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December 14 2019 0:00 AM

Despite the ongoing uncertainty over Brexit and its impact on the food sector, eight Louth firms attended a major all-island trade event in Greater Dublin recently.
The Food eirEEN Meet the Buyer & Matchmaking Event was held at the City North Hotel on the outskirts of Dublin, where over 150 food businesses from all over Ireland, and further afield, engaged in pre-arranged meetings, allowing producers to pitch their products and secure orders from key food buyers.
The event was organised by Enterprise Europe Network through the Local Enterprise Offices in Ireland and Invest NI in Northern Ireland; producers at the event were drawn from a cross section of sectors including bakery, chilled, dairy, seafood, beverages and fresh produce.
Speaking about the event, EEN co-ordinator Eileen Kelly said: ‘We’re delighted at the response to Food eirEEN – just over 500 meetings took place between buyers and suppliers, allowing our smaller companies, many of which were meeting corporate buyers for the first time, the opportunity to go face to face and very quickly get down to the business of doing business.’

Speaking of the importance of the event, Thomas McEvoy, Head of Enterprise, Local Enterprise Office, Louth County Council commented:
‘The Local Enterprise Offices have been actively driving the growth and development of the indigenous food sector over the past ten years though local food strategies, strategic national alliances and programmes and through active engagement with local food businesses. Through this event, and others planned in the next few years, we aim to create opportunities for our food producers to engage with other food businesses, to discuss the potential for strategic partnerships and alliances, and to identify new sales opportunities – but primarily generate new sales.’
The Argus

Leading the business growth at Ad-Vance Engineering are (from l-r): Samuel Vance, Technical Director, Roger Vance, Founder and Managing Director and Jim Coyle, Non-Exec Director, Business Development.

Leading the business growth at Ad-Vance Engineering are (from l-r): Samuel Vance, Technical Director, Roger Vance, Founder and Managing Director and Jim Coyle, Non-Exec Director, Business Development.
New contracts fuel £1million of investment by market-leading moulding manufacturer
Northern Ireland-based Ad-Vance Engineering has marked 15 years of export success through further expansion of its business to meet demand for its bespoke service offering.
The company, which specialises in the design, manufacture and refurbishment of injection moulding tools for the plastics manufacturing sector, has doubled its customer base and increased sales by 20% per year since 2015.
In response, Ad-Vance Engineering has expanded its workforce and invested almost £1million in a purpose-build manufacturing facility outside Lisburn.
Aligned with its ‘Precision through Everything’ standard, the company has established a strong reputation for quality and service across the GB market. Initially supplying the construction sector, investment in R&D has led to an ever-evolving customer-base which spans high-end industries including automotive, medical devices, and healthcare.
Growth has also been driven by Ad-Vance Engineering’s tailored design and manufacturing processes and supported through investment in state-of-the-art machinery, on-going staff training and development, quality raw materials, and a rigorous on-site testing process.
With a number of large-scale GB contracts recently confirmed, Roger Vance, founder and MD, believes the company’s solutions-driven ethos sets it apart from competitors:
“We’re now established as an integral part of national and global supply chains. Our customers regard us their partner, as they seek our advice and know they can rely on the quality and precision design of the moulds we manufacture,” commented Roger.
“We also differentiate ourselves from the competition through our collaborative approach – as we work with our customers from the early concept stages, throughout the design and manufacturing process, culminating in a bespoke, premium product which is totally fit for purpose.”
Currently supplying to one-in-five of GB’s leading injection moulding businesses, Roger has ambitious growth plans for Ad-Vance Engineering and intends to further extend the company’s reach over the next three years.
“By focusing our new business drive on the top tier injection moulders, we’ve recently won new contracts in the automotive, pharmaceutical and medical device sectors. This only consolidates our reputation as a premium supply chain partner.
“To further enhance our capability and reach we will continue to invest in our people, facilities and equipment to ensure we produce quality moulds which consistently deliver the highest levels of performance.”
The multi-award-winning company, which is ISO 9001 and ISO 14001 accredited, is also committed to continual improvement through on-going investment in R&D and innovation. This includes offering internships to engineering graduates from Queen’s University and running apprenticeship programmes in conjunction with local FE colleges.

