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Tender opens for £215 million Futurebuilders fund manager

The Cabinet Office has today opened a tender for the contract to manage the Futurebuilders fund that provides vital investment to Third Sector organisations delivering public services. A contract notice has been published in the Official Journal of the European Union (OJEU). The Government is asking for potential bidders to submit expressions of interest by completing a Pre Qualification Questionnaire and returning it to the Office of the Third Sector by 10 September.

The Cabinet Office will use the competitive dialogue process, which will allow the Cabinet Office to discuss its needs and requirements with a selected pool of potential bidders with the aim of selecting one or more solutions capable of meeting its needs.

The Futurebuilders Fund is a groundbreaking programme that provides both loan and grant based finance to help charities, voluntary groups and other Third Sector organisations to develop the services they provide to the public. The contract is for the second phase of the Futurebuilders programme which is to invest £65million from the fund between 2008 and 2011 and manage the existing portfolio of investments made under the programme.

Campbell Robb, Director General of the Office of the Third Sector, said:

“Futurebuilders has proved to be an innovative and groundbreaking source of finance for third sector organisations who wish to deliver public services.

“The re–tender offers a fantastic opportunity for an organisation to manage this important fund that continues to enhance the third sector's ability to transform people's lives.”

The tender is for a Fund manager who, in accordance with the Fund's aims and objectives, will:

• Invest the additional £65m funds allocated by Government to the Futurebuilders Fund from 1 April 2008.
• Be responsible for the assessment of applications for new loans and grants and for their subsequent management.
• Manage all existing investments comprising of loans, grants and loan guarantees.

For more information, including a copy of the Pre Qualification Questionnaire and the information pack, email the Futurebuilders Retender Project Team.

The Cabinet Office does not expect existing Futurebuilders recipients to be affected by this process.

Notes to editors:

1. In order to open preliminary discussion on this tender, we announced our intention to tender on 2 April 2007.
2. We published a discussion document to invite further views on the tender to deliver the second phase of the Futurebuilders Fund on 25 May 2007.
3. The Futurebuilders Fund is currently operated and managed by Futurebuilders England Ltd (FBE) under a tripartite Agreement between FBE, the Cabinet Office and Charity Bank.
4. For more information about Futurebuilders policy programme and the Futurebuilders Advisory Panel.
5. For the independent Futurebuilders Advisory Panel report on the Futurebuilders programme.
6. The Office of the Third Sector (OTS) in May 2006 to drive forward the Government's role in supporting a thriving third sector, and join up sector related work across government.

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