Procurement

Horizon Replacement Services

Post Office Limited

Procurement identifier (OCID): ocds-h6vhtk-050efb

Description

Post Office Limited (POL) in the Market

POL has a network of 11,500 Post Offices across the UK and provides a wide range of services to its customers. There are c.50,000 users. There are 9m customer sessions per week.

The vast majority of Post Offices are franchises - small businesses in their own right. However, there are also smaller numbers of strategic partners and branches managed directly by POL. The directly managed branches are in the process of moving towards being operated by franchisees.

The services that POL offers include but are not limited to:

• Mails and parcels;

• Cash and banking;

• Bill payments;

• Travel money;

• Government services (such as identity and passport services); and

• Stamps and other postal related products and services.

Description of the Service

The current service being provided to POL relies on a system known as "Horizon" to process all its transactions with customers, and includes numerous legacy systems and assets. POL wishes to appoint up to two suppliers to replace the existing Horizon system ("Horizon Replacement Services").

The contracts for the Horizon Replacement Services will be awarded by reference to two lots:

• Lot 1 Replacement Service Provider - Datacentres Operations and Levels 3 and 4 Application Support and Management including transformation and stabilisation. To include service and system integration.

• Lot 2 COTS-EPOS-SaaS - a fully supplier supported and maintained commercial off-the-shelf (COTS) electronic point of sale (EPOS) system, provided as software as a service (SaaS).

The system must meet the Authority's specific requirements with minimal bespoke customisations. Supplier will provide level 2 and 3 support.

The successful bidders will be required to take on delivery of relevant parts of the Horizon Replacement Services within the respective Lot scope and provide, in each case where relevant, transition and transformation services to modernise, streamline and replace the Horizon Services.

Lot 1 Replacement Services Provider

Lot 1 will require the successful supplier to:

• take over the existing Horizon Services (as detailed above) on a "walk in and take over" (WITO) basis (excluding network interconnections between data centres);

• provide system and service integration of both Lots 1 and 2;

• be responsible for maintaining and supporting IT infrastructure within the data centre until it is decommissioned;

• manage bespoke applications and integrations with the Lot 2 product and other POL third parties where necessary;

• stabilise the current Horizon Services;

• execute key transformation activity where required by POL (is also an option under Lot 2); and

• deploy the Lot 2 solution into the branch estate.

Lot 1 will have an initial term of 5 years plus two optional 1-year extensions (to be exercised at POL's discretion). POL will also have a right to extend the contract beyond this should more time be required to complete transformation activity.

Lot 2 COTS-EPOS-SaaS Supplier

Wherever possible POL intends to purchase COTS products to meet all of its requirements rather than build in-house.

The Lot 2 COTS-EPOS-SaaS Supplier must be capable of delivering a modern, scalable, and future-ready solution for a term of 12 years.

Lot 2 COTS-EPOS-SaaS Supplier will require the successful supplier to transform POL's retail technology platform to meet evolving business, operational, and customer requirements which shall:

• be cloud hosted, in an AWS environment (or equivalent) and be a consumption and/or flexible based eCommerce service;

• use event-driven microservice architecture using standards-based integration (API) and industry recognised core service;

• include a structured data layer or open standards integration to other COTS data platforms; and

• be a modular service structure that includes but is not limited to:

• journey engine;

• point of sale (POS), EPOS & mobile POS services;

• customer engagement & insights;

• retail and/or retail POS integration;

• counter solutions; and

• options for pick up and drop off, and self-service kiosks.

• other functionality required for an end-to-end retail platform as set out in the Lot 2 requirements.

Lot 2 COTS-EPOS-SaaS Supplier shall additionally be required to:

• ensure compatibility with existing systems and hardware (where applicable) and enable future enhancements;

• support implementation/deployment to the branch network, including configuration, customisation (if required), testing and rollout;

• comply with the target operating model implemented to support ongoing operations.

• execute key capability uplifts where required by POL (is also an option under Lot 1);

• provide ongoing maintenance and support, updates, and optimisation services;

• interoperate and/or provide reconciliation tools, financial posting engines, local accounting solutions, pricing and billing solutions, product processing solutions;

• ensure that POL is always able to control when it moves to new versions of the software and accept or reject the any additional functionality that does not impact the core components of the solution from new versions;

• provide POL with the opportunity to participate in the development of the supplier's roadmap for future developments to the EPOS solution; and

• collaborate with other partners in POL's eco-system.

In the Lot 2 contract, POL may serve a mobilisation notice within three years of the effective date. Following the commencement of mobilisation, the contract will have a term of 10 years. POL will have the option for two further one-year extensions. POL will also have a right to extend the contract beyond this should more time be required to complete transformation activity.

Notices

UK4: Tender notice

Notice identifier: 2025/S 000-050009
Published: 20 August 2025, 9:04am

Show all versions

UK3: Planned procurement notice

Notice identifier: 2025/S 000-019874
Published: 8 May 2025, 5:03pm

UK2: Preliminary market engagement notice

Notice identifier: 2025/S 000-019868
Published: 8 May 2025, 4:55pm

UK1: Pipeline notice

Notice identifier: 2025/S 000-019798
Published: 8 May 2025, 3:35pm