Find a TenderClosedTender notice
Published 14 Mar 2025, 17:15 GMT

Official UK procurement notice

HRP Media Buying Services

Official notice

Authority: Historic Royal Palaces (Public body)

2 lotsServicesCompetitive flexible procedureAbove threshold
Published estimate£12,000,000total for 2 lots · £12,336,000 inc. VAT
Submissions closed 8 Apr 2025
Lots 2see the lot list below
Contract term 3 yrsends 28 Feb 2029 · starts 1 Mar 2026

What is being bought2 lots · detail below

Published requirement description

CONTRACT OPPORTUNITY – MEDIA BUYING

Historic Royal Palaces (HRP) is a registered charity, responsible for the care, conservation, and presentation of HM Tower of London (TOL), Hampton Court Palace (HCP), Kensington Palace, (KP) the Banqueting House at Whitehall (BH), Kew Palace (KEW) and Hillsborough Castle and Gardens, (HCG) the official residence of HM The King in Northern Ireland and residence of the Secretary of State for Northern Ireland.

HRP is an independent charity for everyone, receiving no regular government funding and derives its income principally from admissions, retail, licensing, commercial events, sponsorship and support from donors and members.

The palaces in our care are the setting for the stories that shape us all, and we’re bringing them to people in ways that mean more to them. We want everyone to find themselves in the spaces and stories we share.

We will be running a Competitive Flexible Procedure tender process with the intention of awarding contracts for the provision of Media Planning and Buying Services. This tender will be run in accordance with the Procurement Act 2023.

This procurement will be run as a two-stage tender process:

Stage 1 – Expression of Interest and Procurement Specific Questionnaire (PSQ)

Stage 2 – Invitation to Tender (ITT) (Shortlisted suppliers only)

Requirements:

We are seeking expressions of interest from suitably experienced / qualified organisations.

The contract will be divided into two lots:

Lot 1: Offline Media

Lot 2: Digital Media

One supplier will be appointed to each lot. Organisations may apply for one or both lots, and HRP reserves the right to appoint one supplier for both lots.

Contract Value:

Total expenditure is estimated at £2.4m per annum and based on a 3 + 2-year arrangement would represent £12m.

Exclusion criteria:

Please refer to the PSQ document for information on exclusion criteria.

Tender Process:

Stage 1 - Expressions of interest and Procurement Specific Questionnaire (PSQ):

The tender process will be run through HRP’s e tendering system, Delta e-Sourcing. All expressions of interest and PSQ’s must be received by HRP by 8th April 2025 at midday and must be submitted electronically via Delta e-Sourcing.

Stage 2 – Invitation to Tender (ITT):

Tender documents will be made available on Delta to those suppliers who are shortlisted at PSQ stage.

Please note that HRP reserves the right to refine award criteria during the tender process.

Registrations:

Suppliers will need to register on Delta E-Sourcing in order to participate in the tender process.

Suppliers can register here www.delta-esourcing.com/register/ ↗

Suppliers must be registered with on the Central Digital Platform

Supplier can register here www.gov.uk/find-tender ↗

Shortlisting:

Suppliers will be shortlisted based on responses to the PSQ. There will be a maximum of 5 suppliers per lot invited to stage two of the tender.

Anticipated contract start date: March 2026

Contract period: 3 years with the option of extending for an additional 2 years

Contract location: UK with sites in London and Northern Ireland

Additional information included: As part of our pre-tender research we conducted a session presenting outline details of the opportunity to potential tenderers that had previously expressed an interest in working with HRP. Details of this session can be found in the attached documents, including a recording of the presentation and the slide deck

HRP reserves the right not to award a contract. HRP are at liberty to amend / refine the process and the evaluation criteria (subject to advising everyone via another transparency notice)

For more information about this opportunity, please visit the Delta eSourcing portal at:

www.delta-esourcing.com/tenders/UK-UK-East-M… ↗

To respond to this opportunity, please click here:

www.delta-esourcing.com/respond/252867J49A ↗

  • How the procedure runs: Two Stage procurement Stage one - Expression of Interest / Procurement Specific Questionnaire Stage two - Invitation to Tender

CPV: Advertising and marketing services · Advertising campaign services · Advertising management services · Advertising services

Lots and requirements (2)Procurement structure

2 lots · all with a published value (£12,000,000 together) · same evaluation weights on every lot
Lot #1Offline Media 3 yrsPublished value£6,000,000

The appointed offline media agency will be responsible for the strategic planning, buying, and delivery of offline media campaigns. This includes, but is not limited to, print, out-of-home, radio, and direct mail channels. The agency must demonstrate expertise in audience insight, media channel selection, and cost-efficient buying, with a proven ability to deliver campaigns that maximise reach, engagement, and return on investment. The agency will be required to work collaboratively, providing regular performance reporting, and aligning campaigns with the organisation's brand values, target audiences, and specific campaign objectives.

