Official UK procurement notice
Delivery of West Midlands Business Festival
Authority: West Midlands Combined Authority (Local council)
What is being bought
Published requirement descriptionBusiness Growth West Midlands (BGWM) who are a part of West Midlands Combined Authority has awarded a contract to Ice Blue Marketing to support the successful delivery of the West Midlands Business Festival (WMBF) 2026, with an optional extension to support on the delivery for 2027. This flagship initiative is designed to showcase and support businesses across the West Midlands Region. Building on the foundations established by WMBF 2025, the festival aims to reach a wider audience, improve the event quality, and deliver measurable business impact.
WMBF will take place from Monday 2nd February 2026 to Friday 13th February 2026.
WMCA will require the awarded supplier to support with the following with BGWM having oversight:
- Build on the 2024/ 2025 Festival Brand.
- To coordinate the organisation and delivery of the 'business festival' (not to be confused with business events, business weeks, corporate events or expos), which will include identifying and liaison with key partners and external organisations to create a comprehensive programme of events that will be of interest to businesses in the West Midlands Region.
- To produce, develop and deliver a comprehensive marketing promotional programme. This includes advertising and publicising the overarching festival and working with partners for support and individual events. In addition to this, provide operational support to ensure increased attendance.
- To conclude a performance monitoring framework and economical assessment post festival.
- To explore potential revenue streams that will naturally arise from the festival.
- No preliminary market engagement: Market engagement has not been undertaken in this instance as the requirement is a continuation of an existing service, where the scope, suppliers, and market conditions are already well understood.
CPV: Advertising and marketing services · Marketing services
The lotProcurement structure
single lot · value publishedLot #1AwardedRenewalPublished value£350,000
- Economic & financial standing
All Suppliers are required to complete a Procurement Specific Questionnaire (PSQ) and return this in accordance with the Procurement Timetable and instructions within the ITT Pack accessible via BRAVO.
Areas covered under the mandatory Conditions of Participation include:
- Preliminary questions
- Confirmation of core supplier information
- Additional Exclusion Information
- Sub Contractor Confirmation
- Insurance Requirements
- Evaluation of Financial Standing
- Legal Capacity - Acceptance of Core Terms and Conditions
- Modern Slavery Act 2015
- Real Living Wage
- Technical & professional ability
None
What it takes to wini
How this buyer will score bids.
The evaluation criteria and weights exactly as published on the notice, grouped by family (price, quality, social value and so on).
Evaluation split and conditions of participation as published; the tender pack may add morei
How this buyer will score bids.
The evaluation criteria and weights exactly as published on the notice, grouped by family (price, quality, social value and so on).
Published sub-criteria (2)
- Technial: 70%
- Commercial: 30%
Published award criteria (2)
- Technial: Technical Capability holds 70% of the tender award weighting.
- Commercial: Commercial Submission holds 30% of the tender award weighting.
- Economic & financial standing
All Suppliers are required to complete a Procurement Specific Questionnaire (PSQ) and return this in accordance with the Procurement Timetable and instructions within the ITT Pack accessible via BRAVO.
Areas covered under the mandatory Conditions of Participation include:
- Preliminary questions
- Confirmation of core supplier information
- Additional Exclusion Information
- Sub Contractor Confirmation
- Insurance Requirements
- Evaluation of Financial Standing
- Legal Capacity - Acceptance of Core Terms and Conditions
- Modern Slavery Act 2015
- Real Living Wage
- Technical & professional ability
None
- Price carries 30 of 100 points: a 10% discount moves about 3 points. The method statement decides this lot, not the discount.
Price arithmetic assumes straight proportional scoring; the tender pack may use another formula.
