide any information (including promotional materials) other than that requested since the LEP will not consider it as part of the assessment process. Bidders should not make any alterations to the form of the questions asked.

28. It shall be a Bidder’s responsibility to ensure that all the necessary information supplied is complete and accurate. All tenders must be completed in English. Where insufficient space has been provided in the ITT, Bidders may append additional pages although they should keep answers as pertinent as possible and within any word limits set.

29. It is not acceptable for Bidders to cross-refer to previous ITTs or other submissions made to the LEP. If a question is not applicable, please state this in the relevant box and explain why it is not applicable.

30. Where UK legislation or standards have been cited, the question should be answered as though the equivalent legislation in the European State in which the Bidder’s firm is registered has been cited.

Non-Collusion

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31. Any Bidder who, in connection with the procurement colludes with another Bidder with a view to or having the effect of disrupting the fairness and competitiveness of the procurement process will be disqualified (without prejudice to any other civil remedies available to the LEP and without prejudice to any criminal liability that such conduct by a Bidder may attract).

32. Bidders must complete the Declaration as set out at Section 5 to this ITT.

Copyright33. The copyright in this ITT is vested in the LEP. This ITT shall not, either in whole or part, be

reproduced, copied, distributed, stored in any medium or otherwise made available to any other party in any circumstances, for any other purpose than that for which it is intended, without the prior written consent of the LEP. This ITT, and any document issued as supplemental to it, is and shall remain the property of the LEP and must be returned upon demand.

Disclaimers34. Although every care has been taken in preparing this document, no representation, warranty or

undertaking, express or implied is or will be made and no responsibility or liability will be accepted by the LEP. Any liability, however arising, is expressly disclaimed.

35. Data provided by the LEP or its advisors to Bidders is provided in good faith but Bidders will have to make their own investigations and interpretations and no liability is accepted by the LEP or any of its advisors for the accuracy or completeness of that data.

36. Neither the receipt of this ITT by any person nor any information contained in it or distributed with it or subsequently communicated to any Bidder or its advisors is or is to be taken as constituting the giving of investment advice by the LEP or its advisors.

37. No information contained in this document or any other written or oral information made available to any Bidder or its advisors shall form the basis for any warranty, representation or term of any contract by the LEP with any third party.

38. Nothing in this document is, or should be relied on, as a promise or representation as to the future. The LEP reserves the right to change the procedure for the procurement process or information in relation to which the contract being applied.

39. The LEP reserves the right not to follow up this ITT in any way and/or to cancel the procurement process and no expense incurred by any person in responding to the ITT will be reimbursed and neither the LEP or its advisors nor any third party will be so liable to the Bidder. The LEP reserves the right not to award a contract.

Notes On Clarification Of Bidders’ Responses

40. The LEP may, in accordance with Regulation 56(4) of the Regulations, require a Bidder to provide information supplementing the information provided or to clarify that information, either in

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writing or at an interview. The LEP will give due consideration to its overriding duty of non-discrimination and equal treatment of all Bidders (as stated in the Treaty on the Functioning of the European Union and case law) when determining whether to request clarification. The LEP’s approach to clarification will be consistent to ensure that one Bidder does not receive an unfair advantage over the rest. In addition, there will be a clear audit trail documenting the reasoning behind any attempt to seek clarification in writing (via e-mail) from a Bidder.

41. Clarification will only be used to remove unintentional ambiguity and to rectify unintentional errors. However, if the questionnaire asks a clear question and the Bidder has made a genuine, albeit poor, attempt to answer it, then to request an expanded answer would be viewed as giving that Bidder a chance to improve its ITT assessment (and therefore an unfair advantage over the other Bidders). The LEP will not seek clarification under these circumstances.

Clarification provided by the LEP42. All enquiries and requests for clarification in respect of this ITT should be made via e-mail to

Martin.Forbes@local.gov.uk. All queries must be received by the LEP no later than Friday 19 June 2015 at 17:00. The LEP reserves the right not to respond to any queries received after this time. Where such enquiries are made, the LEP will distribute, by e-mail, to all suppliers a copy of the enquiry and the written reply, with anonymity preserved. The LEP will send such correspondence to the e-mail addresses available to the LEP for interested suppliers and it shall be the suppliers’ responsibility to check their e-mail for any responses or information. Suppliers should not contact the LEP by any other method as a response will not be provided.

Publicity43. Bidders shall not undertake (or permit to be undertaken) at any time, whether at this stage or

after any award of a contract, any publicity activity with any section of the media in relation to the contract other than with the prior written agreement of the LEP. Such agreement shall extend to the content of any publicity. The word ‘media’ includes (but without limitation) radio, television, newspapers, trade and specialist press, the Internet and e-mail accessible by the public at large and the representatives of such media.

