COBR Strategic Partnership (Private Sector Resilience Project)

Tender description

The purpose of this Prior Information Notice (PIN) is to notify all interested parties of the Cabinet Office's intention to undertake a commercial procurement exercise. The exercise aims to appoint a world-class Strategic Partner to provide a managed service. The Cabinet Office Briefing Rooms (COBR) Directorate requires a world-class strategic partner to co-design and co-deliver high-impact, targeted resilience workshops, scenario exercises, and potential follow-on consultancy to UK and international private sector clients. The primary objective is to operationalise resilience within the private sector by translating central government crisis doctrine and leadership expertise into actionable strategies for C-suite executives and operational leads, aligned with existing industry practice. COBR serves as the central hub for the UK Government's whole-of-government crisis response mechanism. National resilience is a whole-of-society endeavour. This partnership seeks to support business and organisational resilience by establishing a scalable framework for clients to adopt UK-standard crisis doctrine while creating a formal feedback loop where private sector insights directly inform future national resilience policies. This agreement is a zero-cost contract to the public buyer. The Cabinet Office will not pay the partner. The successful supplier will bear all delivery and travel expenses, motivated by the commercial branding rights, reputational gains, and high-level insights gained from working alongside COBR. The partnership will operate on a 'Value for Money' basis for the taxpayer, using a revenue-sharing or licence fee model where the partner pays an agreed annual fee and/or percentage of gross workshop revenue to the Crown for the commercial use of COBR-branded materials and doctrine. Lot 1: Main Services Required Content design and development. Support the creation of relevant training and guidance materials in collaboration with the Cabinet Office COBR Directorate. Workshop design and co-delivery. Leading sector-specific workshops with C-suite accountable resilience leaders from priority fields. Single-firm bespoke advisory. Targeted resilience sessions and interactive board-level crisis exercises customised to individual organisations. Content and toolkit creation. Supporting the creation of a comprehensive resilience toolkit guide for C-suite leads (senior executive) and developing five distinct 'off-the-shelf' immersive scenario exercises (e.g., Cyber, Climate). Follow-on consultancy and auditing frameworks. Deep-dive strategic audits funded directly by private clients, adhering strictly to the quality baselines established by the partnership. Policy reporting. Quarterly anonymised reports capturing industry resilience trends for use by COBR policy officials. Delivery. Services will be delivered UK-wide through a mixture of formats (e.g. in-person, virtual, table-top exercise, audit) at partner premises, client facilities, or central government venues. It is desirable that the supplier should be able to demonstrate international delivery capabilities to adapt core UK doctrine for varying global regulatory environments. Key Participation Requirements Industry insights. Documented and verifiable expertise across organisational and business resilience, advanced data use, cybersecurity, risk mitigation, regulatory compliance, and opportunity modeling. Standards compliance. Expert-level understanding of ISO 22301 standards (Business continuity management systems) and full capability to align all delivery methodologies with current COBR doctrine and the Amber Book framework. Vetting and personnel security. To operate within this framework, all facilitators must hold active Security Check (SC) clearance prior to delivery. All administrative or support staff must hold Baseline Personnel Security Standard (BPSS) clearance. Data privacy. Full compliance with UK GDPR and statutory Information Commissioner's Office (ICO) data protocols for handling sensitive commercial information. Experience. Extensive experience of operating managed services. Ability to effectively work in blended teams (civil servant and supplier). We are currently exploring the potential routes to market with RM6219 Learning and Training Services DPS. Supplier ability to provide services in the UK (for the avoidance of doubt, England, Northern Ireland, Scotland and Wales) both remotely and face to face as required