Earlier in 2022 Weymouth Town Council (the Council) engaged the market regarding the future of the existing poster drums located at key locations in Weymouth and with high footfall from local people and visitors to the area: 11 are positioned along the Esplanade on Weymouth’s bustling seafront, and one at Lodmoor Country Park.
Based on the responses received, the Council intends to proceed with the preferred option of appointing a single provider to supply, install, operate and maintain/ repair digital screens at these locations via a lease/ licence, for a period of a minimum of 5 years. Whilst the Council is offering all 12 sites as potential locations for digital screens, it acknowledges that not all sites may be taken forward by the successful provider.
The Council has undertaken a pre-application consultation with the local planning authority (Dorset Council) with regard to the principle of replacing the advertising drums with digital screens. Dorset Council indicated that it did not have any objection to this proposal but would want the design and colour of the screens’ casings being sympathetic to the Promenade environment.
Ahead of the formal procedure commencing, this Notice has been published to notify the market of this pending opportunity and to invite suppliers to respond to a short questionnaire. This will help shape the final commercial model and approach, and help WTC understand the level of interest in this opportunity.
Dependent on the level of interest, the Council expects to publish a formal procurement opportunity in early January 2023, with expected contract award in March/ April 2023.
The Council is not intending to split this requirement into packages, therefore suppliers that are unable to provide the full range of services may wish to consider collaboration with suitable partners.
Interested suppliers are invited to respond to a short questionnaire, available via https://forms.office.com/r/gFxEmgv2Vd
Responses should be submitted by midday on Friday 9th December 2022. The Council will provide updates on the process to all suppliers that respond to this survey.
The questionnaire should take around 10 to 15 minutes to complete.