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PROCUREMENT OPPORTUNITY

FTS047 Pathways to Start - Lot 1 Argyll and Bute

Highlands and Islands Enterprise · compiled

Tender information last checkedLast checked 30 Sept 2026, 07:00.

Opportunity overview

THIS IS THE CONTRACT AWARD NOTICE FOR LOT 1 ARGYLL and BUTE. HIE procured a supplier to deliver a programme to support underrepresented groups in entrepreneurship. The programme will inspire participants to increase their ambition, confidence and capability to develop an entrepreneurial mindset and enter pathways for starting a business through a programme of entrepreneurial training and mentoring tailored towards underrepresented groups/individuals specific learning needs. HIE’s current requirements are divided into two geographical Lots: - Lot 1: Argyll and Bute, covering HIE areas only - Lot 2: Moray Note, Lot 1 covers Argyll and Bute geographical area i.e. excluding Arran, Cumbrae, and Helensburgh and Lomond. The services are required from 20 October 2025 until 31 March 2026, unless terminated in accordance with the provisions of the Contract. The delivery of the services, submission of all invoices and completion of all reports must be complete by 20 March 2026.

Awarded to

Amounts belong to published awards or contracts. Where several suppliers share one value, it is labelled as shared and is not a supplier-specific allocation.

Skillfluence

Match pending…
Contract value
£211.5k
Awarded
Not supplied
Contract signed
8 Oct 2025
Award ID
066815-2025-FTS 047 Lot 1-1
Status
active
Location
Glasgow, UKM82, G5 8JN, United Kingdom

Classification

  • CPV80000000 — Education and training services
  • CPV72224000 — Project management consultancy services
  • CPV79400000 — Business and management consultancy and related services
  • CPV79410000 — Business and management consultancy services
  • CPV79411000 — General management consultancy services
  • CPV79411100 — Business development consultancy services
  • CPV80210000 — Technical and vocational secondary education services
  • CPV80400000 — Adult and other education services
  • CPV80500000 — Training services
  • CPV80521000 — Training programme services
  • CPV80522000 — Training seminars
  • CPV80532000 — Management training services
  • CPV80570000 — Personal development training services

Lots

  • Key tasks are: 1. Programme design 2. Outreach, stakeholder engagement and participant recruitment 3. Training delivery 4. Programme administration and monitoring. Please refer to the Scope of Requirement and Guidance document for full details. Additional information: Economic operators may be excluded from this competition if they are in any of the situations referred to in Regulation 58 of the Public Contracts (Scotland) Regulations 2015.£240k

Published notice details

Additional information from the published procurement release. Fields appear only when supplied by the source; check the original notice and tender documents before acting.

Scope, procedure and submissions

Id
FTS047 - Lot 1
Status
complete
Has Recurrence
No
Procurement Method
open
Main Procurement Category
services
Procurement Method Details
Open procedure

Covered By

GPA

Bid Opening

Date
8 Sept 2025, 12:00

Legal basis

Id
32014L0024
Scheme
CELEX

Expected award period

Starts
8 Sept 2025, 12:00

Tender Period

Ends
8 Sept 2025, 12:00

Contract terms

Performance Terms
Refer to the Scope of Requirements and Guidance document.
Has Electronic Payment
Yes
Has Electronic Ordering
Yes
Electronic Invoicing Policy
allowed

Classification

Id
80000000
Scheme
CPV
Description
Education and training services

Submission terms

Languages

en

Bid Validity Period

Duration In Days
90

Submission Method

electronicSubmission

Other Requirements

Requires Staff Names And Qualifications
Yes

Selection criteria

Criteria

Criterion 1
Type
suitability
Description
4A2 Bidders must confirm individuals involved in the delivery of the training programme are/will be registered with Disclosure Scotland’s Protecting Vulnerable Groups Scheme in circumstances where individuals will be required to work with children and/or protected adults. Such registration must be in place prior to commencing training delivery to such individuals and/or cohorts including such individuals.

Applies To

supplier
Criterion 2
Minimum
It is a requirement of this Contract that bidders hold, or can commit to obtain prior to the commencement of any subsequently awarded Contract, the types and levels of insurance indicated below: 4B5a Professional Risk Indemnity – minimum GBP1m in aggregate 4B5b Employers (compulsory) Liability – minimum GBP5m for each and every claim. See http://www.hse.gov.uk/pubns/hse40.pdf for more information 4B5c Public Liability – minimum GBP1m in aggregate
Criterion 3
Type
technical
Description
4C4 If bidders intend to use a supply chain to deliver the requirements detailed in the Contract Notice, they should confirm they have (or have access to) the relevant supply chain management and tracking systems to ensure a resilient and sustainable supply chain. Please refer to Scope of Requirements for full requirements. If bidders do not pay at least 95% of valid invoices on time and are unable to provide a proportionate and timely improvement plan, their organisation will not be selected to participate further in this procurement.(pass/fail) 4C10 Bidders will be required to confirm whether they intend to subcontract and, if so, for what proportion of the contract. (for info)

Applies To

supplier

Lots and requirements

Entry 1
Id
1
Status
cancelled
Has Options
Yes
Has Renewal
No
Description
Key tasks are: 1. Programme design 2. Outreach, stakeholder engagement and participant recruitment 3. Training delivery 4. Programme administration and monitoring. Please refer to the Scope of Requirement and Guidance document for full details. Additional information: Economic operators may be excluded from this competition if they are in any of the situations referred to in Regulation 58 of the Public Contracts (Scotland) Regulations 2015.

