Cheshire and Warrington Local Enterprise Partnership (LEP)

Cheshire and Warrington Local Enterprise Partnership (LEP)

Cheshire and Warrington Local Enterprise Partnership (LEP)

INVITATION TO QUOTE (ITQ) FOR THE PROVISION OF A

Cheshire Business Survey

SUMMARY INSTRUCTIONS AND DETAILS OF CONTRACT

ITEM / CONTRACT DETAILS
Contract Description: / Cheshire Business Survey
This brief seeks quotations from appropriately qualified and experienced organisations to conduct a survey of the needs of businesses in the two Cheshire local authorities (Cheshire East and Cheshire West & Chester).
Specific details of contract will be outlined in subsequent sections of this ITQ.
Quantity: / As per specification
Period of Contract: / December 2016 – October 2017
Procuring Officer: / Andy Hulme
Policy & Strategy Manager
Cheshire & Warrington Local Enterprise Partnership
Submission instructions / Submissions must be emailed to
Please note you are required to register, express an interest, download the ITQ documentation and submit (email) the completed ITQ documentation by 12 noon on Thursday 1 December 2016.
1. Please ensure you leave sufficient time to submit your ITQ submission prior to the closing date/time.
2. The LEP cannot be held responsible for technical/ICT issues in leaving the emailing of your submission too late. No submission received after this closing date and time will be considered other than where there are exceptional circumstances, which may be considered by the LEP at its discretion. Please note that submissions, which are partly through being sent at the closing time, will be considered to have not been received.
3. Where several documents are to be enclosed, preference would be for these to be 'zipped' as one file. Please do not send any additional company literature/brochures if these have not been requested.
4. ITQs which have commenced being sent before the closing time but have not finished being sent by the closing time will be registered as a late quote.
5.Quotes submitted by post, fax or other electronic means will not be accepted.
Date/time for Quotation return: / 12 noon Thursday 1 December 2016

Timetable

This timetable is indicative only. The LEP reserves the right to change it at its discretion.

Stage / Date(s)/time
Issue of Invitation to Quote / Thursday 17November 2016
Clarification questions / By Friday 25 November 2016, responses by Monday 28November 2016
Deadline for Submission of Quotations / 12 noon Thursday 1 December 2016
Evaluation of Quotations / w/c 5 December 2016
Notification of result of evaluation / Wednesday 7December 2016
Expected date of award of Contract / Wednesday 7December 2016
Contract commencement / EarlyDecember 2016

IMPORTANT NOTICE

This Invitation to Quote (“ITQ”) is issued to those companies shortlisted to quote (“suppliers”) to theCheshire & Warrington Local Enterprise Partnership (the “LEP”) to provide a Cheshire Business Survey (the “Contract”), their professional advisers and other parties essential to preparing a Quotation for this Contract (the “Quote”) and for no other purpose.

The contents of this ITQ, and of any other documentation sent to you in respect of this quotation process, are provided on the basis that they remain the property of the LEP and must be treated as confidential. If you are unable or unwilling to comply with this requirement you are required to destroy this ITQ and all associated documents immediately and not to retain any electronic or paper copies.

No supplier will undertake any publicity activities with any part of the media in relation to the Contract or this ITQ process without the prior written agreement of the LEP, including agreement on the format and content of any publicity.

This ITQ is made available in good faith. No warranty is given as to the accuracy or completeness of the information contained in it and any liability or any inaccuracy or incompleteness is therefore expressly disclaimed by theLEP and its advisers.

The LEP reserves the right to cancel the quotation process at any point. The LEP is not liable for any costs resulting from any cancellation of this Quotation process nor for any other costs incurred by those quoting for this Contract.

INSTRUCTIONS

BACKGROUND

1.1Further details of the LEP requirements under the Contract and other relevant information are provided in the Project Brief.