Award Commitment44. The issue of this ITT in no way commits the LEP to award any contract pursuant to the bidding

process. Nothing in this ITT shall oblige the LEP to award any, some or all, of the contract and the LEP shall be able at its sole discretion to withdraw from the procurement process at any stage. The LEP reserves the right, subject to relevant legislation, at any time to reject any tender.

Further Information45. The ITT is being provided on the same basis to all Bidders who have registered their interest for

this opportunity.

Freedom of Information Act46. The LEP undertakes to use reasonable endeavours to hold confidential any information provided

in the ITT response submitted by the Bidder, subject to the LEP’s obligations under law, including the Freedom of Information Act 2000 ("the FOIA") to the extent that it applies to the LEP.

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47. Bidders should be aware of the LEP's obligations and responsibilities under FOIA to disclose, on written request, recorded information held by the LEP. Information provided by Bidders in connection with this procurement exercise, or with any contract that may be awarded as a result of this exercise, may therefore have to be disclosed by the LEP in response to such a request, unless the LEP decides that one of the statutory exemptions under FOIA applies. The LEP may also include certain information in the publication scheme, which it maintains under FOIA.

48. In certain circumstances, and in accordance with the Code of Practice issued under section 45 of FOIA or the Environmental Information Regulations 2004, the LEP may consider it appropriate to ask Bidders for their views as to the release of any information before a decision on how to respond to a request is made. In dealing with requests for information under FOIA, the LEP must comply with a strict timetable and the LEP would, therefore, expect a timely response to any consultation within two (2) working days.

49. Bidders may provide information to the LEP in connection with this procurement, or with any contract that may be awarded as a result of this procurement, which is confidential in nature and which Bidders may wish to be held in confidence. Bidders must give a clear indication which type of material is to be considered confidential and why it is considered to be so, along with the time period for which it will remain confidential in nature. The use of blanket protective markings such as "commercial in confidence" will not be appropriate. In addition, marking any material as confidential or equivalent should not be taken to mean that the LEP accepts any duty of confidentiality by virtue of such marking. Please note that even where Bidders have indicated that information is confidential the LEP may be required to disclose it under FOIA if a request is received.

50. The LEP cannot accept that trivial information or information which by its very nature cannot be regarded as confidential should be subject to any obligation of confidence.

51. In certain circumstances where information has not been provided in confidence, the LEP may still wish to consult with Bidders about the application of any other exemption such as that relating to disclosure that will prejudice the commercial interests of any party.

52. The decision as to which information will be disclosed is reserved to the LEP, notwithstanding any consultation with Bidders.

53. All information provided will remain confidential and will not be disclosed to any other party except where required for official audit purposes and subject to the FOIA as detailed.

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Section 2 – Specification

1. The LEP has secured revenue funding from BIS, for 2015/16 only, to establish and support a Business Growth Hub in Cheshire & Warrington. The Business Growth Hub, under the governance of the LEP, must bring together local and national partners involved in business support to provide: 1.1. a co-ordinated and complimentary menu of business support and advice;1.2. business networks and links to specialist information; and1.3. advice and services for pre-start, new, developing and established businesses (urban and

rural) to help them grow and/or respond to changes in their market environment and opportunities.

2. The objectives of the Growth Hub will be to:2.1. create a single point of initial contact for businesses seeking advice in the Cheshire and

Warrington area;2.2. create a unified business interface for business support providers for the Cheshire and

Warrington area;2.3. ensure effective sign posting to local and national business support programmes; 2.4. provide in depth advice where needed via a team of locally-based advisors; and2.5. create a platform for the future joint commissioning of business support programmes in the

Cheshire and Warrington area.

3. The LEP is seeking to appoint a Bidder to work under the governance of the LEP and deliver the services set out in the contract which accompanies this ITT and as specified in Section 4 (Information Requirements)

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Section 3 – Evaluation

Tender Evaluation1. The award of this contract will be on the basis of the most economically advantageous tender in

accordance with Regulation 67 of the Regulations. Tenders will be evaluated on the ability of the Bidder to deliver the project as required by the LEP.

2. The questions in the ITT have been split into two sections being those that:2.1. are scored on a PASS/FAIL basis –Section 4, Part 1 – Legal; and2.2. are scored on a weighted basis –Section 3 – Quality (100%).

3. The Bidder which passes the pass/fail criterion and is awarded the highest combined mark in the ‘Price’ and ‘Quality’ sections will be awarded the contract.