Procedure terms & legal framework
From the official record- Procedure method
- Open procedure
- Legal basis
- UKPGA · 2023/54 Procurement Act 2023
- Procurement category
- Services
- Notice status
- Awarded
- Procurement threshold
- Above threshold (FTS publication)
- Regulatory regime
- Standard
- Commercial structure
- Stand-alone contract (no framework)
- Competition type
- Competitive procedure
- GPA / WTO covered
- Yes (GPA)
- Recurring procurement
- Unspecified in notice
- First published
- 9 Jun 2025, 13:22 BST
- Last source update
- 14 Apr 2026, 13:34 BST
- Award evaluation window
- Submission end – 8 Aug 2025
- Authority reference
Project_1038, ITT_1705- FTS notice number
2025/S 000-030930- Latest notice
- Contract termination notice (UK11)
- Classification (CPV)
- Delivery area
- Official registry OCID
ocds-h6vhtk-054542Find a Tender- Contract terms summary
Please refer to Appendix D - Payment Delivery Milestones.
- Risks
Not Applicable.
How it was run
Official notice- Submission deadline
- 7 Jul 2025, 16:00 BST
- Clarification deadline
- 20 Jun 2025, 12:00 BST
- Submission channel
- Official e-sourcing portal
- Electronic submission
- Allowed
- Accepted languages
- en
In order to access the documents and submit your bid please do so through BravoSolution, the WMCA's e-tendering portal (wmca.bravosolution.co.uk ↗). The project reference is itt_1705.
Timeline
9 Jun 2025 → 14 Apr 2026 · 8 dates- Tender notice published9 Jun 2025, 13:22 BST
- Clarification questions by20 Jun 2025, 12:00 BST
- Submission deadline7 Jul 2025, 16:00 BST
- Award decision expected by8 Aug 2025, 23:59 BST
- Assessment summaries sent11 Aug 2025, 00:00 BST
- Contract starts20 Aug 2025, 00:00 BST
- Standstill ends20 Aug 2025, 23:59 BST
- Latest notice published197 days ago14 Apr 2026, 13:34 BST
Notice history
6 events · 4 releases on Find a Tender · since 9 Jun 2025- Tender notice published9 Jun 2025, 13:22 BSTUK4
- Contract award notice published11 Aug 2025, 09:59 BSTUK6
- Status changed to complete11 Aug 2025, 09:59 BST
- Contract signature expected21 Aug 2025, 23:59 BSTscheduled
- Contract details notice published7 Nov 2025, 10:51 GMTUK7
- Contract termination notice published14 Apr 2026, 13:34 BSTUK11
Routine re-releases (4)
- 2025-06: 1 release · 9 Jun 2025
Commercial outcome & contract awards
Published awards, contracts and bid statistics, not a forecast| Awarded to | Value | Date | Status |
|---|---|---|---|
| IceBlue Marketing & Design Ltd21 Aug 2025 – 31 Mar 2026 · up to 31 Mar 2027Extensions: 1 x 12 months to deliver West Midlands Business Festival 2027 | £330,000 | 11 Aug 2025 | Awarded |
Contracts
Contract 1 · IceBlue Marketing & Design Ltd
- Signed
- 6 Nov 2025
- Value
- £330,000
- Period
- 7 Nov 2025 – 31 Mar 2026 · up to 31 Mar 2027 with extensions
- Status
- terminated
- Extensions
- 1 x 12 month optional extension to delivery 2027 West Midlands Business Festival.
- Final value
- £350,000
- Termination
- contractCompleted
4 agreed KPIs: Project Timeline Adherence · Engagement Metrics · Sponsorship Revenue …
- Project Timeline Adherence
- Engagement Metrics
- Sponsorship Revenue
- Improved Attendance
Bid statistics published by the authority
| Bids | SME | VCSE | Valid bid range |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1final-stage tenders · 4 at stage one | 1 | 0 | — |
Contracting authority & participating public bodies
Bidders & participating suppliers
1 commercial party on the notice- IceBlue Marketing & Design LtdAwarded supplier
Official documents & specifications (4)
Official links; attachments are not copiedNotices published for this procedure
- Contract termination notice Contract termination notice on Find a Tender
- Contract details notice Contract details notice on Find a Tender
- Contract award notice Contract award notice on Find a Tender
- Tender notice Tender notice on Find a Tender