Decision due soon for ukt&i bidders. Check it out:
(Leicester Mercury Via Thomson Dialog NewsEdge) The three bidders left in the running for a multi-million-pound contract to boost international trade in the region will find out who has won next week.
The contract to run the Government-funded UK Trade & Investment (UKT&I) service in the East Midlands is worth a basic GBP1.5 million per year for three years.
The three bidders in the final stages of competing for the work are: East Midlands Business, the joint venture which includes Leicestershire Chamber of Commerce; A4E Consult, of Sheffield, and Enterprise Alliance, of Sussex.
East Midlands Business is the joint venture which has picked up the contract to run the East Midlands' Business Link service from next April 1, the same date the UKT&I contract is scheduled to begin.
East Midlands Business made its main pitch for the UKT&I contract last week. The UK&TI international trade director for the East Midlands, Peter Hogarth, said the quality of all three bids had meant a decision had been delayed while further information was sought. He said: "The bidding round is continuing a little longer. We are working through the short-listed bids. Trying to decide between them is proving difficult. We've gone back to them with some questions and hope to get final submissions later this week." Mr Hogarth said: "We want to get the best deal for the customer and the taxpayer." East Midlands Business is a joint venture between Leicestershire, Derbyshire and Northamptonshire Chambers of Commerce. It successfully bid earlier this year for the GBP10million contract to run the unified Business Link service for the East Midlands, hearing in April that it had won the deal.
Leicestershire Chamber of Commerce managing director Martin Traynor said he was pleased with how the pitch to UKT&I had gone. He said: "We are quietly confident that the offer we are putting forward will take UKT&I forward in the East Midlands and quietly confident we will win the bid." The thrust of the UKT&I brief is to help more businesses export to more countries, he said: "We would work with the India and China trade bureaus to make sure East Midlands companies benefit from trading with those countries." The winner will take over the 50 workers doing the job as part of UKT&I in five Business Link offices in the region, including at New Walk, in Leicester, where six people are based.
Copyright 2006 Northcliffe Newspapers Group Ltd
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