Decision details

Direct award of a contract to Inner Circle to produce a bid submission for the Levelling Up Fund (LUF) Round 2 for a value of £32,331.00. This is in line with CSO 10.01.1(b).

A bid is required by the Government for the Levelling Up Fund, with a Round 2 deadline of 6th July. This presents a challenging timescale, as the Council intends to develop this in close consultation with key stakeholders and ensure broad support for the bid ahead of submission. This bit requires a strong and well-developed narrative, a comprehensive business case and full economic evidence base for a comprehensive bid with the maximum chance of success. It is expected that this funding round will be competitive, and successful bids from other boroughs, notably London boroughs, have made use of external advice to support and strengthen submissions, including detailed technical advice on investment multipliers and economic modelling. For this reason, it is considered essential to procure external resource to support officers in the preparation of the bid.

Inner Circle are well experienced in the production of funding bids to Government, including supporting a very large successful bid in Round 1 of the fund. Aligned to successful experience of bid writing and project development, Inner Circle have the capacity and ability to mobilise quickly in initiating the work and completing the submission ahead of the funding deadline, responding to a strong desire to initiate and complete the work within the timescales and deadline of the external funding.

Do Nothing – The LUF Round 2 presents a huge opportunity for the Council with the potential to attract further funding to progress on project delivery and improve the existing services to the local community.

Running a competitive tender exercise via an established procurement Framework or seeking three quotes, will delay the work required and most likely miss the deadline as the process can take up to three to four weeks. Providing a direct award to Inner Circle will satisfy the requirements of the work required and give us confidence that they can deliver a successful bid within the timescales of the LUF Round 2.