Financial consultancy services

Tender description

The tender process was for the procurement of fund management services to deliver the Cheshire and Warrington Development Fund (CWDF). The specific services the successful bidder will be required to deliver were detailed within the tender documents. The proposed CWDF is a 40 000 000 GBP fund which will be complementary to the Evergreen 1 fund established in 2011 and the Greater Manchester Evergreen 2 fund. The outcome of the tender process is a single contract with one service provider. The contract is for a 10-year term. Established in 2011, Cheshire and Warrington Local Enterprise Partnership is a private sector-led organisation. It exists to help create the right conditions that will bring forward economic growth. The LEP area covers the 3 local authority areas of Cheshire East, Cheshire West and Chester and Warrington and its activities are geared towards achieving the objectives stated within the published strategic economic plan. As part of a package of programmes to stimulate and drive growth, the LEP in conjunction with Cheshire East Borough Council as the accountable body, has secured 20 000 000 GBP of European Regional Development Funds (ERDF) to establish an investment fund called the Cheshire and Warrington Development Fund (CWDF). The proposed CWDF will be complementary to the Evergreen 1 fund established in 2011 and the Greater Manchester Evergreen 2 fund. The tender process was for the procurement of fund management services to deliver the CWDF. As part of the contract, the successful service provider will be required to deliver the following services: — manage and market the fund and the entire investment cycle, — launch the fund, — market the fund, — manage all enquires, — generate applications to the fund, — secure a minimum of 20 000 000 GBP of match funding which can be at a fund or investee level, — identify, monitor and report co-investment in accordance with Article 1 of the Commission Implementing Regulation (821/2014), — work with other funds, funders, and investees, most notably Evergreen 1 to assess the benefit of adding this funding to wider funding packages for projects, — assess and develop the applications, — invest the funds, — carry out financial and commercial due diligence, — ensure all investments made are state aid compliant, — issue heads of terms, — make investment recommendations to the CWDF board, — issue contracts for investments, — monitor the investments and ensure repayments are made on time, and if not work with the applicant to take remedial action, — ensure outputs are achieved and recorded in compliance with ERDF guidelines. The outcome of the tender process is a single contract with one service provider. The contract is for a 10-year term. CEBC reserves the right to vary the volume of work during the life of the contract. The contract will be available to the following, such that each of the following will be entitled to purchase services from the successful bidder at the discretion of Cheshire East Borough Council (CEBC) and subject to Public Procurement Regulations: — CEBC and all subsidiary undertakings of CEBC both current and future, — the following CEBC partner organisations, — Cheshire East Borough Council, — Cheshire West and Chester Council, — Warrington Borough Council, — Cheshire and Warrington Local Enterprise Partnership, — all parts of any current or future group structure of which CEBC is, or may become, a part The cost/quality weighting split for the tender exercise was weighted 70 % quality, 30 % cost. The scored quality questions and their corresponding weighting (out of 70 %) were as follows: — experience of staff: 15 %, — risk management: 10 %, — outputs of the fund: 15 %, — project delivery (a), — maximising the fund: 5 %, — project delivery (b), — promoting the fund: 5 %, — project delivery (c), — key milestones: 5 %, — understanding ERDF requirements: 15 %. The tender documents included the quality questions and detailed evaluation criteria.