---
title: "Business Information Service"
ocid: "ocds-b5fd17-7b239dde-ad0b-44b0-9658-f6de8366f50c"
canonical_url: "https://d3tenders.com/contract/?ocid=ocds-b5fd17-7b239dde-ad0b-44b0-9658-f6de8366f50c"
markdown_url: "https://d3tenders.com/contract/ocds-b5fd17-7b239dde-ad0b-44b0-9658-f6de8366f50c.md"
json_url: "https://d3tenders.com/contract/ocds-b5fd17-7b239dde-ad0b-44b0-9658-f6de8366f50c.json"
source: "Contracts Finder"
current_stage: "Planning"
buyer: "DEPARTMENT FOR BUSINESS, ENERGY & INDUSTRIAL STRATEGY"
published: "2023-04-05"
---

# Business Information Service

Buyer: DEPARTMENT FOR BUSINESS, ENERGY & INDUSTRIAL STRATEGY  
Current stage: Planning  
OCID: ocds-b5fd17-7b239dde-ad0b-44b0-9658-f6de8366f50c

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## Summary

The Department for Business and Trade, represented by the Department for Business, Energy & Industrial Strategy, is planning a procurement process titled "Business Information Service" in the Administration services industry category. The process is currently in the planning stage with an engagement end date set for 26 April 2023. The aim is to procure a service that offers information, advice, and guidance for businesses in England, especially SMEs. The service is scheduled to go live on 1 April 2024, with the contract expected to run for up to four years.

This tender for the Business Information Service presents an opportunity for businesses, particularly those in business and management consultancy, call centre operations, and customer services. Companies interested in providing bespoke, unscripted advice through various channels such as telephone and email would be well-suited to compete. The service is demand-led and requires flexibility to handle at least 50,000 inbound contacts annually. Businesses capable of rapidly scaling up in response to economic shocks would find this opportunity beneficial.

## Notice

The Department for Business and Trade is seeking to procure 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 four years - initially for one year with the option to extend the contract on an annual basis for three more. The initial contract value (excluding mobilisation costs) is anticipated to be up to PS2.5 million per annum (including VAT). It is our intention to publish our tender for this requirement in May 2023. Ahead of this though, we would welcome any interested suppliers to join us in a formal Supplier Engagement event, scheduled for 27 April 2023 at 2.00pm via MS Teams. This will allow us to detail our requirement, and for observations to be shared, opportunities identified and questions asked. The outputs of the session will then inform our final scope before we publish our tender opportunity. Details on how to register interest in this Supplier Engagement event are shown below. Additional information: A supplier engagement event about the Business Information Service will take place from 14:00-15:30 on Thursday 27 April 2023 via MS Teams. The agenda is proposed as follows: 1. Introductions 2. Summary of opportunity 3. Existing service 4. Service requirements 5. Question and answer session 6. Timeline and next steps To register your interest in this event, please email steven.williams3@beis.gov.uk

## Key Details

| Field | Value |
| --- | --- |
| Publication source | Contracts Finder |
| Latest notice | https://www.contractsfinder.service.gov.uk/Notice/26da9654-dfb8-4fa6-a8ec-b205e6902655 |
| Notice type | Market Engagement Notice |
| Procurement type | Standard |
| Procurement category | Not specified |
| Procurement method | Not Specified |
| Procurement method details | Not specified |
| Tender suitability | SME |
| Awardee scale | Not specified |
| All stages | Planning |

## Dates

| Field | Value |
| --- | --- |
| Publication date | 5 Apr 2023 |
| Submission deadline | Not specified |
| Future notice date | 26 Apr 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 | DEPARTMENT FOR BUSINESS, ENERGY & INDUSTRIAL STRATEGY |
| Locality | BIRMINGHAM |
| Post town | Birmingham |
| Postcode | B2 4AJ |
| Country | England |
| ITL 1 | TLG West Midlands (England) |
| ITL 2 | TLG3 West Midlands |
| ITL 3 | TLG31 Birmingham |
| Local authority | Birmingham |
| Electoral ward | Ladywood |
| Westminster constituency | Birmingham Ladywood |
| Delivery location | Not specified |

## CPV Codes

### Divisions

- 75 - Administration, defence and social security services
- 79 - Business services: law, marketing, consulting, recruitment, printing and security

### 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

## Release History

- 5 Apr 2023 at 14:47 - Planning - Market Engagement Notice - https://www.contractsfinder.service.gov.uk/Notice/26da9654-dfb8-4fa6-a8ec-b205e6902655

## Documents

- https://www.contractsfinder.service.gov.uk/Notice/26da9654-dfb8-4fa6-a8ec-b205e6902655
  5th April 2023 - Early engagement notice on Contracts Finder

## 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-b5fd17-7b239dde-ad0b-44b0-9658-f6de8366f50c. The underlying structured data is available as OCDS JSON at https://d3tenders.com/contract/ocds-b5fd17-7b239dde-ad0b-44b0-9658-f6de8366f50c.json.