A BUSINESS support organisation has assembled a team of business people to help it win the Government's new Small Business Service franchise.

Business Link County Durham (BLCD) failed in its attempt to win the franchise earlier this year. It was told that its original bid was too public-sector led. In response, the organisation has assembled a team to oversee the preparation of the next bid.

The team was put together following a meeting with a large number of private sector business people and representatives from nearly all the significant business service providers in the county. Local councils, and development and enterprise agencies were included.

"We set out to create an unbiased, business-focused and independent group by inviting anyone at the original meeting and any other interested parties in Durham to create a steering group," said Ruth Hardwick, managing director of RH Associates Total Business Solutions and a member of the new bid team.

"This group is being kept informed of progress throughout the bid-writing process and has helped a great deal with feedback and guidance. We believe it would be hard to define a more open and democratic process."

The six-member team is being led by Mark I'Anson, a senior exeuctive of Telco Strategy. It has commissioned market research to get the views of more than 400 small and medium-sized companies in the county.

The companies will provide vital information on business needs and are both users and non-users of existing Business Link services. The research should be completed by the middle of August but BLCD encourages businesses who want to contribute their views to contact either Paul Forsyth or Elaine Leong on (0191) 374 4000.

There is strong competition for the new franchise with a total of seven bids expected. The results will be announced in early autumn.

The SBS is part of the Government's drive to improve the overall quality of business support available to small and medium-sized firms