Tenderline / Tenders / LEGISLATION PRINT PUBLISHING CONTRACT
Official UK procurement notice
LEGISLATION PRINT PUBLISHING CONTRACT
Authority: The National Archives (Central government)
What is being bought
Published requirement descriptionThe purpose of this Procurement Process is for The National Archives (TNA) to select a Print Publishing Supplier to deliver its Legislation Print Publishing Contract.
The intention is to award the Contract for an initial period 2 years, with options to extend for three further periods of up to twelve months each (2+1+1+1).
The attached Invitation to Tender document gives an overview of the print publishing requirements and should be read in conjunction with Annexes 1 - 4, which provide more information about what is printed and why. If you require access to them, please contact us at [email protected]
We estimate the maximum contract value over the whole contract term (i.e. 5 years) to be circa £4,200,000 (inc. VAT).
The Print Publishing Supplier will operate the print publishing of legislation, associated documents, annual bound volumes of legislation and legislative effects, Chronological Tables and correction slips. The Print Publishing Supplier is responsible for all aspects of print production.
The Print Publishing Supplier will make sure that all printed items are made available for sale and deliver all aspects of order fulfilment and customers services related to the printing and sale of legislation items, including taking payment, handling enquiries and complaints, despatch and record keeping.
Read the full description (922 more characters)
Printing legislation is a statutory requirement - the Print Publishing Supplier must provide a print publishing service that meets exacting quality standards and specifications, and that prints legislative items to prescribed and non-negotiable deadlines.
In addition, government departments pay a publishing fee for online publishing. The Print Publishing Supplier is not responsible for online publishing but is responsible for the financial administration of the publishing charges made to government departments. This involves invoicing departments for the correct publishing fees and ensuring that invoices are paid in a timely manner, including chasing where invoices have not been paid. The Print Publishing Supplier then transfers the publishing fees to The National Archives on a quarterly basis. The Print Publishing Supplier needs to inform The National Archives of any overdue outstanding departmental invoices.
How the procedure runs: Stage 1' Tender submissions will be evaluated applying the criteria specified in paras 8.1 to 8.3 of the attached ITT document. Once all of those submissions have been evaluated, the top-four-ranked bidders will be issued with a 'Stage 2' ITT document and invited to submit a 'Stage 2' Tender response. A contract award decision will more…
be made by scoring the 'Stage 2' Tender responses against the criteria specified in para 8.4 of the attached ITT document.
CPV: Printing and related services
The lotProcurement structure
single lot · value publishedLot #1Lot 1RenewalPublished value£3,500,000
- Value
- £3,500,000 exc. VAT · £4,200,000 inc. VAT
- Extensions
- Three extension options of 12 months each.
What it takes to win
Evaluation split and conditions of participation as published — the tender pack may add morePublished sub-criteria (6)
- Quality — 45
- Quality — 45
- Price — 45
- Price — 45
- Social Value — 10
- Social Value — 10
No conditions of participation were published on the notice; check the tender documents.
Competition analysis · published record, not a forecast of who will bid
How The National Archives buys Printing and related services (CPV 7980) — and who usually turns up
The National Archives’s own published record, next to the Greater London market for the same work. Frameworks and DPS are kept out: they attract a different number of bids. Whole-market view: sector page →
How the contest usually goes
Left: this authority. Right: the market where the work is delivered. Bids and award-vs-estimate pairs are per lot, from contested contracts only — direct awards report one bid by definition and are left out. Empty means nothing was published, not filled in from elsewhere.
The National Archives
contract notices in 36 months: 8 in division 79 (1 direct) · 24 in all categories (1 direct)
Greater London · Printing and related services (CPV 7980)
contract notices delivered in Greater London in 36 months: 14 in CPV 7980 (12 contested) · 875 in division 79 (721 contested) · the notice publishes no delivery location, so the authority’s registered region is used
moderate · n=3 Awards in The National Archives (division 79, n=3 pairs) land a median at estimate. Too few pairs to turn into a pound figure with any confidence — read the percentage as a rough direction, not this notice’s estimate converted.
