Pre Market Engagement: Roadside Advertising

The purpose of this RFI is to engage with the supply base and request information relating to the existing solutions available in the market, specifically this RFI will look to address the following areas:

• Identify suitable suppliers available in the market;
• Identify the functionality and capabilities of the suppliers available in the market;
• Understand how the supplier will take our estate to market and the sales strategy they may use;
• Preferred contractual model (e.g concession agreement / management agreement / other);
• Identify any additional services or concepts that Network Rail have not considered – this information may then be considered to support Network Rail in developing its specification for the future tender;
• Understand how suppliers work in a safe and sustainable manner; and
• Understanding what commercial models currently used for this type of service and what does/doesn’t work well.

Network Rail has circa 1900 roadside advertising assets of which 28 are digital. Network Rail is also currently working through a digital upgrade plan to increase its digital assets to a total of circa 130.

The locations for this requirement are set out below:

Southern 413 static assets, 8 digital assets

Eastern 615 static assets, 6 digital assets

North West and Central 641 static assets, 4 digital assets

Wales and Western 153 static assets, 5 digital assets

Scotland 70 static assets, 5 digital assets

Our format types are as follows

• 4 sheet
• 6 sheet
• 16 sheet
• 32 sheet
• 48 sheet
• 48 sheet backlight
• 96 sheet
• 96 sheet backlight
• Digital 48 sheet

Network Rail is seeking to understand the types of Suppliers that work in this market, their strategy for delivering a range of activities, how they would manage our current advertising estate and the future assets to be installed before the contract begins.

The Supplier will be responsible for:

• Advertising, promoting and selling roadside advertising spaces;
• Managing and maintaining all assets ensuring they are safe and available for sale
• Conducting all safety inspections

The Customer is looking to tender this requirement in the near future. Any potential tender event in relation to this requirement will be issued via the Network Rail procurement platform – BravoNR.

Please note any discussions which do occur will cease immediately should a formal competition ultimately be announced. The Customer is committed to ensuring fairness, openness and transparency, and to following EU procurement regulations. The Periodic Indicative Notice is issued solely for the purpose of conducting pre-procurement market engagement via a request for information and does not constitute any commitment to undertake any procurement in the future. Interested parties will not be prejudiced by any response or failure to respond to the PIN event and a response to this PIN does not guarantee any invitation to participate in this event or any future procurement.

This PIN does not constitute a call for competition to procure any services, supplies or works mentioned in this PIN and the Customer will not accept any proposals offered in response to this PIN. The Customer is not liable for any costs, fees, or expenses incurred by any party in replying to or attending any PIN event. Any procurement of any services, supplies or works by the Customer will be carried out strictly in accordance with the provisions of the Concession Contracts Regulations 2016. Additional information: Please note that any content received in response to this RFI will be used purely for information purposes only and will not be deemed as forming part of any proposed bid now, or any potential future tender.