Tenders

Invitation to Tender: Cheshire and Warrington Growth Hub

This procurement exercise is being conducted as a below threshold open tender. The tender documents comprise this Invitation to Tender (ITT) document and the ‘Growth Hub Customer Journey’ document. Bidders should also be familiar with the Government’s Backing Your Business plan for small and medium-sized businesses and the Business Growth Service.

ECW are looking to procure additional business support capacity to supplement the service available through the Cheshire and Warrington Growth Hub, from a high-quality provider that delivers a service that is demonstrably focused around the needs of ECW.

This ITT sets out the information which is required in order to assess the suitability of bidders in terms of their capacity to deliver flexible, responsive business support, quality assurance processes, relationship management, service levels and innovative solutions to meet the requirements of ECW for Cheshire and Warrington Growth Hub

Support Services

Across Cheshire and Warrington, businesses have had access to a wide range of support offers. However, this provision is often time‑limited, programme‑specific, or fragmented across organisations, which can make navigation difficult for SMEs. Businesses frequently report uncertainty about who does what, leading to disengagement after initial enquiry. The available services have been curtailed recently due to funding reductions.

ECW is commissioning a service to address this gap on an interim basis via an embedded service within the existing Cheshire and Warrington Growth Hub. The service should be designed to also add resource to the National Business Growth Service www.business.gov.uk by ensuring businesses receive timely, proportionate, hands‑on support that helps them take action and progress.

The additional service will operate as part of the Growth Hub and is intended to complement, not duplicate, existing provision at a national, regional and local level. The interim provision will include practical delivery, hands‑on adviser support, follow‑up, and business readiness -ensuring clear referral pathways, feedback loops, and effective navigation across the ecosystem.

The successful bidder will be required to deliver services in accordance with all tender documents and the contract to be placed with the successful bidder. Tenderers are requested to study the specification in detail and ensure that the specified requirements can be met and thus your understanding of our requirements is reflected in your Pricing Schedule return.

The contract is expected to commence in August 2026 with the exact dates to be agreed depending on the agreement between the successful provider and ECW.

ECW wish to secure efficiencies and economies of scale by means of a procurement exercise for meeting the requirements detailed within this documentation. The principle benefits anticipated by ECW in this procurement include;

• Ability to maximise opportunities for best value and efficient services
• To allow bidders to explore efficiencies, which may be possible by suggesting innovative and cost-effective solutions
• Presentation of cost savings to ECW in order to maximise economical operational efficiency and value for money
• A resultant contract that meets the tender requirements and supports ECW with their ambition

This service would be commissioned on an interim basis for 12 months, with quarterly reviews. This is intended to maintain continuity of business support during the transition to a Cheshire and Warrington Combined Authority-led service, while also establishing a scalable model capable of adapting to future devolved arrangements.

During the contract life, the successful bidder will need to achieve continuous improvement against KPIs, customer satisfaction and other contract measures.  Failure to do so may result in the contract being terminated.

The basis of the contract will include:

• Deliver a high‑quality, impartial, hands‑on business support service for SMEs, providing practical advice, guidance and problem‑solving support that enables businesses to take action, overcome barriers and progress towards growth, productivity and resilience.
• Be embedded within the Cheshire and Warrington Growth Hub, acting as the practical delivery arm following signposting and referral.
• Maintain continuity of business support during a transition period, whilst the Cheshire and Warrington Combined Authority works with public and private sector partners to design longer-term provision. This serves to protect business engagement and access to support while future devolved governance and delivery models are finalised.
• Operate a Cheshire and Warrington Growth Hub branded service on behalf of ECW and the Combined Authority
• Provide practical, proportionate business support to SMEs through ongoing adviser relationships, offering advice, guidance and follow‑up where needed. This means maintaining engagement with businesses following initial enquiry or referral and supporting on early‑stage problem solving and practical business decision‑making.
• Work collaboratively with the Cheshire and Warrington Growth Hub, the Combined Authority, local authorities (Cheshire East Council, Cheshire West and Chester Council and Warrington Borough Council) and delivery partners to strengthen the local business support and to ensure clear navigation, referral and non‑duplication within the wider business support ecosystem.

Day to day project management on behalf of ECW will be provided by Paul Chapman, Cheshire and Warrington Growth Hub Manager, working closely with the C&WCA and Business Support Stakeholder Group

The supplier should make allowance for regular performance reviews and liaison via telephone and e-mail with officers and key stakeholders as necessary.

Budget

There is a maximum available budget of £140,000 excluding VAT, which is to be inclusive of all delivery costs, expenses and overheads of the supplier as well as the CAN platform procurement identified above (s3.4).

Closing Date & Submission 

The closing date and time for the receipt of submissions and all requested documentation relating to this stage is 16:00 hours (4pm) on 21^st July 2026. Late submissions will not be accepted.

Submissions will only be accepted if they are returned via email to tenders@cheshireandwarrington.com Bidders should not send their completed submissions to/copy in any other email address. Submissions should be made as email attachments using the DOC, DOCX and/or PDF file formats only.

Tenderers are advised that it is compulsory to complete and return all of the following documents in the format provided as per the instructions of this ITT. All questions must be answered, where a question does not apply please state “Not applicable”.  Failure to complete the documents in full and/or provide all documentation will result in a non-compliant tender submission and will mean that your tender is not considered.

1. Form of Tender Declaration (Appendix 1)
2. KPI Schedule (Appendix 2)
3. Supplier Technical Questions & Answer Sheet (Appendix 3)

Tender Queries

If you have any specific questions concerning this document or the process for submission of your proposal, then please email through to: tenders@cheshireandwarrington.com no later than 10th July 2026. Only questions submitted to this email address will be answered.  Queries received after this date will not be accepted and will not be responded to.

It would be most helpful if queries could be submitted in one email rather than piecemeal. If any question or request for clarification is considered to be of material significance, both the question and the response may be issued for review by all potential providers in a suitably anonymous form. All communication received from potential providers will be treated in strict confidence but are subject to this paragraph.