Contract award notice
Results of the procurement procedure
Section I: Contracting
entity
I.1) Name and addresses
DfE FE Northern Regional College
400 Shore Road
Newtownabbey
BT37 9RS
UK
E-mail: SSDAdmin.CPD@finance-ni.gov.uk
NUTS: UK
Internet address(es)
Main address: https://www.nrc.ac.uk
Address of the buyer profile: https://www.finance-ni.gov.uk/topics/procurement
I.4) Type of the contracting authority
Body governed by public law
I.5) Main activity
General public services
Section II: Object
II.1) Scope of the procurement
II.1.1) Title
DfE — NRC — Advertising (Media Buying) Services for Northern Regional College
Reference number: ID 2759915
II.1.2) Main CPV code
79000000
II.1.3) Type of contract
Services
II.1.4) Short description
Northern Regional College wishes to appoint an advertising agency to provide advertising services to promote the courses it offers. The College markets its courses in a well-defined geographical region based on the catchment areas for each of the campuses in Newtownabbey, Ballymena, Coleraine Ballymoney and Magherafelt. The ultimate aim of the campaign is to maximise application and enrolment levels, therefore figures on this will feed in to the college’s wider review of recruitment effectiveness. The contractor shall provide the following services through the lifetime of the contract:
1) strategic planning — based on audience insight research;
2) strategic direction — understanding of and ability to enhance the brief;
3) media direction — media strategy, planning, buying, delivery, evaluation and innovation;
4) account direction — co-ordination of the agency’s services and input, proactive management and delivery of all advertising elements.
II.1.6) Information about lots
This contract is divided into lots:
No
II.1.7) Total value of the procurement
Value excluding VAT:
283 400.00
GBP
II.2) Description
II.2.2) Additional CPV code(s)
79300000
79340000
79341000
79341200
79341400
II.2.3) Place of performance
NUTS code:
UKN0
II.2.4) Description of the procurement
Northern Regional College wishes to appoint an advertising agency to provide advertising services to promote the courses it offers. The College markets its courses in a well-defined geographical region based on the catchment areas for each of the campuses in Newtownabbey, Ballymena, Coleraine Ballymoney and Magherafelt. The ultimate aim of the campaign is to maximise application and enrolment levels, therefore figures on this will feed in to the college’s wider review of recruitment effectiveness. The contractor shall provide the following services through the lifetime of the contract:
1) strategic planning — based on audience insight research;
2) strategic direction — understanding of and ability to enhance the brief;
3) media direction — media strategy, planning, buying, delivery, evaluation and innovation;
4) account direction — co-ordination of the agency’s services and input, proactive management and delivery of all advertising elements.
II.2.5) Award criteria
Quality criterion: AC1 Strategic solution
/ Weighting: 28
Quality criterion: AC2 Media strategy, rationale and media plan
/ Weighting: 42
Cost criterion: AC3 Total media cost
/ Weighting: 20
Cost criterion: AC4 Average hourly rate
/ Weighting: 10
II.2.11) Information about options
Options:
Yes
Description of options:
After the initial contract period, there are three options to extend for 1 year each. Provisional timetable for recourse to the options: 21 months from the award of the contract.
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:
2020/S 069-165754
Section V: Award of contract
Contract No: 1
Title: ID 2759915 DfE NRC — Advertising (Media Buying) Services for Northern Regional College
A contract/lot is awarded:
Yes
V.2 Award of contract
V.2.1) Date of conclusion of the contract
02/06/2020
V.2.2) Information about tenders
Number of tenders received: 4
Number of tenders received from SMEs: 4
Number of tenders received from tenderers from EU Member States: 0
Number of tenders received from tenderers from non-EU Member States: 0
Number of tenders received by electronic means: 4
The contract has been awarded to a group of economic operators:
No
V.2.3) Name and address of the contractor
Anderson Spratt Group Ltd
Anderson House
Belfast
BT4 2GU
UK
Telephone: +044 2890802020
E-mail: dbrennan@asgireland.com
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:
: 283 400.00
GBP
V.2.5) Information about subcontracting
Section VI: Complementary information
VI.3) Additional information
Contract monitoring: the successful contractor’s performance on this contract will be managed as per the specification and regularly monitored (see Procurement Guidance Note 01/12 — Contract Management — Procedures and Principles). 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 this contract may be terminated. A central register of such notices for supplies and services contracts will be maintained and published on the CPD website. Any contractor in receipt of a notice of unsatisfactory performance will be required to declare this in future tender submissions for a period of 3 years from the date of issue of the notice. It may also 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.
VI.4) Procedures for review
VI.4.1) Review body
The UK does not have any special review body with responsibility for appeal/mediation procedures in public procurement competitions. Instead: any challenges are dealt with by the High Court, Commercial Division, to which proceedings may be issued regarding alleged breaches of the Public Contracts.
As above
UK
VI.5) Date of dispatch of this notice
03/06/2020