Date(s):  6th November 2019, 8.00am – 10.30am
Venue: Enterprise Ireland, Dublin
Price: FREE
InterTradeIreland in partnership with the Office of Government Procurement, Enterprise Ireland, Ibec, SFA, ISME, CIF and Chambers Ireland are delighted to deliver the first Advanced level briefing in the series of breakfast workshops to demystify, educate and engage businesses on the island around public procurement, a market worth in the region of €12b pa.

This Advanced briefing will be hosted by Enterprise Ireland (EI) at their head office in Dublin.
The briefing content will include the following:
• obtaining feedback and improving a bid
• developing consortia / partnerships
• contract management for suppliers
• expanding your market presence and market place
The briefing is aimed at micro businesses and SME’s with experience of public procurement who wish to improve their skills and extend their knowledge of any of the above.
The briefing will also be an opportunity to network with like-minded businesses.
The venue is the Enterprise Ireland Head Office, The Plaza, Eastpoint Business Park, Dublin 3.
Registration will be open from 7:30am – refreshments will be served.

What’s the value of the Public Procurement market …. in the UK and Ireland?
£11bn in Scotland
Close to £11bn on the Island of Ireland too
And over £260bn in England & Wales
That presents a massive market opportunity for companies throughout Antrim, Newtownabbey, Lisburn and Castlereagh.
Private sector supply chains – where tendering is prevalent – also present major opportunities on these islands, in the construction sector, in water, energy, health, transport, marine, aviation/aerospace….. and many other supply chains.
These sectors are all being primed for major investment – by Governments and major corporates in Ireland and across all regions of the UK.

Accessing these Opportunities
Can SME’s access these opportunities?
Yes – all of the data now confirms that SME’s win 80% of public tenders in the UK and Ireland. Many of the very large contracts do go to large corporates … and rightly so; but SME’s win the lions’ share of public contracts.
In private sector supply chains – at Tier 1, big corporates dominate. And they need high-quality suppliers to tender for work packages, that become more and more accessible to SME’s at Tier 2 and Tier 3.

So What Now?
If you want to Bid2Win, to improve your bidding performance (and to achieve growth) in tendered sectors of the market in the UK and Ireland – then this Bid2Win programme will help you to:
Identify the right target sectors, companies, and public sector bodies to bid into;
Identify sources of information on bid pipelines, and live bid events;
Make the right decisions, about what bids to pursue, and which to leave well alone;
Improve your bid content;
And ultimately improve bid outcomes: Bid2Win much more often.
To participate on Bid2Win, please click on the button below to download the application form-

Click Here
http://www.envisionconsulting.eu/wp-content/uploads/2019/08/Bid2Win-Application-Form.docx

Please send the completed application to: Laurak@envision-ni.co.uk

An Overview of The Programme – What it Involves
First – you attend a workshop on Bidding to Win. There are 4 of these workshops per annum, and you must attend one, in order to avail of the significant level of mentor support.
If you recruit new people to your tender/bid team, you can attend more than one Bidding to Win workshop – but you must attend one as a minimum.
For workshop dates, please see below:
Bidding to Win Workshops

Date
Location
Timings
9 October 2019
Yarn Suite, Mossley Mill, Newtownabbey
7.30am – 10.30am
13 November 2019
Ecos Centre, Ballymena
5.00pm – 8.30pm

***Additional workshops are planned so keep an eye on this site!
When you attend the workshop, we’ll allocate a mentor to you, to work through a tender ready checklist– to get an in-depth view of your tender experience, tendering activity, tendering plans ….. and team, process, etc.
The checklist then triggers one of three levels of mentor support:
Stream 1: 1 day of mentor support.
Stream 2: Up to 3 days of mentor support.
Stream 3: Up to 4 days of mentor support.
You can potentially start with Stream 1 or 2 mentoring ….. and progress to stream 3 if a live tender opportunity emerges.
But you can only have access to a maximum of 4 days of mentor time in total (after your checklist) across all streams. This limit has to be adhered to, because the programme is free of charge, and mentoring must be made available to as many SME’s as possible.
The Programme also provides you with the opportunity to participate in:
A series of Specialist Workshops
A series of Specialist Workshops

There are 12 Specialist Workshops planned on a range of: –
topical, specialist & sectoral tendering topics
market opportunities – tender pipelines Both private & public sector
For Example: –
Consortium Building & Collaborative Bidding;
PQQ & Frameworks;
Dynamic Purchasing Systems Social clauses;
Preparing for Meet the Buyer Events.
Meet the Buyer Events (across 3 years)
Involving major public sector and private sector organisations in the region for scheduled meet the buyer events.
To participate on this tender support programme –
Click Here
Or call 02890 452777 to speak to a member of the tender team.