4. In the Price section, the LEP is evaluating how the Bidder will provide the services detailed in this ITT at a price which complies with the LEP’s pre-determined scoring system set out below.

5. In the Quality section, the LEP is evaluating how the Bidder will ensure it delivers the services in a way which complies with the LEP’s requirements in relation to the Specification using the pre-determined scoring system set out below.

Specification Elements Specification Element

Weighting (%)

Sub-categories Questions Sub-Category

Weighting (%)

Question Weighting

(%)

1. Partnership Management 15 1.1 100 152. Business Support 60

Promotion 2.1 10 62.2 35 212.3 45 27

Simplification 2.4 5 3Integration 2.5 5 3

1003.Performance 10 3.1 30 3

3.2 40 43.3 30 3

1004.Sustainable Operating Model

15

Project Management 4.1 20 34.2 20 34.3 40 64.4 20 3

100Total 100 100

Financial Plan

Signposting, Diagnostic and Advice

6. To provide transparency in how tenders will be evaluated, the scoring methodology has been provided below. A tender panel will manage and oversee the scoring process and insertion of final scores into the scoring matrix. Scoring of the questions in Section 4 will be as follows, with one score being allocated for each question.

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Excellent 76-100% A comprehensive response which provides information that is highly relevant and fully answers the question.

Good 51-75% A detailed response which provides information that is relevant and substantially answers the question.

Satisfactory 26-50% A response which provides information that is generally relevant and answers the majority of the question.

Poor 1-25% A response which provides information which is only partially relevant and/ or answers only a small proportion of the question.

Unsatisfactory 0% A response which does not provide information which is relevant and does not answer the question or no response is provided.

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Section 4 – Information Requirements

Part 1 - Legal

1. Please confirm your acceptance of the contract terms and conditions which accompany this ITT.

Part 2 – Quality

1. Partnership Management

1.1. There is currently a wide variety of public, private and third sector providers of business support across Cheshire and Warrington including, amongst others;

local authorities;

Chambers of Commerce;

Pro-Cheshire;

Federation of Small Businesses;

Forum of Private Business.

1.2. The Bidder will be expected to engage with this community and secure commitment to the Growth Hub model of working. The Bidder will need to establish and maintain a platform that facilitates the engagement of all business support partners and allows it to co-ordinate

a partnership approach under the strategic governance of the LEP..

Question 1.1Please demonstrate how you will establish a robust partnership management approach, referencing key partners, setting out their roles and responsibilities and how their commitment and capacity to delivery under the auspices of the Growth Hub will be secured. You should highlight any potential or perceived conflicts of interest that could emerge and describe how these would be dealt with and resolved.

2. Business Support Promotion

2.1. The Bidder will be expected to proactively promote all forms of business support available in Cheshire & Warrington. This includes working in alignment with the Business is GREAT Campaign and other national and local products. It would also include co-ordinating a programme of events, in consultation and partnership with other relevant agencies.

Question 2.1Please submit a proposition covering the first six months of your engagement, detailing how you

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would approach the requirement to promote business support, justifying your approach with reference to available evidence and past experience.

Signposting and Diagnostic

2.2. The Bidder will need to provide a diagnostic and signposting service, accessible to all businesses in Cheshire and Warrington, drawing on national and local provision. The diagnostic service must enable businesses to better understand what support would help them most, and the signposting service must be then able to connect them with that support.

2.3. These services could be provided through a range of different mediums and Bidders are required to describe their own approach to delivery, subject to the following core specification requirements:

2.3.1.the service must connect with national assets such as GOV.UK and the Business Support Helpline;

2.3.2.the service must take on responsibility for maintaining and updating the C&WEP Growth Hub website; and

2.3.3.the service must be responsible for removing barriers to growth and signposting to established business support programmes.

2.4. The principal role for the Growth Hub will be to pro-actively manage and develop the supply of business advisors to meet the needs of business across Cheshire and Warrington and within this;

2.4.1.supply at least four full-time, (or equivalent), fully trained and accredited business advisors with senior business experience in proven areas of demand; and

2.4.2.locate those advisers in the principal areas of business activity within each of the three Local Authority areas, providing clear access points for businesses and working with local partners as appropriate.

Question 2.2Please set out what you believe to be the proven areas of demand that you will support through business advisors and demonstrate how you will maintain an accessible and local presence throughout the area alongside local partners.

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Question 2.3Please set out the extent to which you could start to execute the management and supply of business advisers within the current resource envelope. Please provide, as part of this response, a high-level business plan setting out your view as to what this activity should entail in terms of scope and scale, specifically providing estimates of timescales and proposals for securing the resourcing and evidence base that will be required.

