Section one: Contracting authority
one.1) Name and addresses
DfE Invest Northern Ireland
Bedford Square, Bedford Street
BELFAST
BT2 7ES
Contact
SSDAdmin.CPDfinance-ni.gov.uk
Country
United Kingdom
NUTS code
UK - United Kingdom
Internet address(es)
Main address
https://www.economy-ni.gov.uk/
Buyer's address
https://etendersni.gov.uk/epps
one.4) Type of the contracting authority
Body governed by public law
one.5) Main activity
Economic and financial affairs
Section two: Object
two.1) Scope of the procurement
two.1.1) Title
DfE - Invest NI - Provision of Public Relations Services and management of Invest NI Wechat and Weibo Social Media Accounts in mainland China
Reference number
ID 3661464
two.1.2) Main CPV code
- 79000000 - Business services: law, marketing, consulting, recruitment, printing and security
two.1.3) Type of contract
Services
two.1.4) Short description
Invest Northern Ireland wishes to appoint a Contractor to provide PR services to support its mainland China activity on a project basis and to manage their Wechat and Weibo social media accounts. The Contractor shall plan and implement PR and social media activity in order to best showcase Northern Ireland as a place to do business, NI’s expertise in key trade sectors and raise the profile of Northern Ireland as an investment location. Activity will include strategic and tactical PR i.e. media liaison, arrange media interviews, drafting press releases and editorial, press briefings etc. and social media content production.
two.1.6) Information about lots
This contract is divided into lots: No
two.1.7) Total value of the procurement (excluding VAT)
Value excluding VAT: £500,000
two.2) Description
two.2.2) Additional CPV code(s)
- 79400000 - Business and management consultancy and related services
- 79410000 - Business and management consultancy services
- 79416000 - Public relations services
- 79416100 - Public relations management services
- 79416200 - Public relations consultancy services
two.2.3) Place of performance
NUTS codes
- UKN - Northern Ireland
two.2.4) Description of the procurement
Invest Northern Ireland wishes to appoint a Contractor to provide PR services to support its mainland China activity on a project basis and to manage their Wechat and Weibo social media accounts. The Contractor shall plan and implement PR and social media activity in order to best showcase Northern Ireland as a place to do business, NI’s expertise in key trade sectors and raise the profile of Northern Ireland as an investment location. Activity will include strategic and tactical PR i.e. media liaison, arrange media interviews, drafting press releases and editorial, press briefings etc. and social media content production.
two.2.5) Award criteria
Quality criterion - Name: AC1 Proposed Methodology / Weighting: 29.9
Quality criterion - Name: AC2 Account Manager Experience / Weighting: 15.6
Quality criterion - Name: AC3 Proposed reporting and evaluating of activities, outcomes and impact / Weighting: 10.4
Quality criterion - Name: AC4 Project Management / Weighting: 9.1
Cost criterion - Name: AC5 Account Manager Hourly Rate / Weighting: 11.9
Cost criterion - Name: AC6 Partner/Director Hourly Rate / Weighting: 7.7
Cost criterion - Name: AC7 Administrator Hourly Rate / Weighting: 4.9
Cost criterion - Name: AC8 Drafting of by-lined article / editorial / Weighting: 4.2
Cost criterion - Name: AC9 Press Release, localise, distribute and monitor / Weighting: 3.5
Cost criterion - Name: AC10 Localisation of by-lined article / editorial and distribution / Weighting: 2.8
two.2.11) Information about options
Options: Yes
Description of options
After the initial one year contract period, there are 2 further options to extend for up to 1 year each.
two.2.13) Information about European Union Funds
The procurement is related to a project and/or programme financed by European Union funds: No
Section four. Procedure
four.1) Description
four.1.1) Type of procedure
Open procedure
four.1.8) Information about the Government Procurement Agreement (GPA)
The procurement is covered by the Government Procurement Agreement: Yes
four.2) Administrative information
four.2.1) Previous publication concerning this procedure
Notice number: 2021/S 000-028850
Section five. Award of contract
Contract No
1
Title
Contract
A contract/lot is awarded: Yes
five.2) Award of contract
five.2.1) Date of conclusion of the contract
22 February 2022
five.2.2) Information about tenders
Number of tenders received: 3
Number of tenders received from SMEs: 1
Number of tenders received from tenderers from other EU Member States: 0
Number of tenders received from tenderers from non-EU Member States: 1
Number of tenders received by electronic means: 3
The contract has been awarded to a group of economic operators: No
five.2.3) Name and address of the contractor
Shanghai Sida Tuofu Management Consulting Co Ltd
Room 10714, Building 3, No.1700, Gangyan Highway, Gangyan Town, Chongming District
Shanghai
200000
Telephone
+86 17611001215
Country
China
NUTS code
- CN - China
Internet address
https://etendersNI.gov.uk/epps
The contractor is an SME
Yes
five.2.4) Information on value of contract/lot (excluding VAT)
Initial estimated total value of the contract/lot: £500,000
Total value of the contract/lot: £500,000
Section six. Complementary information
six.3) Additional information
The Contractor’s performance on the contract will be regularly monitored in line with PGN 01/12. A Contractor 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 Certificate of Unsatisfactory Performance and the contract may be terminated. The issue of a Certificate of Unsatisfactory Performance will 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 twelve months from the date of issue of the certificate.
six.4) Procedures for review
six.4.1) Review body
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.
As above
Country
United Kingdom
six.4.3) Review procedure
Precise information on deadline(s) for review procedures
CPD complies with the Public Contracts Regulations 2015 (as amended) and incorporated 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 provided full information on the award decision and provided time for the unsuccessful tenderers to challenge the award decision before the contract was entered into.