1.2If you have any questions or require any clarifications, please contact Andy Hulme, Policy & Strategy Manager, Cheshire & Warrington LEP at or on 01606 812284 or 07584 217563. However, please note that the LEP may need to refer these questions and requests for clarification to officers in one of the two local authority partner organisations involved in this study (Cheshire East Council and Cheshire West & Chester Council), particularly if the question or requestis of a technical nature.

1.3Other than the person identified above, no LEP employee has the authority to give any information or make any representation (express or implied) in relation to this ITQ or any other matter relating to the Contract.

1.4Please note that the LEP’s and its partner organisations’ responses to any queries or clarification requests may, at the discretion of these partners, be circulated to all Suppliers.

1.5The LEP and its partner organisations reserve the right to issue supplementary documentation at any time during the quotation process to clarify any issue or amend any aspect of the ITQ. All such further documentation that may be issued shall be deemed to form part of the ITQ and shall supplement and/or supersede any part of the ITQ to the extent indicated.

1.6Suppliers must obtain for themselves at their own expense all information necessary for the preparation of their quote.

1.7Under the Contract the LEP will require compliance with its policies. Suppliers are advised to satisfy themselves that they understand all of the requirements of the Contract before submitting their quote.

1.8The Quotation must be received in accordance with the relevant instructions no later than the time and date indicated.

QUOTATION SUBMISSION REQUIREMENTS

1.9Quotations must be written in the English language.

1.10Only one quotation is permitted from each supplier. In the event that more than one is submitted by a Supplier, the one with the latest time of submission will be evaluated and the other(s) disregarded.

1.11The Quote (including price) should remain valid for a minimum period of 90 days.

1.12The Quote must not be qualified in any way.

1.13Any signatures must be made by a person who is authorised to commit the Quotation to the Contract.

1.14Your full registered business/name and main office address must also be provided on all documents.

CONTRACT DOCUMENTS

1.15Any resulting Contract will be on the Contractual Terms and Conditions.The Contract will be subject to English law and the exclusive jurisdiction of the English Courts.

1.16This LEP is bound by procurement rules and cannot enter into any negotiations on the quotation or Contractual Terms and Conditions.

CONTENTS

INTRODUCTION

PROJECT BRIEF

BUSINESS QUESTIONNAIRE

APPENDIX 1 – CONDITIONS OF CONTRACT

APPENDIX 2 – PRICING SCHEDULE

APPENDIX 3 - CERTIFICATE OF NON-COLLUSION AND NON-CANVASSING

APPENDIX 4 - FORM OF QUOTATION

APPENDIX 5 – REFERENCE TABLES

  • Table 1: Cheshire businesses (private companies and partnerships only), by size band, 2016
  • Table 2: Cheshire businesses (private companies and partnerships only), by industry, 2016
  • Table 3: Cheshire businesses (private companies and partnerships only), by rural-urban classification, 2016
  • Table 4: Middlewich, Cheshire East and Cheshire businesses (private companies and partnerships only), by broad industry and size band, 2016
  • Map 1: Rural-urban classification of Cheshire’s small areas

PROJECT BRIEF

INVITATION TO QUOTE FOR A CHESHIRE BUSINESS SURVEY

  1. INTRODUCTION

In 2010, the Cheshire & Warrington local authorities and the Cheshire & Warrington Enterprise Commission (CWEC) commissioned BMG Research to undertake a survey of Cheshire & Warrington businesses.

The survey gathered information about the challenges, needs and opportunities facing local businesses. Telephone interviews – which involved a representative sample of 1,525 private sector businesses (at least 500 from each local authority) - took place in January-February 2011 and the results were presented to Cheshire & Warrington partner organisations in mid-2011.

Since then, CWEC has been succeeded by the Cheshire & Warrington Local Enterprise Partnership (LEP).

