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
SSDAdmin.CPD@finance-ni.gov.uk
Country
United Kingdom
NUTS code
UK - United Kingdom
Internet address(es)
Main address
Buyer's address
https://etendersni.gov.uk/epps
one.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 above-mentioned address
Tenders or requests to participate must be submitted to the above-mentioned address
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.1.5) Estimated total value
Value excluding VAT: £500,000
two.1.6) Information about lots
This contract is divided into lots: No
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 Contract Management / Weighting: 9.1
Cost criterion - Name: AC5 Account Manager / Weighting: 11.9
Cost criterion - Name: AC6 Partner/Director / Weighting: 7.7
Cost criterion - Name: AC7 Administrator / 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.2.6) Estimated value
Value excluding VAT: £500,000
two.2.7) Duration of the contract, framework agreement or dynamic purchasing system
Duration in months
12
This contract is subject to renewal
Yes
Description of renewals
Prior to expiry of contract anticipated to be February 2025.
two.2.10) Information about variants
Variants will be accepted: No
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 three. Legal, economic, financial and technical information
three.1) Conditions for participation
three.1.3) Technical and professional ability
List and brief description of selection criteria
SC1 Company Experience
three.2) Conditions related to the contract
three.2.2) Contract performance conditions
The Client will monitor the Contractor’s performance against the specified KPIs and as. detailed in the Commercial Conditions of Contract Schedule 3 Contract Management/Monitoring Schedule.
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.2.2) Time limit for receipt of tenders or requests to participate
Originally published as:
Date
20 December 2021
Local time
3:00pm
Changed to:
Date
10 January 2022
Local time
3:00pm
See the change notice.
four.2.4) Languages in which tenders or requests to participate may be submitted
English
four.2.6) Minimum time frame during which the tenderer must maintain the tender
Tender must be valid until: 20 March 2022
four.2.7) Conditions for opening of tenders
Date
20 December 2021
Local time
3:30pm
Section six. Complementary information
six.1) Information about recurrence
This is a recurrent procurement: Yes
Estimated timing for further notices to be published: 3 months prior to expiry of this contract anticipated to be November 2025.
six.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 three 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.
six.4) Procedures for review
six.4.1) Review body
The UK does not have any special review body with responsibility for appeal/mediation procedures in public procurement.
As above
Country
United Kingdom
six.4.3) Review procedure
Precise information on deadline(s) for review procedures
CPD will comply with the Public Contracts Regulations 2015 (as amended) 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.