--- title: "Soft Market Test for Local Investment in Natural Capital (LINC)" ocid: "ocds-b5fd17-097bfd28-2032-4e27-8440-73cc17bc4f50" canonical_url: "https://d3tenders.com/contract/?ocid=ocds-b5fd17-097bfd28-2032-4e27-8440-73cc17bc4f50" markdown_url: "https://d3tenders.com/contract/ocds-b5fd17-097bfd28-2032-4e27-8440-73cc17bc4f50.md" json_url: "https://d3tenders.com/contract/ocds-b5fd17-097bfd28-2032-4e27-8440-73cc17bc4f50.json" source: "Contracts Finder" current_stage: "Planning" buyer: "WEST MIDLANDS COMBINED AUTHORITY" published: "2023-05-22" --- # Soft Market Test for Local Investment in Natural Capital (LINC) Buyer: WEST MIDLANDS COMBINED AUTHORITY Current stage: Planning OCID: ocds-b5fd17-097bfd28-2032-4e27-8440-73cc17bc4f50 [View canonical contract page](https://d3tenders.com/contract/?ocid=ocds-b5fd17-097bfd28-2032-4e27-8440-73cc17bc4f50) [Download OCDS JSON](https://d3tenders.com/contract/ocds-b5fd17-097bfd28-2032-4e27-8440-73cc17bc4f50.json) ## Summary The West Midlands Combined Authority is conducting a procurement process titled "Soft Market Test for Local Investment in Natural Capital (LINC)" for consultancy services related to environmental issues. The engagement end date is set for 9th June 2023. The opportunity is in the Planning stage, with a planned tender publication between September and November 2023. The location is in Birmingham, West Midlands, United Kingdom. This procurement presents opportunities for SMEs and VCSEs in the environmental consultancy services sector. The procurement process by the West Midlands Combined Authority involves a soft market test for consultancy support on investment in natural capital projects. Businesses specializing in environmental issues consultancy services who can provide innovative solutions for project pipeline development and investor coordination are well-suited for this opportunity. The engagement process involves responding to an online questionnaire, with feedback being considered for the forthcoming formal tender opportunity. ## Notice Below are elements to the programme that WMCA requires consultancy support on from a financial, investor and legal perspective: 1, Building the prospectus We understand the need to bring scale forward to fully realise the opportunity for investment in the natural environment. The WMCA area provides the opportunity for building a project pipeline at scale, but there are also challenges to achieving this in a dense urban area. The consultant will therefore need to support an innovative approach to the development of a project pipeline to reflect the unique size, pressure and nature of our baseline natural capital i.e. we can't just plant trees and deliver BNG. There has been some initial work to pull together some of this, but we would like the focus of the prospectus to do this in a more systematic way and so that it is attractive to investors. 2,Building the Fund The aim of this work will enable us to understand the necessary conditions we need to have in place to give investors confidence in the region's ability to develop and deliver natural capital projects and coordinate through a Fund; we will do this by building an investor panel as a point of contact throughout the project - this should be drawn from expertise already in the sector and through the contacts of the consultants and stakeholders supporting the project. 3, Communications and dissemination work For more information please refer to the PIN Notice https://www.find-tender.service.gov.uk/Notice/014280-2023 Additional information: Further key detail around expressing an interest in this market engagement exercise are listed below: Portal Website: https://wmca.bravosolution.co.uk PIN Title: Soft Market Test for Local Investment in Natural Capital (LINC) Bravo Solution Project Reference: Project_704 Once registered, please access Project_704 on our e-tendering portal and respond to PQQ_181 - Soft Market Test for Local Investment in Natural Capital (LINC). This is not a formal PQQ or expression of interest in a tender exercise, it is purely to give the market the opportunity to submit responses to an online questionnaire which may assist the WMCA in drafting their tender documentation. Any information submitted by the market will not be formerly evaluated. Following the soft market testing exercise, feedback will be considered and built into the wider tender opportunity, which is expected to be published around September-November 2023. Please note, the deadline for PQQ responses is 2pm 9th June 2023. ## Key Details | Field | Value | | --- | --- | | Publication source | Contracts Finder | | Latest notice | https://www.contractsfinder.service.gov.uk/Notice/5e960b20-ce8a-4e83-8d4e-f182f4c50e25 | | Notice type | Market Engagement Notice | | Procurement type | Standard | | Procurement category | Not specified | | Procurement method | Not Specified | | Procurement method details | Not specified | | Tender suitability | SME, VCSE | | Awardee scale | Not specified | | All stages | Planning | ## Dates | Field | Value | | --- | --- | | Publication date | 22 May 2023 | | Submission deadline | Not specified | | Future notice date | 9 Jun 2023 | | Award date | Not specified | | Contract period | Not specified | | Recurrence | Not specified | ## Values | Field | Value | | --- | --- | | Tender value | Not specified | | Lots value | Not specified | | Awards value | Not specified | | Contracts value | Not specified | ## Status | Field | Value | | --- | --- | | Tender status | Planning | | Lots status | Not specified | | Awards status | Not specified | | Contracts status | Not specified | ## Buyer | Field | Value | | --- | --- | | Main buyer | WEST MIDLANDS COMBINED AUTHORITY | | Locality | BIRMINGHAM | | Post town | Birmingham | | Postcode | B19 3SD | | Country | England | | ITL 1 | TLG West Midlands (England) | | ITL 2 | TLG3 West Midlands | | ITL 3 | TLG31 Birmingham | | Local authority | Birmingham | | Electoral ward | Newtown | | Westminster constituency | Birmingham Ladywood | | Delivery location | TLG West Midlands (England) | ## CPV Codes ### Divisions - 90 - Sewage, refuse, cleaning and environmental services ### Codes - 90713000 - Environmental issues consultancy services ## Release History - 22 May 2023 at 11:24 - Planning - Market Engagement Notice - https://www.contractsfinder.service.gov.uk/Notice/5e960b20-ce8a-4e83-8d4e-f182f4c50e25 ## Documents - https://www.contractsfinder.service.gov.uk/Notice/5e960b20-ce8a-4e83-8d4e-f182f4c50e25 22nd May 2023 - Early engagement notice on Contracts Finder ## Notice URLs - https://wmca.bravosolution.co.uk - https://www.find-tender.service.gov.uk/Notice/014280-2023 ## Provenance This Markdown file is an alternate public rendering of the D3 Tenders contract record. The canonical page is https://d3tenders.com/contract/?ocid=ocds-b5fd17-097bfd28-2032-4e27-8440-73cc17bc4f50. The underlying structured data is available as OCDS JSON at https://d3tenders.com/contract/ocds-b5fd17-097bfd28-2032-4e27-8440-73cc17bc4f50.json.