Dublin City Council is issuing this notice on behalf of Dublin City Council, Fingal County Council, South Dublin County Council, Dun Laoghaire Rathdown County Council, Kildare County Council, Louth County Council, Meath County Council and Wicklow County Council. All of the above contracting authorities wish to increase its engagement with the market in respect of upcoming procurement opportunities. In this regard, the above local authorities, together with the Local Government Management Agency (LGMA) and lnterTradelreland are hosting a Supplier Engagement event focusing on local government procurement opportunities in greater Dublin and surrounding areas. Local government in Ireland manage contracts which support and maintain civic amenities and community services. This is your opportunity to engage with the relevant people on the ground in councils to help inform future contracting approaches, market requirements and service delivery models. Meet with local council sector experts and decision makers from key categories to provide market updates on new products or innovations and find out about procurement processes and tender opportunities coming up. This event will facilitate face to face engagement opportunities across a range of procurement categories including: Corporate Services and Housing, Emergency Services, Environment, Finance & ICT, Community, Sports, Arts and Recreation, Roads, Transportation, Marine & General Services and Green Energy. Workshops examining various aspects of the tendering process will also run throughout the morning. This half-day event will take place on the morning of Tuesday 1st October 2019 in CityWest Hotel, Dublin. This is a FREE event so early registration is essential to secure your place. Representatives from the key business development agencies can also advise you on current funding opportunities and business supports available. For more information and to register please visit www.intertradeireland.com/selltolocalgov
Type of contract:
Services
Response deadline (Irish time):
30/09/2019 17:00:00
CPV codes:
73000000-2 Research and development services and related consultancy services
09330000-1 Solar energy
24111500-0 Medical gases
31121300-3 Wind-energy generators
33100000-1 Medical equipments
33140000-3 Medical consumables
33952000-8 Transport equipment and auxiliary products to transportation
34144200-0 Vehicles for the emergency services
34930000-5 Marine equipment
34996000-5 Control, safety or signalling equipment for roads
37400000-2 Sports goods and equipment
39155100-4 Library equipment
45112711-2 Landscaping work for parks
45210000-2 Building construction work
45216100-5 Construction work for buildings relating to law and order or emergency services
45233000-9 Construction, foundation and surface works for highways, roads
45233100-0 Construction work for highways, roads
45233220-7 Surface work for roads
45262690-4 Refurbishment of run-down buildings
45453000-7 Overhaul and refurbishment work
45453100-8 Refurbishment work
48000000-8 Software package and information systems
48800000-6 Information systems and servers
48810000-9 Information systems
48812000-3 Financial information systems
50111000-6 Fleet management, repair and maintenance services
50111100-7 Vehicle-fleet management services
50312600-1 Maintenance and repair of information technology equipment
50312610-4 Maintenance of information technology equipment
51610000-1 Installation services of computers and information-processing equipment
65400000-7 Other sources of energy supplies and distribution
66122000-1 Corporate finance and venture capital services
70333000-4 Housing services
71313400-9 Environmental impact assessment for construction
71313420-5 Environmental standards for construction
71314300-5 Energy-efficiency consultancy services
75123000-4 Administrative housing services
75200000-8 Provision of services to the community
77313000-7 Parks maintenance services
79212110-7 Corporate governance rating services
79418000-7 Procurement consultancy services
79600000-0 Recruitment services
79993100-2 Facilities management services
80500000-9 Training services
80540000-1 Environmental training services
90700000-4 Environmental services
90710000-7 Environmental management
90711000-4 Environmental impact assessment other than for construction
90713000-8 Environmental issues consultancy services
90720000-0 Environmental protection
92000000-1 Recreational, cultural and sporting services
92311000-4 Works of art
92312000-1 Artistic services
92312200-3 Services provided by authors, composers, sculptors, entertainers and other individual artists
Contracting authority: Dublin City Council
Civic Offices, Wood Quay Dublin 8  Ireland
Contact: Alan Nangle
Prior information notice (TED (v209))
09/09/2019 16:10