Simplification

2.5. As a minimum, the Growth Hub must map business support provision across Cheshire and Warrington, gathering data and working with its partners to review and harmonise schemes. The focus must be on improving access, identifying under-performing schemes and recommending appropriate remedies including closure as appropriate, as well as promoting those schemes which are proven to be most effective.

Question 2.4Please provide a method statement that describes how you will undertake the process of simplifying access to business support.

Integration

2.6. In supporting the integration of national and local business support provision, the Growth Hub will need to:

2.6.1.facilitate the co-location of national and local business support advisors to ensure ease of access for customers;

2.6.2.facilitate greater collaboration between partners;

2.6.3.align the Growth Hub brand with the Business is GREAT brand; and

2.6.4.enter into formal agreements with national Business Growth services that set out how they will work together.

Question 2.5Please illustrate what such integration will mean in practice for businesses in Cheshire and Warrington and explain how your proposals will improve the customer journey for those businesses accessing government programmes and the local business support environment.

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3. Performance

3.1.1.The primary outputs against which the performance of the LEP is measured are;

3.1.2.net number of jobs created;

3.1.3.residential units created;

3.1.4.commercial floor space created and utilised; and

3.1.5.growth in gross value added.

3.2. In addition, the LEP will be required to report to BIS on an annual basis as to the performance of the Growth Hub in respect of the following;

3.2.1.economic impact;

3.2.2.jobs created;

3.2.3.take up of support from businesses;

3.2.4.customer satisfaction; and

3.2.5.removal of duplication and underperforming schemes.

3.3. Finally, there are key pieces of data related to the Growth Hub which the Bidder will be required to monitor, retain and share with BIS, the details of which are set out in Appendix 1 to this ITT.

Question 3.1Please submit a suite of performance indicators that you believe would best address the requirements above and allow both BIS and the LEP to understand the impact and value that the Growth Hub is delivering.

Question 3.2Please set out your methodology for collating, analysing, presenting and reporting your recommended performance data and information. As part of this, please define your own quarterly performance targets for each of your proposed performance indicators.

Question 3.3Please set out your approach to managing the performance of this contract and your expectations of the LEP as part of this.

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3.4. In responding to the above three Performance questions, Bidders should be aware of, and reference in their response, where applicable, the data protection and information sharing responsibilities set out in Schedule 5 of the contract that will need to be addressed between BIS, the LEP, the Bidder and Bidder delivery partners.

4. Sustainable Operating Model

4.1. Although the available funding for the Growth Hub is £300,000 for 2015/16 only, the Bidder will be expected to establish an operating model and infrastructure that can be sustained beyond the expiry of this funding and proactively seek further funding that can enable that to happen.

Project Management

4.2. The Bidder will be expected to produce a detailed project delivery plan, covering the set up, mobilisation and operational period of the contract, identifying the resource inputs and timescales associated with each element of the contract specification. The Bidder will also be expected to produce and proactively deploy a risk register and operate in accordance with an accredited quality assurance framework.

Question 4.1Please provide a project delivery plan based upon the current level of available funding, featuring the content set out above.

Financial Plan

4.3. The Growth Hub has a fixed budget of £300,000 for 2015/16.

4.4. In terms of potential further sources of funding for the Growth Hub, the Bidder may align with other entities which will allow the Bidder to deliver activities supported by the European Regional Development Fund (“ERDF”) which relate to the Growth Hub. The Bidder may also be required to prepare and submit bids for future ERDF funding during the course of the contract. The calls for projects in relation to this activity are managed by the Department for Communities and Local Government, as managing authority for ERDF in England. £5m ERDF has been identified to support additional services (e.g. Access to Finance, International Trade, Business start-up, intensive growth) and sector support activities, £1.5m of which has been allocated to provide local enhancements to the national Business Growth Services (UKTI, Manufacturing Advisory Service, Growth Accelerator).

Question 4.2Please provide a detailed financial plan that reconciles with the resource inputs and timescales within the project delivery plan submitted in response to Question 4.1. The financial plan should identify, on a monthly basis, the costs per the following business support categories:

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Promotion Signposting and Diagnostic Advice Simplification Integration

The costs under each element should be broken down across the following categories: Staffing Events ICT Sub-contracted service provision Other Overheads

All costs should be expressed excluding VAT.

Question 4.3Please describe how you would secure additional funding for the Growth Hub, referencing, as applicable, your previous experience of successfully securing European funding, other forms of grant funding, private sector sponsorship, and other forms of third party support.