The Cheshire & Warrington local authorities, the LEP and their partners need to target services and public sector investment effectively, help attract private sector investment and help local businesses to grow and prosper. These organisations also need to assess business health and identify any business sectors (both existing and emerging ones) which have particular growth potential or which are otherwise in need of specific support. Specific plans, strategies and projects would also benefit from the availability of better and more up-to-date intelligence on business needs.

Robust, comprehensive and up-to-date information on local businesses’ characteristics, needs and perceptions is therefore essential if the LEP and the Cheshire & Warrington local authorities and other local partners are to fulfil their remits and address these challenges.The 2011 survey results are still a valuable source of such information, but are becoming increasingly dated.(In late 2014, a survey was undertaken by BMG Research and SQW as part of an evaluation of the impact of the Connecting Cheshire project, but this survey asked only about businesses’ access to and use of digital connectivity and their digital needs, not about other aspects of businesses’ performance, needs, perceptions or engagement with other organisations.)

The Cheshire & Warrington LEP is therefore inviting appropriately qualified and experienced research organisations to tender for a new survey of Cheshire businesses. The core part of this work will be a telephone survey. However, there is a need for qualitative follow-up work –it is proposed that this takes the form of a workshop with local businesses - to try and understand the telephone survey results in greater depth and identify appropriate actions to take in response.

The other partner organisations involved in this new survey will include the two Cheshire local authorities, Cheshire East Council and Cheshire West & Chester Council, and the Cheshire East Skills & Growth Company.

The successful contractor’s main point of contact for the study will be Nick Billington, Economic Research & Intelligence Officer at Cheshire East Council; an alternative contact will be Bev Wilson, Research, Intelligence & Consultation Manager at Cheshire West & Chester Council.

Warrington Borough Council undertook its own local business survey in 2016 and therefore has no plans to contribute funding or otherwise participate in this new Cheshire survey. Unlike the 2011 interviews or the proposed new Cheshire survey, the Warrington survey was completed online. However, many of the questions it asked were similar or identical to those posed by the 2011 survey.

As the Warrington surveyis fundamentally different in design (being online rather than telephone) to the 2011 study or the proposed new Cheshire survey, there is likely to be very limited scope for comparing the Warrington and Cheshire results. However, there may be some value in asking some of the same questions in both surveys, so that some comparisons can be drawn where these are sufficiently meaningful.

The new Cheshire survey would gather data on many of the topics (and reuse many of the questions) from the 2011 survey. This reflects both the fact that many of the questions covered in 2011 are still of high importance, and the value of being able to compare and contrast findings from the new and old surveys and track changes over time. However, some issues have emerged, or increased in priority, since 2011, whilst others are less relevant now. Therefore some of the topics and questions in the new survey are likely to differ from those covered in 2011.

  1. REQUIREMENTS

2.1.1Telephone survey questionnaire

The questionnaire will need to address a number of gaps in our knowledge and update other information that cannot be obtained from other sources. However, it must still be concise enough to ensure a good response rate. The intended interview length is a maximum of 20 minutes, which is in line with the 2011 survey.

The preamble to the questionnaire should set out clearly the purpose and objectives of the survey, and its benefits to the business community. A possible form of words can be found in the 2011 survey questionnaire, which is in Annex 2 of the 2011 survey’s Cheshire & Warrington report (the 2011 survey’s Cheshire East and Cheshire & Warrington reports are published at the Annex 2 content is the same in both reports). The questionnaire should also make it clear that any specific issues will be documented and flagged up with the relevant Council(s).

