Business Wales - Entrepreneurship and SME Support

Concepts

• business services
• wales
• cardiff
• business wales service
• business wales
• sme support service
• example growth businesses
• combination of business
• entrepreneurship
• business development

Location

Cardiff

Description

The Welsh Ministers wish to engage with quality providers to deliver its Business Wales service. The service will support young people, start-up businesses and established businesses (predominantly SMEs) through an aligned delivery model. The support will be split into 2 lots, one covering Youth Entrepreneurship and the other supporting start up and established businesses. Please note, this is not a framework. Lot 1: The successful contractors will work with young people under 25 through education, business and community groups to encourage youth entrepreneurship in Wales. Services will involve a combination of business led inspirational workshops, a promotional campaign, events and competitions. The service will be delivered across the whole of Wales by a single contractor or a consortium. Lot 2: The successful contractor will be expected to work with a range of start ups and existing businesses within Wales with access to a broad range and innovative set of solutions. Support will involve a combination of workshops, events and direct face to face support across Wales operating from a network of business hubs. The service will be delivered across the whole of Wales by a single contractor or a consortium. The ‘Business Wales – Entrepreneurship and SME Support service’ - bidders needed to demonstrate that they have the skill sets and resources required to support young people (lot 1), Start-ups and established businesses (lot 2) in all sectors with resource prioritised as required against impact, for example growth businesses. The service will be fully aligned to provision under the Business Wales Accelerated Growth programme (Contract No : C36/2014/2015). It is intended that the contract period will run from 1st January 2016 to 31st December 2021. Break clauses will be included in the contract which may be exercised for non contractual compliance, reduction in Welsh Government budgetary allocation, change in service direction / policy or any other reason deemed appropriate by the Welsh Ministers to exercise the break clause. Please note in recognition of the breadth of areas likely to be required aligned to the modern economy, that consortia bids were encouraged for this tender exercise. This contract would like to maximise the opportunities for jobs and growth and therefore used the Community Benefits policy in the procurement process and within the contract to deliver targeted recruitment and training opportunities to those furthest from the labour market and engage with the relevant support agencies effectively. For more information on the Community Benefits policy, please see http://prp.wales.gov.uk/toolkit/ Please note that funding for this project has been secured from the European Regional Development Fund (ERDF). The period of the contract awarded will be an initial term of 4 years with an option to extend at the Welsh Ministers’ sole discretion for an additional 2 one year extensions. Accordingly the minimum contract period will be 4 years (subject always to earlier termination), and the maximum permitted contract period will be 6 years. Subject always to the procurement exercise progressing in accordance with the Welsh Ministers' indicative timetable, it is anticipated that the Contract will commence in January 2016. This modification is an extension to the term of the contract. It is intended that the contract period will now run from 1st January 2016 to 30th September 2023. Break clauses will also be included in the contract which may be exercised for non-contractual compliance, reduction in Welsh Government budgetary allocation, change in service direction / policy or any other reason deemed appropriate by the Welsh Ministers to exercise the break clause.

Ammendments to Previous Notice

Award Detail

CPV Codes

• 79000000 - Business services: law, marketing, consulting, recruitment, printing and security
• 79900000 - Miscellaneous business and business-related services
• 79400000 - Business and management consultancy and related services
• 79411100 - Business development consultancy services

Indicators

• Contract modified due to unforeseen circumstances.

Legal Justification

Redeployment of Welsh Government staff to manage the Welsh Ministers' response to the Covid-19 pandemic. This is in addition to any sickness in the department or employees being away from work due to any shielding obligations or family commitments. These conditions have perpetuated and although it appears that there will be no further lockdowns and business is getting back on track, Welsh Government employees have to be redeployed back to their usual work and the procurement must be planned. There is insufficient time to properly scope and re-design the service in time for a new procurement to be launched and a new contract awarded by September 2022. There is also insufficient time to allow for orderly exit and implementation periods as the new service transitions. These circumstances were completely unforseen by the Welsh Ministers and the extension is being put in place to allow capacity levels within the relevant departments to return to normal and commence a procurement.

Other Information

Please note that the pricing for both Lots was submitted for a 5 year period but the values stated in sections II.2 and SECTION V of this notice is for the entire 6 years (including the 6th (final) year should it be invoked). The actual pricing submitted for Lot 1 over the 5 year period was GBP 6,360,000.00 and Lot 2 was GBP 36,300,000.00. Please also note, as stated within the specification, the Welsh Ministers may pilot and develop new services. Day rates were submitted for various roles as part of the tender submission for Lot 2 to deliver these potential services and they ranged in value from GBP 98.18 to GBP 245.45 - the overall contract value may therefore increase to a maximum overall value (for both Lots) of GBP 55,000,000.00 as was stated within the value range of the Contract Notice for this requirement. Need for modification brought about by circumstances which a diligent contracting authority/entity could not foresee Description of the circumstances which rendered the modification necessary and explanation of the unforeseen nature of these circumstances: The contract is due to expire on 30th September 2022. In order to provide a replacement service, the Welsh Ministers would need to commence procurements proceedings imminently. Welsh Government staff in the Department of Economy, Skills and Natural Resources (where the oversight for this service sits) have been largely re-deployed to manage the Welsh Ministers' response to the Covid-19 pandemic. This is in addition to any sickness in the department or employees being away from work due to any shielding obligations or family commitments. These conditions have perpetuated and although it appears that there will be no further lockdowns and business is getting back on track, Welsh Government employees have to be redeployed back to their usual work and the procurement must be planned. There is insufficient time to properly scope and re-design the service in time for a new procurement to be launched and a new contract awarded by September 2022. There is also insufficient time to allow for orderly exit and implementation periods as the new service transitions. These circumstances were completely unforseen by the Welsh Ministers and the extension is being put in place to allow capacity levels within the relevant departments to return to normal and commence a procurement. To ensure a timely response please forward a copy of any questions or enquiries to BusinessDivision@gov.wales (WA Ref:116891)