Economic Development Tenders and Contracts

Economic development contracts typically cover economic development strategies and delivery plans, economic and socio-economic impact assessments, business support programme design, and evidence-base studies feeding into a local plan or funding bid. Most are short, fixed-term consultancy engagements rather than long framework agreements.

Stotles brings together economic development tenders and contracts from 100+ portals into one search, so you do not have to check each portal separately, and you can set alerts for new opportunities across the UK and Ireland.

If you want to search the government portals directly, Find a Tender carries higher-value contracts across the UK and Contracts Finder carries lower-value contracts in England. Public Contracts Scotland, Sell2Wales and eTendersNI cover Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland, Ireland's eTenders covers Irish public bodies, and many councils, NHS bodies and housing associations publish on their own e-tendering portals such as ProContract. Economic development consultancy is often called off from ESPO's consultancy services framework, and business support programmes are commissioned by councils and combined authorities.

Economic development tenders are scored on methodology, the team's local and sector knowledge, data sources, stakeholder engagement and price. Most are short fixed-term studies, so a clear work plan and relevant past studies carry weight.

Consultancy work handling business or survey data must comply with UK data protection law, and economic appraisal for central government is expected to follow HM Treasury's Green Book. Tenders usually set minimum professional indemnity insurance, check financial standing and ask for evidence of similar studies at selection stage. Under the Procurement Act 2023, suppliers can be excluded for certain criminal convictions, insolvency or failure to pay tax.

Economic development work is bought as one-off consultancy or call-offs from ESPO's consultancy services framework, and market engagement may come first for business support. Councils and combined authorities are the main buyers, and central government bodies and public agencies commission impact assessments.

Local authorities and combined authorities are regular buyers, usually to build the evidence base for a local plan, a town centre or regeneration scheme, or a funding bid. Development agencies and some central government bodies also commission economic impact assessments for specific projects or programmes.

Read local plan timetables, growth and regeneration strategies, funding bid deadlines and commissioning plans, which show economic development work coming due ahead of a notice. On Stotles you can track those signals and the buyers behind them, then follow a notice from pre-tender through to award.

Economic impact assessment work carries 79311410 (Economic impact assessment). Other economic development notices are classified by the service being bought, for example 71241000 (Feasibility study, advisory service, analysis).