Method and what to read with care
- Two columns, no blending. The authority column walks its own record only: notices in the 4-digit class, then the 2-digit division, then all categories (36 months, per lot, contested only), and as a last resort its 24-month row across all categories (per notice, every route). The market column is the notice’s primary delivery ITL1 × the same class, then division (36 months). Nothing is filled from the UK-wide class; an empty tile means the source published nothing usable.
- Per lot, contested only. Find a Tender publishes bid counts per lot; a seven-lot tender is seven contests. Procedures awarded without competition (limited / direct) are excluded from bids, price pairs and decision days — they report one bid by definition. Frameworks and DPS are a separate population from contracts (6–7 bids per lot against 2–4) and only the notice’s own kind is shown.
- Coverage. Roughly 40 % of notices publish a bid count; about half publish an ITL1 delivery location, so the market column reads the authority’s registered region when the notice has none (labelled). Award-vs-estimate pairs need a lot estimate, one active award on the lot, one canonical supplier and a gap under 60 %; about 30 % of pairs are exact matches (the buyer published the award at the estimate). n is on every figure; below 3 the tile is muted, never hidden.
- Pounds. The expected award applies the authority’s median movement (or the region’s, when the authority has fewer than 3 pairs) to this notice’s estimate; the middle half uses the region’s quartiles. A multi-lot notice publishes an envelope, so the movement is applied per lot, never to the total. A benchmark, not a recommended price.
- “Match” and “relevance” are model scores from the nightly matcher, not published facts. Find a Tender does not publish who is bidding. Never shown: contact details, payment behaviour, or a recommended price.
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
- Open for tender
- Procurement threshold
- Above threshold (FTS publication)
- Regulatory regime
- Standard
- Commercial structure
- Stand-alone contract (no framework)
- Competition type
- Competitive procedure
- GPA / WTO covered
- Unspecified in notice
- Recurring procurement
- No (one-off requirement)
- First published
- 18 Sept 2026, 10:26 BST
- Last source update
- 18 Sept 2026, 10:26 BST
- Award evaluation window
- Submission end — 22 Jan 2027, 23:59 GMT
- Latest notice
- Tender notice (UK4)
- Classification (CPV)
- Delivery area
- Official registry OCID
ocds-h6vhtk-077519Find a Tender
- How it runs
- Stage 1' Tender submissions will be evaluated applying the criteria specified in paras 8.1 to 8.3 of the attached ITT document. Once all of those submissions have been evaluated, the top-four-ranked bidders will be issued with a 'Stage 2' ITT document and invited to submit a 'Stage 2' Tender response. A contract award decision will be made by scoring the 'Stage 2' Tender responses against the criteria specified in para 8.4 of the attached ITT document.
How to participate & submission route
Official notice- Expression of interest (EOI)
- —
- Tender submission deadline
- 30 Oct 2026, 17:00 GMT
- Clarification deadline
- 8 Oct 2026, 17:00 BST
- Electronic submission
- Allowed
- Accepted languages
- en
Timeline
5 published dates · Europe/London- Tender notice publishedjust passed18 Sept 2026, 10:26 BST
- Clarification questions byin 20 days8 Oct 2026, 17:00 BST
- Submission deadlinein 42 days30 Oct 2026, 17:00 GMT
- Award decision expected byin 127 days22 Jan 2027, 23:59 GMT
- Contract startsin 317 days1 Aug 2027, 00:00 BST
Commercial outcome & contract awards
Nothing awarded yet- Awards (0)
- No award published
- Contracts (0)
- No contract published
- Bid statistics
- No aggregate bid statistics published
Notice history
1 event · 1 release on Find a Tender- Tender notice published18 Sept 2026, 10:26 BSTUK4
Contracting authority & participating public bodies
Official documents & specifications (3)
Official links; attachments are not copiedTender pack and attachments
- Conflict of interest declarationNot published
- Bidding documents and specifications Stage 1 ITT document
Notices published for this procedure
- Tender notice Tender notice on Find a Tender