Business Support North East Framework

The North East MSA is seeking proposals for the design, mobilisation and delivery of an integrated programme to provide a coordinated pathway supporting individuals from the earliest stages of considering self-employment or entrepreneurship through to business start-up, early trading and progression into wider business support provision as part of the Business North East offer. The service is intended to support the creation of sustainable new businesses across the North East and contribute towards increased entrepreneurial activity, higher business start-up rates and improved business survival rates. Delivery should support the MSA's objective of ensuring that enterprise support is visible, accessible and responsive to all communities and places across the region. The programme is expected to operate across all seven local authority areas and form an integral part of the wider Business North East ecosystem, working closely with the regional hub, local authority spokes and wider partner organisations to ensure participants can access the support most appropriate to their needs.

The North East MSA is seeking proposals for the design, mobilisation and delivery of a Succeed in Business: Access to Expert Specialists programme as part of the Business North East offer. The programme would provide established businesses with access to specialist expertise, practical support and targeted interventions designed to address barriers to survival, resilience, growth, productivity and innovation. The purpose of the programme is to help existing businesses identify and implement solutions to the key issues limiting their performance, enabling them to improve competitiveness, strengthen operational capability, operate successfully and realise sustainable growth opportunities. The service is intended to support the growth and development of businesses operating across all sectors of the North East economy. Whilst specialist sector knowledge may be required in some circumstances, the primary focus of the programme is on helping businesses overcome common challenges relating to areas such as leadership, workforce development, marketing, exporting, technology adoption, productivity, finance, innovation and operational performance. The programme should operate as part of the wider Business North East ecosystem and work closely with the regional hub, local authority spokes and wider business support partners to ensure businesses receive coordinated and complementary support.

This Lot covers the provision of intensive and targeted support for businesses with the ambition and potential to achieve significant growth, scale their operations, access investment or expand into new markets. Services commissioned under this Lot may include high-growth diagnostics; strategic growth planning; scale-up and accelerator programmes; leadership and management development for growth; investment and equity readiness; access to growth finance and investor engagement; innovation and commercialisation; internationalisation and market expansion; executive mentoring and coaching; peer learning; and connections to investors, professional advisers and specialist networks. Services may be delivered through individual, cohort, accelerator or other intensive models, and the Lot may also be used for new or emerging forms of high-growth and scale-up support designed to accelerate the development, investment potential and growth of ambitious businesses.

This Lot covers the provision of services that strengthen sectors, clusters, supply chains and wider business ecosystems, including activity designed to develop collective capability, stimulate collaboration and enable businesses to respond to existing and emerging market opportunities. Services commissioned under this Lot may include sector and cluster development; cluster management and capability building; sector-specific business support; supply-chain development and supplier readiness; industry and business-to-business collaboration; innovation networks; market and commercial opportunity development; sector events and networking; and the design and delivery of interventions aligned to priority sectors or areas of economic opportunity. The Lot may also be used to commission research-led, developmental or responsive activity that identifies and addresses emerging sector, cluster, supply-chain or market opportunities and enables groups of businesses to collaborate, innovate and grow.

This Lot covers a broad range of enabling, engagement and delivery services required to support the effective development and implementation of business and economic development programmes and interventions. Services commissioned under this Lot may include business engagement and outreach; programme activation and participant recruitment; local or place-based engagement; business events, networking, workshops and seminars; training, mentoring and coaching programmes; peer networks; adviser development; development of business support content, tools and digital resources; programme and intervention design; fund and programme management and delivery; programme and project evaluation, and associated marketing and communications activity. The Lot is also intended to provide flexibility to commission cross-cutting, pilot, innovative or responsive business support activity where requirements emerge during the life of the Framework and do not naturally sit within another Lot.