Tenderline / Tenders / Media Planning and Buying Services
Official UK procurement notice
Media Planning and Buying Services
Authority: ATOC Limited (Public body)
Sectors: Business Services & Consultancy (79) Delivery: UK
Published estimate £300,000,000≈ £150m / year · £300,000,000 inc. VAT
Submission deadline 16 Oct 202612:00 BST · 27d 18h left
Clarification cut-off 2 Oct 202612:00 BST · questions to the authority
Contract term 2 yrsup to 5 yrs with extensions · starts 1 Apr 2027
Bids per lot · this authority 6all categories · n=4 · competition analysis ↓What is being bought
Published requirement descriptionThe Supplier will provide a fully managed, audience-led service covering strategic media planning, media buying and activation, campaign management, optimisation, reporting, insight, measurement and evaluation, together with associated financial and commercial management.
Services will support national, regional and locally targeted campaigns and communications across a broad range of offline and digital media channels. Requirements may include planned campaigns, ongoing activity, reactive and time-critical communications, and larger or strategically significant projects.
The Supplier will be required to develop campaign strategies and detailed Media Plans, manage media bookings and expenditure, provide campaign activation and optimisation, monitor performance, undertake measurement and evaluation, and provide transparent financial management, reconciliation and reporting. Project-specific Scopes of Work may be required for high-value, complex or strategically significant requirements.
The estimated total value of the Contract is £250,000,000 excluding VAT, including all available extension periods. The Contract is expected to have an initial term of two years, with options to extend for up to a further three years in one-year increments (1+1+1).
Read the full description (336 more characters)
Services will be delivered primarily for ATOC Limited, with the potential for requirements from participating rail organisations where provided for within the procurement documents and Contract. The Supplier must have the capacity and capability to manage varying levels of media activity and expenditure throughout the Contract Period.
- The authority expects to re-tender this requirement around 1 Oct 2031, 23:59 BST.
How the procedure runs: ATOC Limited will conduct a multi-stage Competitive Flexible Procedure under the Procurement Act 2023. Stage 1 – Participation and Shortlisting: Suppliers will complete the Procurement Specific Questionnaire (PSQ), including the applicable Conditions of Participation. Submissions will be assessed in accordance with the published more…
Stage 1 assessment methodology. A maximum of three Suppliers will be shortlisted and invited to participate in Stage 2. Stage 2 – Tender: Shortlisted Suppliers will be invited to submit Tenders comprising their Written Technical Quality Response, Social Value Response, Pricing Schedule and other required tender documents. Tenders will be assessed in accordance with the published evaluation methodology. The procedure may include clarification, dialogue and/or negotiation during Stage 2 where the Authority considers this appropriate. This may include discussion of the requirements, proposed solutions, commercial arrangements, pricing and/or contractual matters. Where dialogue or negotiation is undertaken, the Authority will provide participating Suppliers with further instructions and will conduct the process in accordance with the Procurement Act 2023, the tender notice and associated tender documents. Where dialogue or negotiation is undertaken, the Authority may invite participating Suppliers to submit revised and/or Final Tenders before completion of the final evaluation. Stage 3 – Supplier Demonstration and Clarification: Suppliers remaining in the procedure will participate in a Supplier Demonstration and Clarification Session. The demonstration will form part of the Quality evaluation and will be assessed in accordance with the methodology set out in the procurement