Business Support Services

Tender description

In response to the impacts of the COVID-19 pandemic on the economy, ECC have developed an Economic Recovery Programme of work to support the economy through to 2023. The recovery plan places a clear priority on establishing a new ECC business support service to be in operation by July 2021.The supplier will deliver a clear programme of business support to ensure the safeguarding of businesses and jobs impacted by the Covid-19 pandemic and provide high-quality provision that will enable business and jobs growth in key sectors important to Essex's economy, in turn helping to increase the prosperity and productivity of Essex. The new service will support Essex businesses to innovate and diversify as well as providing the best possible support to mitigate impacts and exploit opportunities arising from the Covid-19 crisis, the EU exit and the Green Growth Agenda. Business Support forms an intrinsic part of the delivery of ECC's Organisation Strategy 2017-21, aiming to "enable Essex firms in high-growth sectors to consolidate and expand, by providing advice". The supplier will deliver a Business Support service on behalf of ECC. The supplier will deliver the service across the Essex area excluding the Unitary Authorities of Southend Borough Council and Thurrock Council, running for a period of two years, commencing 1st July 2021. Bids can be from a single organisation, a consortium or a lead entity with sub-contracting; this will be at the supplier's discretion. Lot 1: The primary purpose of the procurement opportunity is to deliver business support that will create and safeguard jobs and support business growth and survival. This should be achieved through a range of interventions to be agreed with ECC during the implementation phase. These interventions may include providing 1-2-1 advice, partnering and collaboration opportunities between SME's and major industries and educational institutions, assisting businesses to pivot and innovate, supporting product development, supporting business people to develop new skills and enabling businesses to implement, adopt, deliver and develop green technologies. 6.3 Recent economic challenges have shown that being too prescriptive in this specification will reduce the ability for the new service to be agile and flexible to the changing needs of businesses and to the changing economic priorities of ECC. The supplier will therefore be expected to proactively design, develop and tailor the support interventions delivered to businesses throughout the contract by following the approach outlined below. • Utilise evidence to identify business issue/needs • Identify solutions and design interventions • Review with senior ECC officers and Members to consider approach and expected outcomes against ECC and South East LEP Federated Board objectives • Test solutions with end users • Deploy intervention • Monitor, continue, tweak or abort intervention Suppliers will need to show that they understand the challenges that businesses face, particularly in the current climate, and what support they need. This should include details of the proposed delivery model and how it will address these needs and challenges. The supplier should look to apply learning from similar programmes, such as target audience, key sectors, delivery models and up-take demographics. The service must be delivered across the whole of the Essex County Council geography, excluding the Unitary Authorities of Southend-on-Sea and Thurrock.