Local Government Supplier Engagement Event

1st October 2019, 10.00am – 2.00pm

CityWest Hotel & Conference Centre
Price: FREE

InterTradeIreland in partnership with The Local Government Management Agency (LGMA) are delighted to deliver a Supplier Engagement event focusing on Local government opportunities in the greater Dublin and surrounding areas.
The event is being managed and coordinated with the following Councils:
Dublin City
Dun Laoghaire Rathdown County Council
Fingal County Council
Kildare County Council
Louth County Council
Meath County Council
South Dublin County Council
Wicklow County Council
Procurement staff from these eight councils have come together over the past few months and liaised with their budget holders, engineers, emergency services and decision makers and identified potential procurement opportunities coming up over the next 18-24 months under the following categories:
Corporate Services and Housing
Emergency Services
Roads, Transportation, Marine & General Service
Environment
Community, Sports, Arts and Recreation
Finance & ICT
Green Energy
They now want to meet with suppliers, new or existing, with tried and tested products or new innovative ideas, in these sectors, to see how they can deliver these services and ensure the invitation to tenders reflect the market place. The views of the market are important and this event represents an opportunity for participants to provide early input into contracting approaches and service delivery models. This is your opportunity to engage with the relevant people on the ground.
The event will also provide attendees with the opportunity to:
Speak to Procurement staff from the councils to learn about procurement processes and existing tender opportunities.
Speak to representatives from the council’s local enterprise office and SME government and industry bodies in a business support zone, and
Attend information sessions including: eTenders.gov.ie, Consortia Development and Brexit

Environmental Farming Scheme –A Wider Level opening for applications on Monday 19th August 2019
The Department of Agriculture, Environment and Rural Affairs (DAERA) has announced that the Environmental Farming Scheme (EFS) Wider Level will open for applications from Monday 19 August to 20 September 2019. Successful applicants will be offered a 5 year scheme agreement, which will start on 01 January 2020.

Applicants must register, or have access to DAERA’s online services, as applications must be submitted online. EFS Wider Level contains a range of measures that farmers can undertake on farm to enhance biodiversity, improve water quality, and mitigate against climate change. Farmers choose which options they prefer, depending on their individual preferences or farm type.
Get ready now and start to plan your application!
Although there will be 5 weeks to submit an application it is advisable to start thinking about what options might be best suited to your farm from the range available.
Unlike previous agri-environment schemes, the EFS requires much of the work to be completed and claimed by the 01 June of the first year of the agreement. You should therefore be confident that you can complete all the work you will be required to do within the stated time periods.
As the application can only be made online, there may be a few steps to take now to prepare so you are ready when the application period opens. For example, you will need access to DAERA Online Services and you must also have a current email address that you can access.
If you already have a Government Gateway ID and Password that you use for APHIS or the Single Application and Map Service, then you can use the same log in details to access the EFS online application.
If you do not already have access, you will need to register
You are strongly advised to start the registration process now as this involves providing photographic identification documents at your local DAERA Direct Office.
If you need help to access DAERA Online Services contact your local DAERA Direct Office on 0300 200 7848 or 0300 200 7840.

Call for applications is now open until 15:00 on Friday 28 June 2019
Businesses in Northern Ireland can apply online for up to £5,000 worth of Innovation Vouchers. The vouchers are available from Invest Northern Ireland (NI).
What are Innovation Vouchers?
Innovation Vouchers provide funding to businesses to work with knowledge providers – ie universities, colleges and technical institutes – to create or improve their products, services or processes.
There are currently 39 registered knowledge providers in Northern Ireland and the Republic of Ireland. The vouchers allow you to access the skills and expertise of these providers for many different kinds of innovation projects.
Types of projects eligible for Innovation Vouchers
Typical projects Innovation Vouchers may support include:
ideas for new and improved products, processes and services
access to specialist expertise on new materials
tapping into research and scientific expertise
You can use vouchers to resolve a specific business issue, particularly if you don’t have the expertise, technology or facilities to deal with it.
Apply online for Innovation Vouchers
To apply for Innovation Vouchers, you should complete an online application form on the Invest NI website.
You can apply for Innovation Vouchers if you are:
a small business with fewer than 50 employees
a medium-sized business with fewer than 250 employees, provided that you haven’t received assistance through Invest NI’s R&D programme in the past five years
The deadline for applications is 15:00 on Friday 28 June 2019.