documents. The Authority may refine the award criteria and associated assessment methodology during the procedure in accordance with section 24 of the Procurement Act 2023. Any refinement will be limited to refinement of the published award criteria, will take place before Suppliers are invited to submit Final Tenders and will be communicated to participating Suppliers in accordance with the Act and associated procurement documents. Following completion and moderation of the evaluation, the Authority will determine the most advantageous tender in accordance with the final award criteria and proceed to contract award in accordance with the Procurement Act 2023.- No preliminary market engagement: N/A
CPV: Advertising and marketing services
The lotProcurement structure
single lot · value publishedLot #1Lot 1RenewalPublished value£300,000,000
- Value
- £300,000,000 exc. VAT · £300,000,000 inc. VAT
- Extensions
- 1+1+1
79340000 Advertising and marketing services
What it takes to win
Evaluation split and conditions of participation as published — the tender pack may add moreHow bids are scored
Published sub-criteria (7)
- Stage 1 Conditions of Participation — 100
- Quality — 50
- Quality — 50
- Price — 40
- Price — 40
- Social Value — 10
- Social Value — 10
Published award criteria (7)
- Stage 1 Conditions of Participation — Suppliers will be assessed against the Conditions of Participation set out in the Procurement Specific Questionnaire (PSQ) and associated procurement documents. The assessment will consider suppliers’ legal and financial capacity and their technical ability to perform the contract, including relevant experience and capability in media planning and buying, audience planning and campaign delivery, media buying and financial stewardship, data, insight and performance measurement, and client partnership and service delivery. Suppliers must satisfy the applicable minimum requirements to remain in the procedure. Where more than three suppliers satisfy the Conditions of Participation, the published Stage 1 assessment methodology will be used to identify a maximum of three suppliers to progress to Stage 2.
Conditions of participation6
- Economic & financial standingMinannual annual Turnover £100m
- Technical & professional abilityPlease see COP
- Economic & financial standingMinannual annual Turnover £100m
- Technical & professional abilityPlease see COP
- Economic & financial standingMinannual annual Turnover £100m
- Technical & professional abilityPlease see COP
Competition analysis · published record, not a forecast of who will bid
How ATOC Limited buys Advertising and marketing services (CPV 7934) — and who usually turns up
ATOC Limited’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 →
1
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.
This authority
ATOC Limited
contract notices in 36 months: 2 in division 79 · 12 in all categories (1 direct)
Bids per lot6all categories · 36m · n=4 lots
Single-bid lots0%all categories · 36m · n=4 lots
Award vs estimate6% belowall categories · 36m · n=2 pairs
Deadline → award86dall categories · 36m · n=4 notices
Notice updates0all categories · 24m · n=43 notices
Awarded without competition8%all categories · 36m · n=12 notices
The market · authority’s region
Greater London · Advertising and marketing services (CPV 7934)
contract notices delivered in Greater London in 36 months: 90 in CPV 7934 (77 contested) · 875 in division 79 (721 contested) · the notice publishes no delivery location, so the authority’s registered region is used
Bids per lot4CPV 7934 · 36m · n=35 lots
Single-bid lots3%CPV 7934 · 36m · n=35 lots
Award vs estimateat estimateCPV 7934 · 36m · n=18 pairs
Deadline → award64dCPV 7934 · 36m · n=17 notices
SME bidders73%CPV 7934 · 36m · n=4 lots
Winners based in the region84%CPV 7934 · 36m · n=37 awards
robust · n=18 Awards in Greater London (CPV 7934, n=18 pairs) land a median at estimate: on this notice’s £300,000,000 that is about £300,000,000, middle half £300,000,000–£300,000,000 (quartiles from Greater London · CPV 7934). Context for a bid, not a recommended price.