Specific questions will need to be developed in tandem with the successful contractor, but the questionnaire will need to seek responses from businesses on most or possibly all of the following key issues:

  • Skills needs/ availability and labour cost/ labour recruitment issues, including questions about:
  • recent changes in the number of people employed;
  • future recruitment plans;
  • vacancies/ recruitment difficulties;
  • skills requirements, including demand for apprenticeships, availability of apprentices and other higher level skills issues;
  • training & development;
  • foreign workers;
  • the implications of the National Living Wage- and the Local Living Wage - for the respondent’s business.
  • Customers and suppliers, including questions about:
  • UK and export markets (existing and future ones);
  • the locations of suppliers;
  • the importance of markets and suppliers in different neighbouring areas (e.g. Greater Manchester, the Potteries, Northeast Wales, Merseyside). This is so that we can assess which of these neighbouring areas are most important to Cheshire businesses in terms of sales, supplies and economic linkages.
  • Current performance, growth barriers, the economic outlook and opportunities for future growth. This is likely to include“Brexit” questions, e.g. questions about the current or expected future impact that the UK leaving the EU will have on the respondent’s business.
  • Business land and premises, including questions about:
  • current and future premises needs (in terms of size, premises use type, etc);
  • whether the organisation is considering relocating or expanding;
  • why and where relocating organisations are planning to move.
  • IT and digital connectivity, including questions about:
  • whether the organisation has access to specific IT services (e.g. broadband);
  • whether current mobile phone coverage is adequate;
  • whether current broadband provision (if any) is adequate;
  • future IT and digital needs.
  • “Open Data” and transparency issues, such as whether greater availability of public sector data would help the business and what types of data it would like its local authority and its partners to publish.
  • Social, environmental and energy issues[1], including questions about:
  • awareness of climate change, the risks of extreme weather events and their potential impact on businesses;
  • whether the organisation is currently involved – or has plans to become involved - in any activities to reduce its carbon emissions and if so, what these are (e.g. car-share schemes, use of renewable energy);
  • whether the organisation is currently involved – or has plans to become involved - in any activities to adapt to climate change and if so, what these are;
  • opportunities for on-site energy generation/ integration.
  • Support from other organisations, including questions about:
  • sources of advice and support and the types of advice sought;
  • whether the organisation has any links with specific types of organisations, such as local FE and HE institutions, university consortia, local business networks or other private sector companies, central government departments and agencies (e.g. the Department for International Trade) and how useful these links are;
  • awareness of, and engagement with the services of the Councils/ LEP and their partners (such as the Cheshire and Warrington Growth Hub and the Cheshire East Skills & Growth Company).
  • The main benefits and disadvantages of being located in the Cheshire local authority where the site is.
  • Business characteristics, including:
  • sector/ industry;
  • size (employment band);
  • whether the site is the organisation’s sole site, a branch/ subsidiary or a head office;
  • foreign ownership;
  • age of business;
  • turnover.

The Cheshire local authorities are also keen to investigate key issues raised in greater depth and, with their prior consent:

  • may contact individual businesses about these matters;
  • may invite a selection of telephone survey respondents to a workshop, to discuss key issues arising from the telephone survey (see next section for further details).

The local authorities also wish to ensure that participating businesses have as much opportunity as possible to benefit from local authority services. Therefore the survey might also ask respondents if they are willing to be contacted about their Council’s services.

Therefore the questionnaire should also ask each business whether it is willing for the following information to be passed back to its local authority for these purposes:

  • the business’s name;
  • its postal address (including postcode);
  • the name, job title and email address of the most appropriate person for any future contact.

2.1.2Follow-up qualitative research

As noted above, there is a need for qualitative follow-up work, to try and understand the telephone survey results in greater depth and identify appropriate actions to take in response.This follow-up may focus, among other things, on issues of interest to particular sub-groups of businesses, such as certain industries or companies in specific towns and settlements.

It is proposed that the follow-up work takes the form of a workshop event with local businesses. The appointed telephone survey contractors may be best placed to draw out additional, more qualitative evidence at this follow-up event: they will be more familiar with the survey methodology and findings than any other organisation and will need to have specialist expertise in probing businesses for detailed information. However, some survey companies may have much less expertise in qualitative research than in quantitative telephone surveys; therefore the tendering organisation that is best qualified to undertake the telephone survey may not necessarily be suitably qualified to run the workshop event.Such an event might require a different contractor, or it could be run by the LEP and its partners.