Helpdesk and support services

Tender description

The contracting authority is seeking to procure government business support services for primarily small to medium sized enterprises in England, namely: (a) a business support helpline through which businesses can receive bespoke advice (via telephone and digital channels such as webchat and social media, but not face-to-face support). This includes: (i) a light touch response to routine enquiries with a simple diagnostic followed by provision of information, and sign-posting of callers to relevant sources of help; and (ii) a deeper level of diagnosis and advice for complex queries. (b) a database (‘Knowledge Bank’) of business support schemes and advice in England to support service delivery, and service delivery by partners, and content for online business support tools; (c) an emergency response plan to increase capacity at short notice to provide an emergency response service (for example in the run up to EU exit). This must be flexible with option to scale up within 24 hrs. The Secretary of State for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy is seeking to procure government business support services for primarily Small to Medium sized Enterprises (SMEs) in England. Namely, a business support helpline; a database (‘Knowledge Bank’) of business support schemes and advice in England; Emergency Response Service capability. The authority holds a contract covering delivery of the proposed services. It is envisaged that all the existing services will migrate to the new contract. The Business Support Helpline forms a key part of the government’s offer to SMEs, providing trusted information and sign-posting businesses to relevant sources of support. The aim is to help businesses to start, grow and thrive. It provides a channel for government to communicate with business, for example in the run up to EU exit. It also offers emergency response capacity, enabling government to disseminate information. The service must be designed with flexibility to accommodate any changes required to reflect changes in policy and business support provision. The service must be able to flex capacity responsively in order to meet peaks in demand. The service must be available and relevant to all businesses and entrepreneurs in England, including pre-start, start-up and existing businesses. The service must provide capacity to meet at least 50 000 inbound contacts and at least 10,000 outbound in-depth business support appointments per annum. The authority will be looking to increase annual contact rates above 2018 rates, including by maximising the provision of Tier 2 calls. 2018 rates were: (a) c. 31 500 in-bound contacts across all channels: • c. 25 000 phone calls (average 10 mins including wrap); • c. 4 000 webchats; • c. 2 500 emails. (b) c. 12 000 out-bound calls (up to 55 mins including research, follow-up and wrap). (c) just under 9 000 Facebook likes and 81 000 Twitter followers with a potential reach of 69 000 people per week. The service must maintain: • the Knowledge Bank, currently over 1 667 factsheets and 850 contacts, keeping the information accurate and up-to-date; • the content of the business support finder tool (and any future iterations) on GOV.UK. Contract award is anticipated to occur in early December 2019. There will be a 3-month mobilisation period prior to the supplier commencing full service delivery. The services must be fully operational by 31 March 2020. The initial contract term is 27 months commencing 1 January 2020 (including 3 month mobilisation period). The contract will be subject to a three-month notice period at any time. The estimated total contract value is anticipated to be up to GBP 8.35 million. The contract value for mobilisation period and the 2-year contract (up to GBP 2 million per annum excluding mobilisation costs) is estimated at GBP 4.35 m. There will be an option to extend the contract for up to 2 further years to 2024 on an annual basis (up to GBP 2 m per annum). For the avoidance of doubt, the optional contract extension of up to a further 2 years will be subject to additional spend approval. There will also be an option to increase the contract value proportionately in line with demand as set out in the review clause within the contract documents, in the event of significant unanticipated additional demand resulting for example from economic shocks or changes in relationships with our international trading partners. Mobilisation costs incurred between 1 January 2020 and 31 March 2020 will be reimbursed separately and in addition to the annual contract value stated above, up to a limit of GBP 350 000. The Authority will look to work with the supplier on developing new business support services and channels. We anticipate that this is likely to focus on digital and knowledge services. Providing that the requirements detailed in the service specification are fully met, the detail of the operations of the services are a matter for the supplier tasked to achieve specific outputs and outcomes.