Tender Opportunity: Strategic Planning Workshop

Key Details

Orchardville is inviting tender submissions from experienced strategic planning consultants to design and facilitate a Board and senior leadership workshop to shape its next strategic plan.

Proposal Deadline: 12 noon, 3rd September 2026.
How to Apply: Full details are available in the tender document below.

Orchardville

Orchardville is a registered charity based in Northern Ireland, established in 1982. With around 80 members of staff, working across four sites in Belfast, Lisburn, and North Down. Orchardville is dedicated to supporting individuals aged 16-65 with learning disabilities and autism to achieve their full potential through tailored programmes in employment, skills development, and community inclusion. Our services  empower participants to live, learn and work by overcoming barriers, gaining meaningful work experience, and developing independence.

Our Vision

An inclusive society with equal opportunities for all.

Our Mission

Supporting people with learning disability or autism to live, learn and work.

Our Values (EQUIP)

1. Empowerment — we have the skills and attitude to make change happen.
2. Quality — we’re always learning, improving and striving for excellence.
3. User — at the heart of everything we do, we always put participants first.
4. Integrity — we always do what’s right even when it’s difficult.
5. Passion — we truly believe in what we do and it shows in our results.

Strategic Planning Workshop  Tender

1:  ABOUT ORCHARDVILLE

Orchardville is a registered charity which offers services and support to people with learning disability and autism across Northern Ireland.

We have been operating for over 40 years and last year supported over 600 participants to achieve their potential to live, learn and work.   With a staff team of over 60, we offer a wide range of services and make a significant impact across the fields of community inclusion, employment and training. The charity is governed by a Board of Trustees (currently 12 people including 4 new members) who direct and support the CEO and senior leadership team to deliver the organisation’s strategic objectives.

The Board has begun developing a new strategic plan and has undertaken detailed PESTEL and SWOT analyses to identify emerging priorities. Orchardville now wishes to appoint an experienced individual or organisation to support the further development of the plan and to facilitate agreement on strategic priorities, with clearly defined objectives and outcomes, as outlined in the next section. The current Strategic Plan 2024–2027 is attached for reference.

2: Objectives and desired outcomes from the strategic planning workshop

1. Design and facilitate a strategic planning workshop with the Board and senior leadership team to shape Orchardville’s next strategic plan, building on the current strategy and taking account of stakeholder needs, organisational learning, and the political, economic, social and legal environment  in which we operate.

1. Facilitate focused discussion to identify and validate the emerging priorities, themes and choices that will inform the new plan. These will  be further refined with the successful tenderer, but are likely to include:

• Services – whether Orchardville has the right mix of services, opportunities and delivery models to empower participants to achieve their potential and respond to future need.
• People – how the organisational culture, values, governance and leadership approach can support delivery of the new strategy.
• Sustainability – how Orchardville can secure its long-term future through a sustainable blend of funding, fundraising, partnerships and business development.
• Processes & Operations – How to ensure governance, risk, safeguarding and data protection processes align with legislation and best practice.

The workshop will provide an opportunity for members to explore strategic choices together, clarify priorities, and agree the key outcomes and next steps required to develop the next plan.

Given the scope of the strategic planning work, the Board and CEO welcome proposals that set out an appropriate level of input beyond the workshop itself. This may include preparation, facilitation, follow-up support and stakeholder engagement to help validate priorities and translate workshop outputs into a clear and actionable strategic plan. The workshop is scheduled to  take place on Tuesday 20 October, from 10.00am to 3.30pm, at a venue in Belfast.

3:  Budget

The budget has yet to be agreed.

4:  Tender Process

Tender timeline is detailed below:

Tender released: Monday 24^th August 2026

Final date for submission of questions: Tuesday 1^st September 2026

Tender closing date Thursday 3^rd September 2026

Shortlisting w/c 7^th September  2026

Confirmation of contract award w/c 14^th September 2026

5:  Criteria and what to include in your tender response

Interested parties will be expected to demonstrate in their response that they have the appropriate level of skills and experience to deliver on the noted objectives.    Each tender submission should give detail as to the proposed activity and the rationale for same.  Please outline and provide specific details about the number of days/hours of work you believe will be required to design and deliver the workshop alongside your daily/hourly rate.

The following will also be considered:

• Expertise in strategic planning in the voluntary and community sector
• Experience/Ability in facilitating developmental workshops
• Appropriateness of proposal submitted.
• Value for money

Interested parties can also avail of a conversation with the Orchardville  Chair Kathy Martin  before the closing date should it be necessary.

Tender submissions should be sent to joanne.mcadam@orchardville.com before 12pm on the closing date.

Submitting

Tender submissions should be sent to joanne.mcadam@orchardville.com before 12pm on the closing date.