Chance for businesses to find out about opportunity to bid for £650million of council contracts

Businesses have the chance to learn how they could get involved in bidding for a share of £650million of council contracts up for grabs each year in Cheshire and Warrington.

With businesses still recovering from the coronavirus pandemic and some feeling the impacts of Brexit, many are looking to explore potential new opportunities.

The three Cheshire local authorities have combined contracts each year of £650million, offering a huge potential boost to local companies if they are successful in winning them.

To help businesses, Cheshire and Warrington Growth Hub is hosting a free online workshop on winning public sector contracts on Thursday 21^st October.

The training will show local businesses how to get started in the bid process, how to produce a tender response for the public sector and the best practice in writing a bid response.

There will also be a chance to hear about opportunities for public sector tendering from Cheshire East Council, Cheshire West and Chester Council, Warrington Borough Council and HS2.

Andy Devaney, Director of Business Innovation at Cheshire and Warrington Growth Hub, part of Cheshire and Warrington Local Enterprise Partnership, said: “As business owners look for new growth opportunities after the impacts of coronavirus and the EU Exit, we are keen to help local businesses explore the many opportunities within the public sector.

“We know that bidding for public sector contracts can be daunting for a lot of SME businesses and we hope this workshop will help businesses develop their understanding and learn the basics of successful bidding.

“We are pleased to bring together our three local authorities to showcase some of their upcoming opportunities and ultimately we hope to encourage more bids from local businesses across Cheshire and Warrington.”

The Growth Hub’s workshop will be split into two sessions, businesses can choose to attend both or just the afternoon session:

• The morning session is focused on the basics of tendering and is suitable for business owners with no experience of bidding for public sector work.
• The afternoon session will concentrate on best practice when bidding; providing businesses with insights on how to submit a high-quality tender response. During this session is also when there will be an opportunity to hear from the councils about tendering opportunities.

Also joining the afternoon session will be a representative from HS2, discussing upcoming opportunities and a local business which has successfully bid for public sector work to share their own experiences.

The free workshop is being delivered by Jo Tillott from Strive Consultancy. Jo is an experienced, established consultant with a proven track record of helping companies of all sizes win bids and tenders. Her experience means she is perfectly positioned to provide realistic, practical, relatable advice.

Places are strictly limited and businesses who want to book a place should register here