Tenders

Invitation to Tender: Cheshire and Warrington Investment Prospectus

Marketing Cheshire requires a specialist design agency to create a compelling investment prospectus for the Cheshire and Warrington Combined Authority (CWCA). The new organisation will be established in Spring 2026 as part of the Government’s commitment to devolution across England.

Project Overview

The prospectus will be launched at The Great North (TGN) Investment Summit on Monday 18 May 2026 in Leeds, part of the annual UK’s Real Estate, Investment and Infrastructure Forum (UKREiiF) and will position Cheshire and Warrington as one of the best investment propositions in the North, providing a unified and compelling resource that showcases the strength of the economy, key sectors, opportunities, and a detailed list of investment sites and propositions.

We have historically attended UKREiiF since its inception, representing our local authority partners, with our presence growing year on year through a dedicated stand presence and expanding fringe events and speakers.

With the new CA, this represents an opportunity to break the mould of previous years and offer a fresh tone, style and direction aligned with our devolution consultation work, the prospectus at the centre of the offer.

Project Objectives

• Create a primarily digital prospectus (microsite or interactive digital document) that serves as the cornerstone resource for CWCA and councils to support inward investment activity
• Launch the prospectus at The Great North Summit to maximize impact with mayors, leaders, Government officials, and select investors
• Develop supporting print versions for use at TGN Summit, UKREiiF, and future investment events
• Create accompanying marketing collateral to drive traffic to the digital version

Project Timeline

Critical Deadline: Content and design must be finalized by w/c 20th of April for printing and w/c 04 May for digital and launch at TGN Summit on 18 May 2026.

Submission Details

Deadline for submissions: 30th January (see page 3)
Submit proposals to: liam.hartzenberg@cheshireandwarrington.com

Questions and Clarifications: Please submit any questions by 28 January 2026 to liam.hartzenberg@cheshireandwarrington.com

Invitation to Tender: Sector Evidence Base and Investor Ready Narratives

This procurement exercise is being conducted as a below threshold open tender. The tender documents comprise this ITT document, including associated Appendices and Annexes.

Cheshire and Warrington is on the government’s devolution priority programme, expected to form a new Combined Authority in Spring 2026. It is also a member of The Great North pan regional mayoral partnership, which replaced NP11. The area has recently published its Sustainable and Inclusive Economic Strategy (SIES 2025-2045), which sets out the importance of key sectors and clusters to driving transformational growth opportunities, and makes a commitment to set out a roadmap to securing these opportunities through its future 10 year Local Growth Plan which will form the delivery plan for the SIES.

The government’s National Industrial Strategy introduces a new taxonomy for nationally significant growth-driving sectors, and highlights key strengths within Cheshire and Warrington, including as part of a Supercluster for life sciences, digital and technologies with neighbouring areas.  Existing devolved areas such as neighbouring city regions have been working with government on a series of sector plans, which update their understanding of key sector and cluster growth opportunities, including interlinkages and dual-purpose properties across diverse sectors, and set out how the area will secure those opportunities.

Therefore, Enterprise Cheshire & Warrington (ECW), working with and on behalf of, Cheshire and Warrington Local Authority Growth Directors, requires a set of sector evidence bases and investment proposition content for priority high-growth industries, as well as a baseline refresh of the wider sector evidence base.

This work will form Phase 1 of a programme to update the Cheshire and Warrington economic, spatial and investment evidence base as well as providing quality and impactful content for The Great North Summit and UKREIIF in May 2026. Further phases will produce the full Sector Plans for the transformational sectors that will drive growth.

This commission will:

• Provide a robust, data-driven understanding of the business base, assets, and supply chains across defined sectors.
• Ensuring that all CW industrial strategy IS-8 sectors have a consistent analytical foundation and baseline profile, reviewing in the context of CW’s full sector profile
• Preparing enhanced diagnostics and investor-ready content for four frontier sectors: Clean Energy; Life Sciences; Advanced Manufacturing; and a lighter touch enhanced profile for the Digital and Technologies sector.
• Build on / update previously commissioned sector / investment work, avoiding duplication.
• Supply investor-ready content for the emerging Great North / Northern Growth Corridor sector propositions, the Great North Investment Summit (18 May 2026) and UKREiiF (19–21 May 2026) and feed into the proposed Great North India Trade Mission later in 2026
• Feed insights into the Innovation Action Plan and wider evidence base for the future Cheshire & Warrington Combined Authority.
• Provide evidence that could form a key part of the case for Government designation of future business rate retention zones, building on and going beyond the existing Science Corridor Enterprise Zone, by evidencing economic scale, growth opportunity, cluster logic and public–private delivery potential.
• Outline a draft Phase 2 specification for full sector plans for priority sectors
• Further details are in the specification in section 3

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 late January 2026, with the exact dates to be agreed depending on the agreement between the successful provider and ECW. The work is expected to be substantially completed by April 2026.

The Contract will be awarded for up to five months and the appointed consultant(s) will be assessed for satisfactory performance through continuous monitoring and performance review.

Budget 

A budget of up to £80,000 excl. VAT is available for this phase of the work.

A further substantive phase of work to develop sector plans will be tendered separately during the contract period.

Closing Date & Submission

The closing date and time for the receipt of submissions and all requested documentation relating to this stage is 09:00 hours (9am) on Monday 19^th January 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.

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. Pricing 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 7^th January 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.