Question 4.4Please provide a variant project plan that reflects your confidence in being able to leverage additional funding. The plan should accord with the value and tenure of additional resources you expect to secure. The plan should be supported by a summary financial plan, setting out projected costs and funding, both revenue and capital, on a quarterly basis over the funded duration.

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Section 5 – Declaration

I/We the undersigned, hereby quote to supply the goods / service / products detailed in this tender, at the respective prices quoted. (Prices must not include VAT).

I certify that as far as I know, the information I have supplied is accurate.

I/We agree that this tender shall remain open to be accepted or not by the LEP for a period of six months from the closing date for the receipt of tenders.

I/We agree that the LEP may discontinue the tendering arrangements at any time before a tender has been accepted.

I/We accept the specification and terms and conditions accompanying the request for tender and undertake to be bound by them if my/our tender is accepted by the LEP.

I/We certify that I/we have not now or will in the future, canvassed or solicited any representative or employee of the LEP and any other companies in the group of which the LEP forms part, in connection with this tender and that to the best of our knowledge and belief no person employed by me/us or acting on my/our behalf has done such an act.

I/We understand that the LEP is not bound to accept any tender and will not be liable under any circumstances whatsoever for the costs I/we have incurred in preparing the tender.

The tender submitted herewith is a bona fide tender intended to be competitive.

We have not fixed or adjusted the amount of the tender by or under or in accordance with any collusive agreement or arrangement with any other person.

NAME OF CONTACT:

DESIGNATION:

COMPANY NAME:

ADDRESS (including postcode)

TELEPHONE:

FAX:

EMAIL:

SIGNATURE:

DATE:

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Appendix 1: Reporting indicators for BIS

Growth hubs will provide different levels of support to different businesses, and it is important that data collected from businesses is proportionate to the intensity of the service they provide. To reflect this, growth hubs should distinguish between:

All businesses that use the hub (for example, whether through the website, telephone, social media or attendance at events); and

Businesses that receive more intensive support (e.g. appointment with growth hub adviser, intensive coaching, account management and/or appointments with national programme advisers (e.g. Business Growth Service).

The following is a comprehensive list of six monthly metrics for the first category, all businesses that use the growth hub:

a) Number of businesses (or individuals ) supportedb) Number of businesses receiving non financial supportc) Number of new businesses supportedd) Number of potential entrepreneurs assisted to be business readye) Number of enterprises receiving financial support other than grantsf) Type of support provided: type and intensity (i.e. scale) of support, and by which channel

(website, telephone, social media, event, face-to-face appointment etc.)g) Number of businesses (or individuals) acting on advice and the type of support/scheme they

are referred toh) Analytical data on e.g. website (visitors, repeat visitors, time on site, type of content viewed

and click-through rates to GREAT/GOV.UK via Google analytics), helpline (call volumes, reason for call, type of support offered etc.)

i) A measure of customer satisfaction, based on a standard question asked of customers by all Growth Hubs. The question is: “'how likely would you be to recommend this service to a friend/colleague”, rated on a standard five point scale

For the second category (any business that receives more intensive support from the growth hub), BIS would also expect to see in addition to the data above:

j) Name and address (including post code) of businesses (or individuals) supported. In addition, contact details: named contact, telephone number and email address

k) Business ID – Companies House Reference (CRN) number, where applicable. If no CRN is available, the business VAT or PAYE number may be collected instead; however the CRN should be provided as a priority where available

l) Key dates: date of application by business/individual to a scheme (where applicable), date of agreement of any offer letters, forecast or actual project completion date (the date at which the expenditure on the project is due to complete) and monitoring completion date (the date at which monitoring of jobs created and safeguarded will finish)

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m) Business information: size, sector and year of business registration / founding year. Sector classifications should conform to SIC (2007) codes at the one-digit level . In order to determine business size, businesses should provide turnover and employment data on application. For multi-site businesses, employment data should also be provided for the site of the trading address benefitting from grant funding

n) Information on businesses (or individuals) that are unsuccessful (as well as those that are successful) in applying for and accessing schemes . It should also include information on eligibility (i.e. an indication of why the business was unsuccessful)

o) A measure of additionality, based on a standard question asked of customers by all Growth Hubs. The question is: “In the absence of government support, how likely are you to have undertaken the same activity?“ , rated on a standard five point scale. This question should be asked after support has been provided (for example, after any grant has been provided), to avoid biasing responses

p) Information on any other public sector assistance the business (or individual) is currently receiving (i.e. name of programme and funding amount, where applicable)

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