Value

Amount
240,000
Currency
GBP

Options

Description
HIE reserves the right, on giving reasonable written notice from time to time, to require changes to the Services (whether by way of the removal of Services, the addition of new Services, or increasing or decreasing the Services or specifying the order in which the Services are to be performed or the locations where the Services are to be provided). HIE shall not require any such change other than where it is permitted by Regulation 72 of the Public Contracts (Scotland) Regulations 2015. Examples of contract modifications are but not limited to: -Additional funding is obtained (beyond the GBP20,000 contingency included in the total contract value of each lot) and used e.g. to increase the number of participants. Tendered rates will apply to any increases. -Envisaged number of participants could not be recruited, resulting in reduced service requirements/volumes. -Less than 16 participants could be recruited for the programme – HIE reserves the right not to proceed with the programme and terminate the contract. -Recruited participant numbers exceed 45 for the lot. In this case (some of) the allowance of GBP20,000 will be utilised to provide services to further participants, as per tendered rates per participant. -Where HIE determines (at our sole discretion) that demand for the programme under a lot is lower than expected, HIE reserves the right to re-allocate the budget for that Lot to the other Lot subject to the maximum total budget of GBP480,000 (i.e. the maximum total of the two lots). -If Special Category Personal Data and/or other sensitive personal information requires further/different procedures, the supplier will be required to comply with these.

Award criteria

Criteria

Criterion 1
Name
Q1 Prompt Payment Standard Clause
Type
quality
Description
pass/fail
Criterion 2
Name
Q2 Cyber Security
Type
quality
Description
pass/fail
Criterion 3
Name
Q3 Payment of the Real Living Wage
Type
quality
Description
pass/fail
Criterion 4
Name
Q4 UK Data Centres
Type
quality
Description
pass/fail
Criterion 5
Name
Q5 Management and Delivery Methodology
Type
quality
Description
20%
Criterion 6
Name
Q6 Delivery Methodology – Inclusivity
Type
quality
Description
15%
Criterion 7
Name
Q7 Management and Delivery Team
Type
quality
Description
20%
Criterion 8
Name
Q8 Fair Work First
Type
quality
Description
5%
Criterion 9
Type
price
Description
40%

Contract period

Ends
31 Mar 2026, 23:59
Starts
20 Oct 2025, 00:00

Submission terms

Variant Policy
notAllowed

Items and delivery

Item 1
Id
1
Related Lot
1

Delivery locations

Entry 1
Region
UKM63
Entry 2
Region
UKM63

Additional Classifications

Entry 1
Id
80400000
Scheme
CPV
Description
Adult and other education services
Entry 2
Id
80500000
Scheme
CPV
Description
Training services
Entry 3
Id
80570000
Scheme
CPV
Description
Personal development training services
Entry 4
Id
80521000
Scheme
CPV
Description
Training programme services
Entry 5
Id
80522000
Scheme
CPV
Description
Training seminars
Entry 6
Id
80532000
Scheme
CPV
Description
Management training services
Entry 7
Id
72224000
Scheme
CPV
Description
Project management consultancy services
Entry 8
Id
79400000
Scheme
CPV
Description
Business and management consultancy and related services
Entry 9
Id
79410000
Scheme
CPV
Description
Business and management consultancy services
Entry 10
Id
79411100
Scheme
CPV
Description
Business development consultancy services
Entry 11
Id
79411000
Scheme
CPV
Description
General management consultancy services
Entry 12
Id
80210000
Scheme
CPV
Description
Technical and vocational secondary education services

Buyer, suppliers and contacts

Organisation 1
Id
GB-FTS-1479
Name
Highlands and Islands Enterprise

Roles

buyer
centralPurchasingBody

Address

Region
UKM6
Locality
Inverness
Postal Code
IV2 5NA
Country Name
United Kingdom
Street Address
An Lòchran, 10 Inverness Campus

Details

Classifications

Entry 1
Id
REGIONAL_AGENCY
Scheme
TED_CA_TYPE
Description
Regional or local agency/office
Entry 2
Id
04
Scheme
COFOG
Description
Economic affairs

Identifier

Legal Name
Highlands and Islands Enterprise

Contact

Telephone
+44 1463245245
Organisation 2
Id
GB-FTS-1262
Name
Inverness Sheriff Court and Justice of the Peace Court

Roles

reviewBody

Address

Locality
Inverness
Postal Code
IV1 1AH
Country Name
United Kingdom
Street Address
The Inverness Justice Centre, Longman Road

Details

Identifier

Legal Name
Inverness Sheriff Court and Justice of the Peace Court

Contact

Telephone
+44 1463230782
Organisation 3
Id
GB-FTS-164333
Name
Skillfluence

Roles

supplier

Address

Region
UKM82
Locality
Glasgow
Postal Code
G5 8JN
Country Name
United Kingdom
Street Address
1.8 CoVault, 54 Cook St

Details

Scale
sme

Identifier

Legal Name
Skillfluence

Award information

Award 1
Id
066815-2025-FTS 047 Lot 1-1
Status
active

Suppliers

Supplier 1
Id
GB-FTS-164333
Name
Skillfluence

Related lots

1

Contracts and changes

Entry 1
Id
066815-2025-FTS 047 Lot 1-1
Status
active
Award ID
066815-2025-FTS 047 Lot 1-1
Date Signed
9 Oct 2025, 00:00

Value

Amount
211,500
Currency
GBP

Recorded locations

  • Buyer location · Inverness · UKM6 · IV2 5NA · United Kingdom
  • Delivery location · UKM63

Notice and amendment history

1 published notice version reviewed by ProcuraAxis.

1 VERSION
  1. ocds-h6vhtk-058131-2025-10-20T15:59:54+01:00compiled ·