Technical Proficiency (50-60%)

Priorities and areas of assessment will include (but not be limited to):

Media campaign strategy and planning

Innovation and approach

Insightful campaign evaluation

Service Quality

Research, analysis and media selection skills

Budgeting strategy

Contract management

Reporting

Commercial value and buying power

Social Value (10-20%)

Priorities and areas of assessment will include (but not be limited to):

Sustainability

Carbon Footprint

Contract period: 1 Mar 2026 – 28 Feb 2029 (3 yrs)Value: £6,000,000 exc. VAT · £6,168,000 inc. VAT
Delivery: UK, London, Northern Ireland
Lot #2Digital Media 3 yrsPublished value£6,000,000

The appointed digital media agency will be responsible for the strategic planning, buying, and delivery of digital marketing campaigns across key online channels, including display, paid social, paid search, video, programmatic and influencer marketing. The agency must demonstrate expertise in audience segmentation, performance marketing, and data-driven optimisation to maximise reach, engagement, and return on investment. Collaboration will be essential, with the agency expected to provide regular campaign performance reporting, actionable insights, and strategic recommendations aligned with the organisation's brand objectives and digital marketing goals.

Award Criteria:

Technical Proficiency (50-60%)

Priorities and areas of assessment will include (but not be limited to):

Media campaign strategy and planning

Innovation and approach

Insightful campaign evaluation

Service Quality

Research, analysis and media selection skills

Budgeting strategy

Contract management

Reporting

Commercial value and buying power

Social Value (10-20%)

Priorities and areas of assessment will include (but not be limited to):

Sustainability

Carbon Footprint

Contract period: 1 Mar 2026 – 28 Feb 2029 (3 yrs)Value: £6,000,000 exc. VAT · £6,168,000 inc. VAT
Delivery: UK, London, Northern Ireland

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 · same split on all 2 lots
Quality: 60%Price: 30%Social value: 10%
Published sub-criteria (3)
  • Technical Proposal (refer to lot description for further detail): 60%
  • Commercial Proposal: 30%
  • Social Value (refer to lot description for further detail): 10%
Published award criteria (3)
  • Social Value (refer to lot description for further detail): Long criteria description
  • Technical Proposal (refer to lot description for further detail): Long criteria description
  • Commercial Proposal: Long criteria description
What this means for your bid
  • Price carries 30 of 100 points: a 10% discount moves about 3 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
Competitive flexible procedure
Legal basis
UKPGA · 2023/54 Procurement Act 2023
Procurement category
Services
Notice status
Closed
Procurement threshold
Above threshold (FTS publication)
Regulatory regime
Standard
Commercial structure
Stand-alone contract (no framework)
Competition type
Competitive procedure
GPA / WTO covered
Yes (GPA, CPTPP)
Recurring procurement
Unspecified in notice
First published
14 Mar 2025, 17:15 GMT
Last source update
14 Mar 2025, 17:15 GMT
Award evaluation window
Submission end – 1 Sept 2025
FTS notice number
2025/S 000-009543
Latest notice
Tender notice (UK4)
Classification (CPV)
Advertising and marketing servicesAdvertising campaign servicesAdvertising management servicesAdvertising services
Delivery area
UKLondon (UKI)Northern Ireland (UKN)
Official registry OCID
ocds-h6vhtk-04ed89 Find a Tender
How it runs

Two Stage procurement

Stage one - Expression of Interest / Procurement Specific Questionnaire

Stage two - Invitation to Tender

How it was run

Official notice
Requests to participate (first stage)
8 Apr 2025, 13:00 BST
Submission deadline
8 Apr 2025, 13:00 BST
Clarification deadline
31 Mar 2025, 18:00 BST
Electronic submission
Not allowed
Accepted languages
en
Detailed submission instructions & authority contactsFrom official release

Timeline

14 Mar 2025 → 1 Mar 2026 · 5 dates
  1. Tender notice published
    14 Mar 2025, 17:15 GMT
  2. Clarification questions by
    31 Mar 2025, 18:00 BST
  3. Submission deadline
    8 Apr 2025, 13:00 BST
  4. Award decision expected by
    1 Sept 2025, 00:59 BST
  5. Contract starts240 days ago
    1 Mar 2026

Notice history

1 event · 1 release on Find a Tender
  1. Tender notice published
    14 Mar 2025, 17:15 GMT
    UK4

Contracting authority & participating public bodies

Historic Royal Palaces

Contracting authorityPublic authority - sub-central government GB-PPON: PMHC-9885-MMJV Hampton Court Palace, East Molesey, London, KT8 9AUContact name, email, phone

Official documents & specifications (1)

Official links; attachments are not copied

Notices published for this procedure

  • Tender notice tenderTender noticeUK4Tender notice on Find a Tender