Department for Business and Trade- Business Support Service (tendered as 'Business Information Service 2024')

Department for Business and Trade

This public procurement record has 3 releases in its history.

Award

05 Jan 2024 at 11:50

Tender

10 Aug 2023 at 17:53

Planning

05 Apr 2023 at 15:40

Summary of the contracting process

The Department for Business and Trade has completed the procurement process for the Business Support Service, titled 'Business Information Service 2024'. This service falls under the business and management consultancy category, aimed at providing information, advice, and guidance to businesses in England, especially SMEs. The contract, valued at up to £2.5 million per annum, was awarded to UMi Commercial Limited. The service is expected to go live on 1 April 2024, with the contract running for up to three years initially, extendable annually.

This tender presents significant business opportunities for companies offering business support services, consultancy, and call center solutions. SMEs looking to start, grow, or improve their business operations could benefit from participating in this procurement. The procurement process has a focus on increasing access to quality business support and fostering growth, highlighting the importance of tailored advice and scalable services to meet business needs efficiently.

How relevant is this notice?

Notice Title

Department for Business and Trade- Business Support Service (tendered as 'Business Information Service 2024')

Notice Description

The Department for Business and Trade has procured a service to provide information, advice, guidance and signposting for any kind of business, including pre-start-ups, in England. This new service will replace the existing Business Support Helpline. The aim of the Business Information Service is to increase and encourage access to relevant high quality business support, save businesses time and resource, and ultimately help businesses to start, grow and thrive - in particular Small and Medium-sized Enterprises (SMEs).

Lot Information

Lot 1

The Department for Business and Trade has procured a service to provide information, advice, guidance and signposting for any kind of business, including pre-start-ups, in England. This new service will replace the existing Business Support Helpline. The aim of the Business Information Service is to increase and encourage access to relevant high quality business support, save businesses time and resource, and ultimately help businesses to start, grow and thrive - in particular Small and Medium-sized Enterprises (SMEs). The Business Information Service will be expected to provide bespoke, unscripted advice (via telephone, email, webchat, social media, and other messaging services, but not face-to-face) on a wide range of topics including starting a business, accessing finance, and business planning. The service will need to maintain a database of information on business support in England for use by the service's advisers. This database will also need to be accessible to other users, such as advisers based in Growth Hubs. The service will be demand-led so should be flexible. It must provide capacity to meet at least 50,000 inbound contacts, with at least 10,000 in-depth appointments per annum. It must also be capable of rapidly scaling-up (at extra cost) in response to economic shocks and other pressures. The service will be expected to operate within standard hours, but should have a robust process for out-of-hours contacts. The service is expected to go live on 1 April 2024 - following a minimum three month mobilisation period. We expect the contract to run for up to three years - initially for one year with the option to extend the contract on an annual basis for three more. The initial contract value is anticipated to be up to PS2.5 million per annum (including VAT).

Options: Options to extend the contract for a further 2 years on a 1+1 basis

Publication & Lifecycle

Open Contracting ID
ocds-h6vhtk-03bce8
Publication Source
Find A Tender Service
Latest Notice
https://www.find-tender.service.gov.uk/Notice/000325-2024
Current Stage
Award
All Stages
Planning, Tender, Award

Procurement Classification

Notice Type
Planning Notice
Procurement Type
Standard
Procurement Category
Services
Procurement Method
Open
Procurement Method Details
Open procedure
Tender Suitability
Not specified
Awardee Scale
SME

Common Procurement Vocabulary (CPV)

CPV Divisions

75 - Administration, defence and social security services

79 - Business services: law, marketing, consulting, recruitment, printing and security


CPV Codes

75100000 - Administration services

79342300 - Customer services

79400000 - Business and management consultancy and related services

79512000 - Call centre

79900000 - Miscellaneous business and business-related services

Notice Value(s)

Tender Value
£2,085,000 £1M-£10M
Lots Value
Not specified
Awards Value
Not specified
Contracts Value
£7,500,000 £1M-£10M

Notice Dates

Publication Date
5 Jan 20242 years ago
Submission Deadline
22 Sep 2023Expired
Future Notice Date
1 Jun 2023Expired
Award Date
1 Jan 20242 years ago
Contract Period
1 Jan 2024 - 31 Mar 2027 3-4 years
Recurrence
Not specified

Notice Status

Tender Status
Complete
Lots Status
Cancelled
Awards Status
Active
Contracts Status
Active

Contracting Authority (Buyer)

Main Buyer
Department for Business and Trade
Additional Buyers

Department for Business, Energy & Industrial Strategy

Contact Name
Available with D3 Tenders Premium →
Contact Email
Available with D3 Tenders Premium →
Contact Phone
Available with D3 Tenders Premium →

Buyer Location

Locality
BIRMINGHAM
Postcode
Not specified
Postcode Area
Not specified
Country
Not specified

Major Region (ITL 1)
Not specified
Basic Region (ITL 2)
Not specified
Small Region (ITL 3)
Not specified
Delivery Location
Not specified

Local Authority
Not specified
Electoral Ward
Not specified
Westminster Constituency
Not specified

Supplier Information

Number of Suppliers
1
Supplier Name

UMi Commercial Limited

Open Contracting Data Standard (OCDS)

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The Open Contracting Data Standard (OCDS) is a framework designed to increase transparency and access to public procurement data in the public sector. It is widely used by governments and organisations worldwide to report on procurement processes and contracts.

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