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 expressions of interest
- Procurement threshold
- Above threshold (FTS publication)
- Regulatory regime
- Utilities
- Commercial structure
- Stand-alone contract (no framework)
- Competition type
- Competitive procedure
- GPA / WTO covered
- Unspecified in notice
- Recurring procurement
- Yes · next expected 1 Oct 2031
- First published
- 18 Sept 2026, 16:31 BST
- Last source update
- 18 Sept 2026, 16:31 BST
- Award evaluation window
- Submission end — 11 Dec 2026, 23:59 GMT
- Latest notice
- Tender notice (UK4)
- Classification (CPV)
- Delivery area
- Official registry OCID
ocds-h6vhtk-0775c5Find a Tender
- How it runs
ATOC Limited will conduct a multi-stage Competitive Flexible Procedure under the Procurement Act 2023. Stage 1 – Participation and Shortlisting: Suppliers will complete the Procurement Specific Questionnaire (PSQ), including the applicable Conditions of Participation. Submissions will be assessed in accordance with the published Stage 1 assessment methodology. A maximum of three Suppliers will be shortlisted and more…
invited to participate in Stage 2. Stage 2 – Tender: Shortlisted Suppliers will be invited to submit Tenders comprising their Written Technical Quality Response, Social Value Response, Pricing Schedule and other required tender documents. Tenders will be assessed in accordance with the published evaluation methodology. The procedure may include clarification, dialogue and/or negotiation during Stage 2 where the Authority considers this appropriate. This may include discussion of the requirements, proposed solutions, commercial arrangements, pricing and/or contractual matters. Where dialogue or negotiation is undertaken, the Authority will provide participating Suppliers with further instructions and will conduct the process in accordance with the Procurement Act 2023, the tender notice and associated tender documents. Where dialogue or negotiation is undertaken, the Authority may invite participating Suppliers to submit revised and/or Final Tenders before completion of the final evaluation. Stage 3 – Supplier Demonstration and Clarification: Suppliers remaining in the procedure will participate in a Supplier Demonstration and Clarification Session. The demonstration will form part of the Quality evaluation and will be assessed in accordance with the methodology set out in the procurement documents. The Authority may refine the award criteria and associated assessment methodology during the procedure in accordance with section 24 of the Procurement Act 2023. Any refinement will be limited to refinement of the published award criteria, will take place before Suppliers are invited to submit Final Tenders and will be communicated to participating Suppliers in accordance with the Act and associated procurement documents. Following completion and moderation of the evaluation, the Authority will determine the most advantageous tender in accordance with the final award criteria and proceed to contract award in accordance with the Procurement Act 2023.
How to participate & submission route
Official notice Submit via JaggaerAccess & registration note: Free; latest Chrome/Edge/Firefox only — corporate browsers fail
- Expression of interest (EOI)
- 16 Oct 2026, 12:00 BST
- Tender submission deadline
- 16 Oct 2026, 12:00 BST
- Clarification deadline
- 2 Oct 2026, 12:00 BST
- Submission channel
- Official e-sourcing portal
- Electronic submission
- Allowed
- Accepted languages
- en
Detailed submission instructions & authority contactsFrom official release
Published estimate £300,000,000 excludes VAT (£300,000,000 including VAT).
Timeline
6 published dates · Europe/London- Tender notice publishedearlier today18 Sept 2026, 15:58 BST
- Clarification questions byin 14 days2 Oct 2026, 12:00 BST
- Expressions of interest byin 28 days16 Oct 2026, 12:00 BST
- Submission deadlinein 28 days16 Oct 2026, 12:00 BST
- Award decision expected byin 84 days11 Dec 2026, 23:59 GMT
- Contract startsin 194 days1 Apr 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
2 events · 2 releases on Find a Tender · since 18 Sept 2026- Tender notice published18 Sept 2026, 16:31 BSTUK4
- Tender notice published18 Sept 2026, 15:58 BSTUK4
Contracting authority & participating public bodies
Official documents & specifications (4)
Official links; attachments are not copiedTender pack and attachments
- Conflict of interest declarationNot published
- Bidding documents and specificationsAccess: Documents relevant to Stage 1 of the Competitive Flexible Procedure will be made available following publication of the Tender Notice. Following completion of the Stage 1 Conditions of Participation assessment and shortlisting process, Suppliers selected to progress to Stage 2 will be provided with the Stage 2 procurement documents electronically through Jaggaer. Any subsequent documents, clarifications, updates or instructions relating to the procurement will also be issued through Jaggaer to the relevant participating Suppliers.
Notices published for this procedure
- Tender notice Tender notice on Find a Tender
- Tender notice Tender notice on Find a Tender