Official UK procurement notice
ID 5827739 - DfI - Advertising service to promote safe and sustainable travel in Northern Ireland
Authority: Department for Infrastructure (Central government)·On behalf of: CPD
What is being bought
Published requirement descriptionDfI - Advertising service to promote safe and sustainable travel in Northern Ireland The Department for Infrastructure (DfI) wishes to appoint a Contractor to provide advertising and related services to deliver a range of advertising campaigns. The Contract will be for an initial period of three years followed by two optional extension periods of up to 12 months each. The Supplier will be required to provide a comprehensive suite of services including creative development and strategy, advertising (traditional and digital), creative design and content creation, copywriting, campaign management and evaluation to ensure value for
money and impact amongst its target audiences. This advertising campaign Contract will be made up of several separate strands, each funded by the responsible Business Area within DfI
CPV: Advertising and marketing services · Advertising campaign services · Advertising management services · Advertising services
The lotProcurement structure
single lot · value publishedLot #1AwardedRenewalPublished value£4,400,000
- Technical & professional ability
As per Tender documentation.
What it takes to wini
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 morei
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).
- AC1 - Strategic Solution: Please see tender documents for full details
- AC2 - Media Strategy, Rationale and Media Plan: Please see tender documents for full details
- AC3 - Social Value: Please see tender documents for full details
- AC4 - Key Personnel Experience: Please see tender documents for full details
- AC5 - Proposals for research and evaluation : Please see tender documents for full details
- AC6 - Total Campaign Delivery Cost: Please see tender documents for full details
- AC7 - Average Hourly Rate: Please see tender documents for full details
- AC8 - Creative Proposal (Presentation) of AC1 campaign: Please see tender documents for full details
- Technical & professional ability
As per Tender documentation.
Procedure terms & legal framework
From the official record- Procedure method
- Open procedure
- Legal basis
- UKPGA · 2023/54 Procurement Act 2023
- Procurement category
- Services
- Notice status
- Awarded
- 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)
- Recurring procurement
- Unspecified in notice
- First published
- 20 Jun 2025, 16:02 BST
- Last source update
- 16 Sept 2025, 15:52 BST
- Award evaluation window
- Submission end – 8 Sept 2025
- Authority reference
ID 5827739- FTS notice number
2025/S 000-034160- Latest notice
- Contract details notice (UK7)
- Classification (CPV)
- Delivery area
- Official registry OCID
ocds-h6vhtk-055129Find a Tender- Contract terms summary
For further details on invoicing procedures please see : www.finance-ni.gov.uk/articles/account-ni-… ↗
Contract Value
The estimated value of this contract is between £4.4M and £6.2M (ex VAT)figure indicated in the Scope Section represents an overall estimated contract value. This value reflects the potential scale of the contract and takes into account potential optional extension periods and the uptake of potential optional services as detailed in the tender documents. This figure does not however take into account the application of indexation or increases to charges due to increases in the Real Living Wage. Neither CPD nor the contracting Authority can provide any guarantee as to the level of business under this contract. The Contracting Authority does not bind itself to accept the lowest or any tender. Suppliers remain responsible for all costs and expenses incurred by them or by any third party acting under instructions from the Supplier in connection with taking part in this procurement process regardless of whether such costs arise as a consequence, directly or indirectly of any amendments made to the procurement documents by the Contracting Authority at any time. No legally binding contract shall arise (and a Supplier shall have no legitimate expectation that a contract will be entered into) until such time as entry into the Contract has been confirmed by the Contracting Authority.
- Risks
If at any time during the procurement, or post award, it comes to the attention of the Contracting Authority (CA) or CPD, by whatever means, that a Supplier has become ‘excluded’ or ‘excludable’ as per Sec 57 of the PA 2023, the CA, after compliance with its obligations under the PA 23, reserves the right to exclude said Supplier from the procurement procedure or terminate any contract they have been awarded.
