Warwickshire Recovery & Investment Fund: External Fund Management Services - Local Communities & Enterprise

The Warwickshire Recovery Investment Fund (WRIF) specifically addresses a gap that has been identified in the market for access to finance. The aim is to distribute £140 million over the next five years, offering loans and other financial investments to existing and new businesses to help their long-term recovery and growth.

The WRIF will comprise of three pillars of support:

• Business Investment Growth - Debt finance to growing medium and larger businesses with sound prospects (likely to be in the region of £90 million).

• Local Communities and Enterprise - Smaller loans in order to support small businesses, including start-ups and social enterprises (likely to be in the region of £10 million).

• Property and Infrastructure - Investment in commercial sites and premises to encourage businesses to invest in Warwickshire and create jobs. (likely to be in the region of £40 million).

Warwickshire County Council ('the Council') is seeking an External Fund Manager to manage one element of the Warwickshire Recovery and Investment Fund (WRIF); the Local Communities and Enterprise Pillar.

This ITT relates to the requirement for the Local Communities and Enterprise Pillar. The Local Communities and Enterprise Pillar is aimed at smaller businesses, new business start-ups, early phase businesses, and social enterprises. The focus is on micro (less than 10 employees) and small businesses (less than 50 employees) but will consider applications from medium-sized enterprises up to 250 employees on a case by case basis.

The Fund Manager will be responsible for the set up and day to day management and administration of the Fund for the Local Communities and Enterprise Pillar.

Warwickshire County Council will be using its e-tendering system (In-Tend) for the administration of this procurement process and providers must register with the system to be able to express an interest.

The web address is: www.csw-jets.co.uk

Registration and use of In-Tend is free. Once registered, all correspondence for this procurement process must be via the in-tend correspondence function. However, if you are unable to register with the website please email us at [email protected]

Additional information: The contract term will be for an Initial Term of 5 years of investment activity, which is likely to be followed by up to 7 years of monitoring and managing the loan book.

The Council (at its sole discretion) may extend the Initial Term of 5 years by a further period or periods not exceeding in total a further nine (9) years by giving the Fund Manager reasonable (in the Council's opinion) written notice prior to the expiry of the Initial Term or any extension to the term.

Any such extension shall be for a minimum period of six (6) months and the overall term of this Agreement shall not in any event exceed fourteen (14) years commencing on the Start Date.

During the course of the contract period the range and scope of these services may be subject to modification and variation to meet the changing needs and requirements of the Council, potential changes in legislation and the changing demands placed on the Council by its customers.