Planning

HCC - 10/25 - Preliminary Market Engagement (PME) for the Hybrid Mail Procurement Project

  • Hertfordshire County Council

UK2: Preliminary market engagement notice - Procurement Act 2023 - view information about notice types

Notice identifier: 2025/S 000-067512

Procurement identifier (OCID): ocds-h6vhtk-05d1a3

Published 22 October 2025, 1:58pm

Last edited 22 October 2025, 2:22pm

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Scope

Reference

HCC - 10/25 - HM

Description

Hertfordshire County Council (HCC) is a large user of postal services. It uses printed communications and physical letters to communicate with residents / individuals / businesses within the county and produced approximately 545,000 mail items in 2024/25 necessitating the need for a flexible and forward-thinking approach with the HCC postal system.

The current Hybrid Mail system used by HCC enables the electronic submission of documents for remote printing, enveloping, and posting. In the current year approximately 50% of our outbound mail has been sent via our Hybrid Mail system. The current system was adopted in 2020 and is widely utilised across HCC Services and teams, supporting essential communications such as general mailings, invoices, legal notices, and reminders, and aligns with GDPR and legal compliance standards. The current contract has reached the end of its initial 5-year term, and we have extended the maintenance contract.

Hertfordshire County Council (HCC) seeks to procure a modern, flexible, and scalable Hybrid Mail solution to support its evolving communication needs. The system must enable secure, efficient, and compliant electronic submission of documents for remote printing, enveloping, and posting.

Please refer to the PME document for full details.

The Council is carrying out PME in relation to this project. The Council will consider the feedback received to help inform the Council's options, requirements and further decision making.

For the avoidance of doubt, this stage of the project is not part of a formal procurement process and the Council is not committing, at this stage, to carrying out such a process.

Participation or non-participation in the PME shall not prevent any supplier participating in a potential future procurement, nor is it intended that any information supplied as part of the PME shall place any supplier at an advantage in a potential procurement process.

Please make sure that you have submitted your Supplier Questionnaire following the instructions within the PME documentation and e-tendering system. The Council will not be held accountable for any errors made by an organisation in submitting their Supplier Questionnaire.

Please note: The below contract start and end dates may be subject to change

Contract dates (estimated)

  • 1 March 2026 to 30 April 2031
  • Possible extension to 30 April 2033
  • 7 years, 2 months

Main procurement category

Services

CPV classifications

  • 48223000 - Electronic mail software package
  • 64216120 - Electronic mail services
  • 72412000 - Electronic mail service provider
  • 79571000 - Mailing services

Contract locations

  • UKH23 - Hertfordshire

Engagement

Engagement deadline

19 November 2025

Engagement process description

To access the PME documentation please visit the Council's e-tendering system Supply Hertfordshire, run by Intend at https://in-tendhost.co.uk/supplyhertfordshire and follow the on-screen guidance.

To participate in this PME, organisations must return their completed Supplier Questionnaire (Appendix A of the PME Document), together with any supporting documents, through the Correspondence area of the project on Supply Hertfordshire by the return deadline of 12.00 Noon on 19 November 2025, as per the PME documentation and e-tendering system.

Supplier Questionnaires received after the deadline may not be reviewed at the Council's sole discretion.

Please make sure that you have submitted your Supplier Questionnaire following the instructions within the PME documentation and e-tendering system.

The Council will not be held accountable for any errors made by an organisation in submitting their Supplier Questionnaire.

If you are experiencing problems with the Supply Hertfordshire website, In-Tend offer a help section which includes a dedicated UK support desk which can be contacted via email: support@in-tend.co.uk or Telephone: +44 1144070065 for any website/technical questions, Monday to Friday, 8:30-17:00. Participation in the PME will be at each organisation's own cost. No expense in responding to this PME will be reimbursed by the Council.


Participation

Particular suitability

Small and medium-sized enterprises (SME)


Contracting authority

Hertfordshire County Council

  • Public Procurement Organisation Number: PWJT-5264-WYMY

Robertson House, Six Hills Way

Stevenage

SG1 2FQ

United Kingdom

Region: UKH23 - Hertfordshire

Organisation type: Public authority - sub-central government