Find a TenderAwarded
Published 9 Oct 2023, 14:15 BST

Official UK procurement notice

Higher Education Marketing Agency to Support the Implementation of Student Recruitment Campaigns

Official notice

Authority: University of Chester (Charity / VCSE)

ServicesOpen procedureSME suitable
Published estimate£3,000,000exc. VAT
Submissions closed 8 Nov 2023awarded 19 Dec 2023
Awarded to Net Natives Limited

What is being bought

Published requirement description

The University of Chester invited tenders for a specialist Higher Education marketing agency through the UK Open Procedure under the Public Contracts Regulations 2015 and The Public Procurement (Amendment etc.) (EU Exit) Regulations 2020 to support primarily with media planning and buying for its student recruitment campaigns. This will be a two-year contract with the option to extend for a further 24-months on a year-by-year basis. Although the University was looking for an agency to help principally with media planning and buying, the expectation is that the successful agency will work collaboratively with the University on campaign strategy, providing relevant audience, market, and competitor insights to help the University gain a competitive advantage. Further to this, from time-to-time, the University may wish to tap into any creative services available within the agency to help with the production of creative assets and development of our messaging strategy.

CPV: Marketing services

The lotProcurement structure

single lot · no lot value published
Lot #1The specific requirements of this contract are for the implementation of our 2024,…Awarded

The specific requirements of this contract are for the implementation of our 2024, 2025 and 2026 UK student recruitment campaigns. It should be noted that a media plan for the pre-application stage of the 2024 recruitment campaign is already being implemented, so the initial focus, following this award, will be on post application conversion and late applications for the 2024 cycle, as well as early engagement for the 2025 cycle. Further to this, we may also require support for postgraduate and international student recruitment campaigns. Further details were available in the tender documents.Please note the estimated total value includes the optional extension periods. The values stated in this notice are not for the marketing agency fees, but are for the total budget estimated across the potential 4 years of this contract for all associated media and advertising costs. The Marketing Agency costs are estimated to be between £200,000 and £250,000 depending upon actual requirements across the potential 4 years of this contract.

Delivery: UK
Variant bids: not allowed

What it takes to win
i

How this buyer will score bids.

The evaluation criteria and weights exactly as published on the notice, grouped by family (price, quality, social value and so on).

Evaluation split and conditions of participation as published; the tender pack may add more
How bids were scored
Quality: 60%Price: 40%
Published sub-criteria (2)
  • Quality Evaluation: 60%
  • Pricing Evaluation: 40%
Published award criteria (2)
  • Quality Evaluation: 60
  • Pricing Evaluation: 40
What this means for your bid
  • Price carries 40 of 100 points: a 10% discount moves about 4 points. The method statement decides this lot, not the discount.

Price arithmetic assumes straight proportional scoring; the tender pack may use another formula.

Procedure terms & legal framework

From the official record
Procedure method
Open procedure
Legal basis
CELEX · 32014L0024 Public Contracts Regulations 2015 (Directive 2014/24/EU)
Procurement category
Services
Notice status
Awarded
Procurement threshold
Unspecified in notice
Regulatory regime
Standard
Commercial structure
Stand-alone contract (no framework)
Competition type
Competitive procedure
GPA / WTO covered
Yes (GPA)
Recurring procurement
Yes
First published
9 Oct 2023, 14:15 BST
Last source update
21 Dec 2023, 14:36 GMT
Award evaluation window
8 Nov 2023 – …
Authority reference
2023-Oct-01
FTS notice number
2023/S 000-037706
Classification (CPV)
Marketing services
Delivery area
UK
Official registry OCID
ocds-h6vhtk-040906 Find a Tender
Contract terms
Electronic trading
e-invoicing allowed · electronic ordering · electronic payment

How it was run

Official notice
Run through: In-tend · Who buys & how to bid on In-tend
Supplier login requiredLanguage: EN
Access & registration note: Free · one account per buying organisation's portal · reCAPTCHA on signup
Submission deadline
8 Nov 2023, 12:00 GMT
Submission channel
{"electronicSubmission","written"}
Accepted languages
en
Bids opened
8 Nov 2023, 12:00 GMT
Detailed submission instructions & authority contactsFrom official release

Timeline

8 Nov 2023 → 21 Dec 2023 · 3 dates
  1. Submission deadline
    8 Nov 2023, 12:00 GMT
  2. Bids opened
    8 Nov 2023, 12:00 GMT
  3. Notice published
    21 Dec 2023, 14:36 GMT

Notice history

1 event · 2 releases on Find a Tender
  1. Status changed to complete
    21 Dec 2023, 14:36 GMT

Commercial outcome & contract awards

Published awards, contracts and bid statistics, not a forecast
Awards 1
Awarded value £3,000,0001 contract exc. VAT
Bids received 1210 from SMEs
Contracts signed 1latest 19 Dec 2023
Awarded toValueDateStatus
Net Natives LimitedSME£3,000,000 †—Awarded

Contracts

Bid statistics published by the authority

BidsSMEVCSEValid bid range
12bids · 12 electronic · 12 from abroad10——

Contracting authority & participating public bodies

University of Chester

Contracting authorityCharity / VCSEBody governed by public lawEducation Parkgate Road, Chester, UK, CH1 4BJContact name, email Published organisation website ↗

Bidders & participating suppliers

1 commercial party on the notice
  • Net Natives LimitedAwarded supplier12357553 Lees House, 21-33 Dyke Road,, Brighton, South East, BN1 3FE

Official documents & specifications (2)

Official links; attachments are not copied

Tender pack and attachments

  • Economic and financial selection criteriatenderEconomic and financial selection criteria
  • Technical selection criteriatenderTechnical selection criteria