The Contracting Authority expressly reserves the rights:
(I). not to award any contract as a result of the procurement process commenced by publication of this notice;
(II). to make whatever changes it may see fit to the content and structure of the tendering Competition;
(III). to award (a) contract(s) in respect of any part(s) of the [services] covered by this notice; and
(IV). to award contract(s) in stages
How it was run
Official notice- Submission deadline
- 24 Jul 2025, 23:59 BST
- Clarification deadline
- 10 Jul 2025, 23:59 BST
- Submission channel
- Official e-sourcing portal
- Electronic submission
- Allowed
- Accepted languages
- en
Tenders must be submitted electronically via the relevant Call for Tender (CfT) opportunity on eTendersNI, website details immediately below.
Paper submissions will not be accepted or considered and will be rejected by the Contracting Authority / Buyer.
The tender documents are available with unrestricted and full direct access, free of charge, at: URL etendersni.gov.uk/epps ↗
Timeline
20 Jun 2025 → 1 Oct 2025 · 8 dates- Tender notice published20 Jun 2025, 16:02 BST
- Clarification questions by10 Jul 2025, 23:59 BST
- Submission deadline24 Jul 2025, 23:59 BST
- Assessment summaries sent28 Aug 2025, 00:00 BST
- Award decision expected by8 Sept 2025, 23:59 BST
- Standstill ends9 Sept 2025, 23:59 BST
- Latest notice published16 Sept 2025, 15:52 BST
- Contract starts386 days ago1 Oct 2025, 00:00 BST
Notice history
5 events · 3 releases on Find a Tender · since 20 Jun 2025- Tender notice published20 Jun 2025, 16:02 BSTUK4
- Contract award notice published29 Aug 2025, 10:30 BSTUK6
- Status changed to complete29 Aug 2025, 10:30 BST
- Contract signature expected11 Sept 2025, 23:59 BSTscheduled
- Contract details notice published16 Sept 2025, 15:52 BSTUK7
Commercial outcome & contract awards
Published awards, contracts and bid statistics, not a forecast| Awarded to | Value | Date | Status |
|---|---|---|---|
| Ardmore advertising and Marketing LTDSME- DfI - Advertising service to promote safe and sustainable travel in Northern Ireland1 Oct 2025 – 30 Sept 2028 · up to 30 Sept 2030Extensions: It is anticipated that there will be a further two optional extensions of up to 12 months each | £4,400,000 | 28 Aug 2025 | Awarded |
Contracts
- DfI - Advertising service to promote safe and sustainable travel in Northern Ireland · Ardmore advertising and Marketing LTDSME
- Signed
- 15 Sept 2025
- Value
- £4,400,000
- Period
- 1 Oct 2025 – 30 Sept 2028 · up to 30 Sept 2030 with extensions
- Status
- active
- Extensions
- It is anticipated that there will be a further two optional extensions of up to 12 months each
No agreed KPIs: The contracting authority considers that performance could not appropriately be assessed using KPIs.
Bid statistics published by the authority
| Bids | SME | VCSE | Valid bid range |
|---|---|---|---|
| 4final-stage tenders | 4 | 0 | — |
Who bid
- wonARDMORE ADVERTISING & MARKETING LIMITEDSME · Northern Ireland
- did not winGENESIS ADVERTISING LIMITEDSME · Northern Ireland
- did not winGRAY'S COMMUNICATIONS LIMITEDSME · Northern Ireland
- did not winKROW AGENCY LTDSME · South West England
Bidders as named on the Procurement Act 2023 award notice. “Won” means the bidder holds an award on this notice.
Contracting authority & participating public bodies
3 public bodies on the noticeOther public bodies
- CPDBeneficiary authority
- Department of FinanceProcess contact pointProcuring entityConstruction and Procurement Delivery - Supplies and Services Division, is a Centre of Procurement Expertise and provides a central procurement function for central government in Northern Ireland
Bidders & participating suppliers
4 commercial parties on the notice · 1 awarded- ARDMORE ADVERTISING & MARKETING LIMITEDAwarded supplier
- GENESIS ADVERTISING LIMITEDBidder / tenderer
- GRAY'S COMMUNICATIONS LIMITEDBidder / tenderer
- KROW AGENCY LTDBidder / tenderer
Official documents & specifications (3)
Official links; attachments are not copiedNotices published for this procedure
- Contract details notice Contract details notice on Find a Tender
- Contract award notice Contract award notice on Find a Tender
- Tender notice Tender notice on Find a Tender