Contract award notice
Results of the procurement procedure
Section I: Contracting
entity
I.1) Name and addresses
DfE: Invest NI
Bedford Square, Bedford Street
BELFAST
BT2 7ES
UK
Contact person: SSDAdmin.CPDfinance-ni.gov.uk
E-mail: SSDAdmin@CPDfinance-ni.gov.uk
NUTS: UK
Internet address(es)
Main address: https://www.investni.com/
Address of the buyer profile: https://etendersni.gov.uk/epps
I.2) Joint procurement
The contract is awarded by a central purchasing body
I.4) Type of the contracting authority
Body governed by public law
I.5) Main activity
Economic and financial affairs
Section II: Object
II.1) Scope of the procurement
II.1.1) Title
DfE Invest NI - Successor pre seed and seed fund and Proof of Concept grant fund
Reference number: ID 5408838
II.1.2) Main CPV code
66000000
II.1.3) Type of contract
Services
II.1.4) Short description
Invest NI would like to procure a fund manager to deliver the following services on its behalf: Manage a Successor pre seed and seed equity fund for an initial period of ten years (with scope to extend by a maximum of five years to allow an orderly exit from the equity investments) to undertake a total investment of £48m in the NI market with an associated management fee of a maximum of £10.3m over 10 years. Investments will be made in the form of equity securities, mainly ordinary shares but can include preference shares or instruments convertible into ordinary/ preference shares. If the fund is extended beyond the 10 years, Invest NI will negotiate with the fund manager in relation to additional fees and Manage a Proof of Concept (POC) grant fund for a period of six years to undertake total investment of £7.2m in the NI market with an associated maximum fee of £900k plus VAT. A legal contract, by way of a Limited Partnership Agreement (LPA) and a Management Service Agreement (MSA) will govern the ten-year contract to deliver the successor fund. There will be a separate Grant Management Agreement for the POC grant fund. Please see Tender documents for full details.
II.1.6) Information about lots
This contract is divided into lots:
No
II.1.7) Total value of the procurement
Value excluding VAT:
10 300 000.00
GBP
II.2) Description
II.2.2) Additional CPV code(s)
66100000
66120000
66122000
66113000
66113100
II.2.3) Place of performance
NUTS code:
UKN
II.2.4) Description of the procurement
Invest NI would like to procure a fund manager to deliver the following services on its behalf: Manage a Successor pre seed and seed equity fund for an initial period of ten years (with scope to extend by a maximum of five years to allow an orderly exit from the equity investments) to undertake a total investment of £48m in the NI market with an associated management fee of a maximum of £10.3m over 10 years. Investments will be made in the form of equity securities, mainly ordinary shares but can include preference shares or instruments convertible into ordinary/ preference shares. If the fund is extended beyond the 10 years, Invest NI will negotiate with the fund manager in relation to additional fees and Manage a Proof of Concept (POC) grant fund for a period of six years to undertake total investment of £7.2m in the NI market with an associated maximum fee of £900k plus VAT. A legal contract, by way of a Limited Partnership Agreement (LPA) and a Management Service Agreement (MSA) will govern the ten-year contract to deliver the successor fund. There will be a separate Grant Management Agreement for the POC grant fund. Please see Tender documents for full details.
II.2.5) Award criteria
Quality criterion: Personnel Experience of Executive 1,2,3 and 4
/ Weighting: 14.95
Quality criterion: Management of the Successor Seed Capital Fund and the POC Grant Fund
/ Weighting: 11.7
Quality criterion: Personnel Recruitment
/ Weighting: 3.9
Quality criterion: Marketing Strategy Development
/ Weighting: 7.15
Quality criterion: Venture Capital Development, links to potential private investors
/ Weighting: 9.1
Quality criterion: Engagement with Invest NI
/ Weighting: 3.9
Quality criterion: Governance
/ Weighting: 3.9
Quality criterion: Social Value
/ Weighting: 10.4
Cost criterion: General Partner's share and the POC Grant Management Fee
/ Weighting: 35
II.2.11) Information about options
Options:
Yes
Description of options:
Successor Pre-Seed and Seed Fund: 10 years with option to extend for an additional 5 years. The option to extend the pre seed and seed fund for an additional 5 years relates to the likely need for additional time to allow the fund the best opportunity to make timely exits and to aim to return monies to Invest NI from realisation monies from investments.
II.2.13) Information about European Union funds
The procurement is related to a project and/or programme financed by European Union funds:
No
Section IV: Procedure
IV.1) Description
IV.1.1) Type of procedure
Open procedure
IV.1.8) Information about Government Procurement Agreement (GPA)
The procurement is covered by the Government Procurement Agreement:
Yes
IV.2) Administrative information
IV.2.1) Previous publication concerning this procedure
Notice number in the OJ S:
2025/S 000-000845
Section V: Award of contract
Contract No: 1
Title: Contract
A contract/lot is awarded:
Yes
V.2 Award of contract
V.2.1) Date of conclusion of the contract
07/03/2025
V.2.2) Information about tenders
Number of tenders received: 1
Number of tenders received from SMEs: 1
Number of tenders received from tenderers from EU Member States: 0
Number of tenders received from tenderers from non-EU Member States: 1
Number of tenders received by electronic means: 1
The contract has been awarded to a group of economic operators:
No
V.2.3) Name and address of the contractor
TECHSTART VENTURES LLP
3rd Floor 21 Talbot Street
BELFAST
BT1 2LD
UK
Telephone: +44 2890325506
E-mail: northernireland@techstart.vc
NUTS: UK
Internet address(es)
URL: https://etendersni.gov.uk/epps
The contractor is an SME:
Yes
V.2.4) Information on value of the contract/lot (excluding VAT)
Initial estimated total value of the contract/lot:
Total value of the contract/lot:
: 10 300 000.00
GBP
V.2.5) Information about subcontracting
Section VI: Complementary information
VI.3) Additional information
Contract Monitoring. The successful contractor’s performance on the contract will be regularly monitored in line with the tender documentation. Contractors not delivering on contract requirements is a serious matter. It means the public purse is not getting what it is paying for. If a contractor fails to reach satisfactory levels of contract performance they will be given a specified time to improve. If, after the specified time, they still fail to reach satisfactory levels of contract performance, the matter will be escalated to senior management in CPD for further action. If this occurs and their performance still does not improve to satisfactory levels within the specified period, it may be regarded as an act of grave professional misconduct and they may be issued with a Notice of Unsatisfactory Performance and the contract may be terminated. The issue of a Notice of Unsatisfactory Performance can result in the Contractor being excluded from all procurement competitions being undertaken by Centres of Procurement Expertise on behalf of bodies covered by the Northern Ireland Procurement Policy for a period of three years from the date of issue.
VI.4) Procedures for review
VI.4.1) Review body
The UK does not have any such bodies with responsibility for appeal/mediation procedures. Instead; any challenges are dealt with by the High Court, Commercial Division, to which proceedings may be issued regarding alleged breaches of the PCR 2015 as amended.
Belfast
UK
VI.4.3) Review procedure
Precise information on deadline(s) for review procedures:
CPD complied with the Public Contracts Regulations 2015 and incorporated a standstill period (i.e. a minimum of 10 calendar days) at the point information on the award of contract was communicated to tenderers. That notification provided full information on the award decision. This provided time for the unsuccessful tenderers to challenge the award decision before the contract was entered into.
VI.5) Date of dispatch of this notice
12/03/2025