Official UK procurement notice
Media Services · UK public procurement notice
Authority: ABELLIO EAST MIDLANDS LIMITED
What is being bought
Published requirement descriptionDescription
East Midlands Railway provides intercity and regional train services across the Midlands through to London. These are distinguished by 3 sub brands that reflect the region they serve and routes they operate:
EMR Intercity operates from the Midlands (Sheffield, Derby, Nottingham, Leicester) through to London St Pancras
EMR Regional provides local services to towns and communities across England, including; Crewe, Matlock, Stoke-on-Trent, Peterborough, Grantham, Norwich and Skegness.
EMR Connect operates between Corby and London St Pancras. The Luton Airport Express operates on this route with majority of airport passengers travelling from London St Pancras.
EMR are looking for a strategic marketing agency to plan, buy and optimise all of their paid media for both EMR and Luton Airport Express which covers but is not limited to:-
- Media Buying (AV, Radio, OOH, Social, Digital)
AV (includes linear TV, Video on Demand and Connected TV)
Radio (Digital audio, traditional radio and sponsorships if relevant)
OOH (Digital and paper)
Social (Meta, snapchat, tiktok etc.)
Digital (covers awareness and conversion driving activity)
- Digital Display (includes dynamic display capability)
Standard IAB and dynamic display (see section 7 for further details)
- Pay Per Click (PPC) for both EMR and Luton Airport Express.
- Search Engine Optimisation (SEO) for two websites eastmidlandsrailway.co.uk & Lutonairportexpress.co.uk
- How the procedure runs: A Procurement Specific Questionnaire (PSQ) including a 'Conditions of Participation' Stage. Following assessment of the 'Conditions of Participation', compliant Tenderers will be invited to submit an initial Tender which will be scored against an available weighting of 85%. Shortlisted Tenderers following ITT Stage 1 will be required to attend a Presentation/Interview in-person along with a panel of key stakeholders, noted as ITT Stage 2 which will make up the remaining 15% of their bid. Tenderers will be requested to present against a pitch should their written quality, social value and price be scored the highest following moderation, or if their score is within a 20% tolerance of the highest scored bidder, providing they also meet the minimum quality threshold below. To be considered of sufficient quality, the evaluated response must achieve a minimum quality threshold involving: an overall minimum of half of the total available weighted score Failure to meet any of the minimum performance thresholds will result in disqualification from this Procurement. As part of Stage 2, EMR reserve the right to commence negotiation, initial Tenders will be used as the basis for negotiation to refine their content, this will be clearly separated from the pitch part of the presentation which will be scored independently against the corresponding 15% weighting. Following negotiation, Tenderers shall be invited to submit a final revised Tender against their Stage 1 written bid only (not the presentation). The evaluation of revised Tenders shall be as per the scoring criteria detailed in this document. Following submission of a final revised Tender EMR reserves the right to carry out a further interview/clarification stage. Contract award will be based on the scores obtained following the evaluation of the final revised Tender.
CPV: Advertising and marketing services
The lotProcurement structure
single lot · value publishedLot #1AwardedRenewalPublished value£45,000,000
- Economic & financial standing
Suppliers will be financially appraised during pre-qualification stage of the process to ensure financial capacity against contract value.
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).
Published sub-criteria (4)
- Quality Repsonse: 45%
- Pitch Stage/ Presentations: 15%
- Commercial: 30%
- Social Value: 10%
Published award criteria (4)
- Quality Repsonse
- Social Value
- Commercial
- Pitch Stage/ Presentations: Shortlisted Tenderers following ITT Stage 1 will be required to attend a Presentation/Interview in-person along with a panel of key stakeholders, noted as ITT Stage 2. Tenderers will be shortlisted to present against a pitch should their written quality, social value and price be scored the highest following moderation, or if their score is within a 20% tolerance of the highest scored bidder, providing they also meet the minimum quality threshold below.
- Economic & financial standing
Suppliers will be financially appraised during pre-qualification stage of the process to ensure financial capacity against contract value.
