Contract notice
Section I: Contracting
authority
I.1) Name and addresses
The Executive Office
Stormont Castle, Stormont Estate
BELFAST
BT4 3TT
UK
E-mail: ssdadmin.cpd@finance-ni.gov.uk
NUTS: UK
Internet address(es)
Main address: https://etendersni.gov.uk/epps
Address of the buyer profile: https://etendersni.gov.uk/epps
I.3) Communication
The procurement documents are available for unrestricted and full direct access, free of charge at:
https://etendersni.gov.uk/epps
Additional information can be obtained from the abovementioned address
Tenders or requests to participate must be sent electronically to:
https://etendersni.gov.uk/epps
Tenders or requests to participate must be sent to the abovementioned address
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
ID 5584876 - TEO - Contingency Campaign Advertising Contract
II.1.2) Main CPV code
79341000
II.1.3) Type of contract
Services
II.1.4) Short description
TEO - Contingency Campaign Advertising Contract The Executive Information Service, hereby referred to as ‘the Buyer’ wishes to appoint a full-service advertising agency to develop and deliver mass media advertising campaigns and related services in the event of a significant emergency that threatens to have a wide reaching and/or prolonged impact on the citizens of Northern Ireland. The Contractor will be required to provide a comprehensive suite of services including creative development and strategy, advertising (traditional and digital), creative design and content creation, copywriting, campaign management and evaluation to ensure value for money and impact amongst its target audiences. The detail of any campaign will depend on the circumstances however the overarching objectives of any public information advertising campaign will be: • To increase public awareness of the emergency/issue and to provide them with the information they need to stay safe • To communicate NI Executive’s decisions in relation to the emergency/issue. • To minimise misunderstanding, rumours and misinformation. • To ensure that messages are disseminated in a timely, targeted and consistent manner. • To target specific audiences and stakeholders with key information. • To encourage the public/stakeholders to take any necessary actions. Note, these are typical of the type of services which will be required for work commissioned under this Contract. The Buyer has endeavoured to be as accurate as possible, however the actual requirement for work to be carried out will be further defined during the lifetime of the Contract.
II.1.5) Estimated total value
Value excluding VAT:
3 000 000.00
GBP
II.1.6) Information about lots
This contract is divided into lots:
No
II.2) Description
II.2.2) Additional CPV code(s)
79340000
79341400
79341200
II.2.3) Place of performance
NUTS code:
UKN0
II.2.4) Description of the procurement
TEO - Contingency Campaign Advertising Contract The Executive Information Service, hereby referred to as ‘the Buyer’ wishes to appoint a full-service advertising agency to develop and deliver mass media advertising campaigns and related services in the event of a significant emergency that threatens to have a wide reaching and/or prolonged impact on the citizens of Northern Ireland. The Contractor will be required to provide a comprehensive suite of services including creative development and strategy, advertising (traditional and digital), creative design and content creation, copywriting, campaign management and evaluation to ensure value for money and impact amongst its target audiences. The detail of any campaign will depend on the circumstances however the overarching objectives of any public information advertising campaign will be: • To increase public awareness of the emergency/issue and to provide them with the information they need to stay safe • To communicate NI Executive’s decisions in relation to the emergency/issue. • To minimise misunderstanding, rumours and misinformation. • To ensure that messages are disseminated in a timely, targeted and consistent manner. • To target specific audiences and stakeholders with key information. • To encourage the public/stakeholders to take any necessary actions. Note, these are typical of the type of services which will be required for work commissioned under this Contract. The Buyer has endeavoured to be as accurate as possible, however the actual requirement for work to be carried out will be further defined during the lifetime of the Contract.
II.2.5) Award criteria
Price is not the only award criterion and all criteria are stated only in the procurement documents
II.2.6) Estimated value
Value excluding VAT:
3 000 000.00
GBP
II.2.7) Duration of the contract, framework agreement or dynamic purchasing system
Duration in months: 36
This contract is subject to renewal: Yes
Description of renewals:
The Contract will be for an initial period of three years followed by two optional extension periods of one year each.
II.2.9) Information about the limits on the number of candidates to be invited
II.2.10) Information about variants
Variants will be accepted:
No
II.2.11) Information about options
Options:
No
II.2.13) Information about European Union funds
The procurement is related to a project and/or programme financed by European Union funds:
No
II.2.14) Additional information
As the implementation of this Contract will be driven by factors outside the control of The Executive Office, no guarantees can be given about the volume or value of the Contract used in any given year or during the Contract lifetime.. . In the event of a significant emergency, and where the contract is activated the value of this contract is up to £3,000,000. As the value of this contract is difficult to define, there may be a requirement to increase the contract value providing any requirement falls within the scale and scope of this contract. However, if the contract is not activated then the annual spend will be £1,000.
Section III: Legal, economic, financial and technical information
III.1) Conditions for participation
III.1.1) Suitability to pursue the professional activity, including requirements relating to enrolment on professional or trade registers
List and brief description of conditions:
Candidates will be assessed in accordance with Regulation 58 of the Public Contract Regulations 2015 as set out in the Information Memorandum. A selection process will also be used to identify economic operators, who having submitted a response to the Selection Questionnaire, sufficiently demonstrate to the Department’s satisfaction the appropriate technical and professional ability, economic, financial and legal standing to meet the requirements of the contract.
III.1.2) Economic and financial standing
Selection criteria as stated in the procurement documents
III.1.3) Technical and professional ability
Selection criteria as stated in the procurement documents
III.2) Conditions related to the contract
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.2.2) Time limit for receipt of tenders or requests to participate
Date:
16/04/2025
Local time: 15:00
IV.2.4) Languages in which tenders or requests to participate may be submitted
EN
IV.2.6) Minimum time frame during which the tenderer must maintain the tender
Tender must be valid until:
15/07/2025
IV.2.7) Conditions for opening of tenders
Date:
16/04/2025
Local time: 15:30
Information about authorised persons and opening procedure:
Only CPD Procurement Staff with access to the project on eTendersNI.
Section VI: Complementary information
VI.1) Information about recurrence
This is a recurrent procurement:
No
VI.2) Information about electronic workflows
Electronic invoicing will be accepted
Electronic payment will be used
VI.3) Additional information
The successful contractor’s performance on the contract will be regularly monitored in line with the tender documentation. 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 the contract may be terminated. The issue of a Notice of Unsatisfactory Performance can 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 for a period of three years from the date of issue.. . The Authority expressly reserves the rights:. . (I). not to award any contract as a result of the procurement process commenced by publication of this notice;. (II). to make whatever changes it may see fit to the content and structure of the tendering Competition;. (III). to award (a) contract(s) in respect of any part(s) of the [services] covered by this notice; and. (IV). to award contract(s) in stages.. . and in no circumstances will the Authority be liable for any costs incurred by candidates..
VI.4) Procedures for review
VI.4.1) Review body
The UK does not have any such bodies with responsibility for appeal/mediation procedures. Instead; any challenges are dealt with by the High Court, Commercial Division, to which proceedings may be issued regarding alleged breaches of the PCR 2015 as amended.
Belfast
UK
VI.4.3) Review procedure
Precise information on deadline(s) for review procedures:
CPD will comply with the Public Contracts Regulations 2015 and, where appropriate, will incorporate a standstill period (i.e. a minimum of 10 calendar days) at the point information on the award of contract is communicated to tenderers. That notification will provide full information on the award decision. This provides time for the unsuccessful tenderers to challenge the award decision before the contract is entered into.
VI.5) Date of dispatch of this notice
21/02/2025