Award

Ambitious Essex Enhanced Growth Hub

ESSEX COUNTY COUNCIL

This public procurement record has 3 releases in its history.

Award

17 Feb 2026 at 18:01

Tender

07 Jan 2026 at 16:58

Planning

15 Aug 2025 at 12:27

Summary of the contracting process

Essex County Council is actively involved in enhancing business support within its region, particularly through the Ambitious Essex Enhanced Growth Hub initiative. This procurement process involves the award of a contract to provide an Enhanced Growth Hub with additional business support services, scheduled to begin on 1st April 2026 and running through to 31st March 2029. The project will service the entire ceremonial County of Essex, including Southend and Thurrock, aiming to bolster the local business environment by offering advice, support, and financial access. The procurement method employed is an open procedure, reflecting transparency and encouraging robust competition, and was in the award stage as of 17th February 2026, with SMARTER SOCIETY LIMITED identified as the supplier. The standstill period concludes on 26th February 2026, marking significant milestones in this process.

This tender presents a lucrative opportunity for businesses engaged in financial and insurance services, as well as business services such as law, marketing, consulting, recruitment, printing, and security. Given the scope and ambition of the project, SMEs are particularly well-positioned to leverage their expertise and innovative solutions to contribute to the growth hub's mission. This initiative is crafted to adapt to evolving business needs and remove redundancies, thereby providing improved value for money. Methodical market engagement prior to the tender process suggests a responsive approach to the shifting landscape of business support, presenting proactive enterprises with the potential to expand their service portfolios and foster regional economic enhancement.

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Notice Title

Ambitious Essex Enhanced Growth Hub

Notice Description

Essex County Council (ECC) are seeking to award contract of the Enhanced Growth Hub with Additional Business Support on 1st April 2026. The service, working closely with the Government funded Growth Hub, will help provide the front door for businesses seeking advice and support in the County, enabling them to have the knowledge necessary to achieve growth and prosperity as well as access to business finance. The area covered by the service will be the Ceremonial County of Essex, including Southend and Thurrock Unitary Authority areas.

Lot Information

Lot 1

Options: The Authority reserves the right at any time during the Term of this Agreement to add services that are similar and/or complementary services to the Services (Additional Services) including but not limited to provisions of support services in relation to marketing, finance and construction. See Terms and Conditions publish at tender for more details of this.

Planning Information

Essex County Council is conducting soft market testing to inform the development of our future business support offer. The Council currently has a business support contract in place that will expire in March 2026, alongside our nationally funded Growth Hub contract. With changes underway in the business support landscape-including the introduction of the national Business Growth Service-we are seeking input to help shape a suitable contract and procurement process. As part of the Council's pre-procurement work, market engagement for the development of a new countywide business support service has already conducted with businesses who may use the service, via a comprehensive survey. This survey enabled us to better understand the current challenges that businesses are facing, what they would want from a business support offer, growth prospects, business support functions, and many other metrics. The Council would now like to hear from potential bidders. To respond to soft market testing please complete the questionnaire found here: https://forms.office.com/e/RPe5nEf3vv The deadline for responses is Friday 5th September.

Publication & Lifecycle

Open Contracting ID
ocds-h6vhtk-0588ec
Publication Source
Find A Tender Service
Latest Notice
https://www.find-tender.service.gov.uk/Notice/014538-2026
Current Stage
Award
All Stages
Planning, Tender, Award

Procurement Classification

Notice Type
UK6 - Contract Award Notice
Procurement Type
Standard
Procurement Category
Services
Procurement Method
Open
Procurement Method Details
Open procedure
Tender Suitability
SME
Awardee Scale
SME

Common Procurement Vocabulary (CPV)

CPV Divisions

66 - Financial and insurance services

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


CPV Codes

66000000 - Financial and insurance services

79000000 - Business services: law, marketing, consulting, recruitment, printing and security

Notice Value(s)

Tender Value
£1,140,000 £1M-£10M
Lots Value
£1,140,000 £1M-£10M
Awards Value
£1,140,000 £1M-£10M
Contracts Value
Not specified

Notice Dates

Publication Date
17 Feb 20266 days ago
Submission Deadline
2 Feb 2026Expired
Future Notice Date
5 Sep 2025Expired
Award Date
17 Feb 20261 weeks ago
Contract Period
31 Mar 2026 - 31 Mar 2029 3-4 years
Recurrence
Not specified

Notice Status

Tender Status
Complete
Lots Status
Complete
Awards Status
Pending
Contracts Status
Not Specified

Contracting Authority (Buyer)

Main Buyer
ESSEX COUNTY COUNCIL
Contact Name
Available with D3 Tenders Premium →
Contact Email
Available with D3 Tenders Premium →
Contact Phone
Available with D3 Tenders Premium →

Buyer Location

Locality
CHELMSFORD
Postcode
CM1 1QH
Post Town
Chelmsford
Country
England

Major Region (ITL 1)
TLH East (England)
Basic Region (ITL 2)
TLH3 Essex
Small Region (ITL 3)
TLH36 Heart of Essex
Delivery Location
TLH3 Essex

Local Authority
Chelmsford
Electoral Ward
Moulsham and Central
Westminster Constituency
Chelmsford

Supplier Information

Number of Suppliers
1
Supplier Name

SMARTER SOCIETY

Open Contracting Data Standard (OCDS)

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