- 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
- Awarded
- 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
- Unspecified in notice
- First published
- 13 Apr 2026, 15:04 BST
- Last source update
- 18 Aug 2026, 12:57 BST
- Award evaluation window
- Submission end – 5 Aug 2026
- FTS notice number
2026/S 000-033349- Latest notice
- Contract award notice (UK6)
- Classification (CPV)
- Delivery area
- Official registry OCID
ocds-h6vhtk-06812aFind a Tender
- How it runs
A Procurement Specific Questionnaire (PSQ) including a 'Conditions of Participation' Stage.
Following assessment of the 'Conditions of Participation', compliant Tenderers will be invited to submit an initial Tender which will be scored against an available weighting of 85%.
Shortlisted Tenderers following ITT Stage 1 will be required to attend a Presentation/Interview in-person along with a panel of key stakeholders, noted as ITT Stage 2 which will make up the remaining 15% of their bid.
Tenderers will be requested to present against a pitch should their written quality, social value and price be scored the highest following moderation, or if their score is within a 20% tolerance of the highest scored bidder, providing they also meet the minimum quality threshold below.
To be considered of sufficient quality, the evaluated response must achieve a minimum quality threshold involving:
an overall minimum of half of the total available weighted score
Failure to meet any of the minimum performance thresholds will result in disqualification from this Procurement.
As part of Stage 2, EMR reserve the right to commence negotiation, initial Tenders will be used as the basis for negotiation to refine their content, this will be clearly separated from the pitch part of the presentation which will be scored independently against the corresponding 15% weighting.
Following negotiation, Tenderers shall be invited to submit a final revised Tender against their Stage 1 written bid only (not the presentation). The evaluation of revised Tenders shall be as per the scoring criteria detailed in this document.
Following submission of a final revised Tender EMR reserves the right to carry out a further interview/clarification stage.
Contract award will be based on the scores obtained following the evaluation of the final revised Tender.
How it was run
Official notice- Requests to participate (first stage)
- 13 May 2026, 14:00 BST
- Submission deadline
- 13 May 2026, 14:00 BST
- Submission channel
- Official e-sourcing portal
- Electronic submission
- Allowed
- Accepted languages
- en
Timeline
13 Apr 2026 → 19 Oct 2026 · 7 dates- Tender notice published192 days ago13 Apr 2026, 15:04 BST
- Submission deadline162 days ago13 May 2026, 14:00 BST
- Assessment summaries sent126 days ago18 Jun 2026, 00:00 BST
- Award decision expected by77 days ago5 Aug 2026, 23:59 BST
- Latest notice published65 days ago18 Aug 2026, 12:57 BST
- Standstill ends55 days ago27 Aug 2026, 23:59 BST
- Contract starts3 days ago19 Oct 2026, 00:00 BST
Notice history
4 events · 2 releases on Find a Tender · since 13 Apr 2026- Tender notice published13 Apr 2026, 15:04 BSTUK4
- Contract award notice published18 Aug 2026, 12:57 BSTUK6
- Status changed to complete18 Aug 2026, 12:57 BST
- Contract signature expected1 Sept 2026, 23:59 BSTscheduled
Commercial outcome & contract awards
Published awards, contracts and bid statistics, not a forecast| Awarded to | Value | Date | Status |
|---|---|---|---|
| McCann Erickson Central Limited t/a McCann Leeds19 Oct 2026 – 18 Oct 2029 · up to 18 Oct 2031Extensions: Option to extend 1 + 1 year | £45,651,400 | 18 Jun 2026standstill to 27 Aug 2026 | Standstill |
Contracting authority & participating public bodies
Bidders & participating suppliers
1 commercial party on the notice- MCCANN-ERICKSON CENTRAL LIMITEDAwarded supplier
Official documents & specifications (2)
Official links; attachments are not copiedNotices published for this procedure
- Contract award notice Contract award notice on Find a Tender
- Tender notice Tender notice on Find a Tender