Find a TenderAwarded
Published 17 Apr 2023, 11:18 BST

Official UK procurement notice

Public Relations (PR) Support for Destination Edinburgh’s Marketing and Promotions Activity

Official notice

Authority: The City of Edinburgh Council (Local council)

ServicesOpen procedureSME suitable
Published estimate£370,000exc. VAT · 1 value update
Submissions closed 10 Aug 2023awarded 29 Jan 2024
Awarded to BIG Partnership

What is being bought

Published requirement description

The City of Edinburgh Council (the Council) requires a knowledgeable and experienced PR agency (Provider) to support 'Forever Edinburgh activities' for two initial campaigns and any future campaigns over a four year contract period. The initial budget available for the two initial campaigns in 2023/24 and 2024/25 is GBP60,000 - GBP80,000.

CPV: Public relations consultancy services · Public relations management services · Public relations services

The lotProcurement structure

single lot · value published
Lot #1Forever Edinburgh is The Official Visitor Guide to Edinburgh, promoting Edinburgh and…AwardedPublished value£290,000

Forever Edinburgh is The Official Visitor Guide to Edinburgh, promoting Edinburgh and providing inspiration and useful planning information to prospective inbound leisure visitors and residents.

While organic activity maintains a level of daily engagement with existing audiences, Forever Edinburgh run paid campaigns to target specific audiences and segments that have the highest propensity to travel and from the higher visitor-value markets.

The City of Edinburgh Council requires a knowledgeable and experienced PR agency to support initially two of these paid campaigns for 23/24 and 24/25. This contract may also be used to support future campaigns over the period of 2023 – 2027.

The Provider will be required to plan, develop, and deliver complementary consumer and corporate PR campaigns for two destination-led campaigns: (1) Resident Rewards Edinburgh and (2) Inbound Leisure Tourism Campaign. Over the life of this Contract, other campaigns and activity projects may be identified.

As the two campaigns have different target audiences, the Provider must have a strong understanding and awareness of the Edinburgh leisure visitor product offering; know what is happening in the city at any given time to ensure the campaigns remains relevant; have experience working with the tourism sector; have relationships with tourism businesses in Edinburgh, and strong media relationships and connections in both Edinburgh and with national gold and silver tier media titles and lifestyle publications as so to be able to support a resident focused campaign and a nationally targeted visitor campaign.

Forever Edinburgh has secured funding to deliver the first two campaigns mentioned in this Contract Notice: Resident Rewards Edinburgh and the Inbound Visitor campaign. The combined

value of funding allocated to PR activity for these two campaigns in 2023/24 and 2024/25 is 60,000 GBP to 80,000 GBP. (between 30,000 GBP and 40,000 GBP per annum). The remainder of the Contract value as advertised is subject to Forever Edinburgh securing additional external funding over the lifetime of the Contract. There is no guarantee that additional funding will be secured.

The full scope of services is contained within the Invitation to Tender package.

Delivery: Scotland · The City of Edinburgh
Variant bids: not allowed

What it takes to win
i

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 more
How bids were scored
Quality: 70%Price: 30%
Published award criteria (2)
  • Quality: 70
  • Price: 30
Conditions of participation1
  • Economic & financial standing

    Part III: Section A, B, C & D - Economic operators may be excluded from this competition if they are in any of the situations referred to in

    regulation 58 of The Public Contracts (Scotland) Regulations 2015 [for above threshold)/8 and 9 of the Procurement (Scotland)

    Regulations 2016 (below threshold)

    Part IV: Selection criteria - B: Economic and financial standing – Question 4B.1 - Tenderers are required to have a minimum “general” annual turnover of 80,000 GBP for the last two financial years. Where a Tenderer does not have an annual turnover of this value, the Council may exclude the Tenderer from the competition or may apply discretion seeking supporting evidence to determine the Tenderer’s suitability to proceed in the competition.

    Part IV: Selection criteria - B: Economic and financial standing – Question 4B.4 - Tenderers will be required provide the following information in response to 4B.4

    Current ratio for Current Year: 1.10

    Current ratio for Prior Year: 1:10

    The formula for calculating a Tenderer’s current ratio is current assets divided by current liabilities. The acceptable range for each financial ratio is greater than 1.1. Where a Tenderer’s current ratio is less than the acceptable value, the Council may exclude the Tenderer from the competition or may apply discretion seeking supporting evidence to determine the Tenderer’s suitability to proceed in the competition.

    Minimum: Minimum “general” annual turnover of 80,000 GBP for the last two financial years. Current ratio for Current Year: 1.10 Current ratio for Prior Year: 1:10 Employer’s Liability Insurance (minimum of 5 Million GBP) Public Liability Insurance (minimum of 10 Million GBP) Professional …
Staff
Names and qualifications of delivery staff must be submitted
What this means for your bid
  • 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 · publisher note attached
Procedure method
Open procedure
Legal basis
CELEX · 32014L0024 Public Contracts Regulations 2015 (Directive 2014/24/EU)
Procurement category
Services
Notice status
Awarded
Procurement threshold
Unspecified in notice
Regulatory regime
Standard
Commercial structure
Stand-alone contract (no framework)
Competition type
Competitive procedure
GPA / WTO covered
Yes (GPA)
Recurring procurement
No (one-off requirement)
First published
17 Apr 2023, 11:18 BST
Last source update
7 Feb 2024, 14:48 GMT
Award evaluation window
10 Aug 2023 – …
Authority reference
CT2942
FTS notice number
2024/S 000-004080
Classification (CPV)
Public relations consultancy servicesPublic relations management servicesPublic relations services
Delivery area
Scotland (UKM75)
Official registry OCID
ocds-h6vhtk-03bf14 Find a Tender
Contract terms
Electronic trading
e-invoicing allowed · electronic ordering · electronic payment
Review and risk notes
Review procedure

An economic operator that suffers or risks suffering loss or damage attributable to a breach of duty under Public Contracts (Scotland) Regulations 2015 may bring proceedings in the Sheriff Court or Court of Session. . A claim for an ineffectiveness order must be made within 30 days of the Contract Award Notice being published in the Find a Tender Service /OJEU or within 30 days of the date those who expressed an interest in or otherwise bid for the contract were informed of the conclusion of the contract or in any other case within 6 months from the date on which the contract was entered into.

Publisher note: CONTRACT SPECIFIC MANDATORY CRITERIA Part IV: Selection criteria - C: Technical and Professional Ability – Prompt Payment – Question 4C.4 - It is a mandatory requirement of this Framework that a prompt payment clause is present in all Contracts used in the delivery of the requirements. This ensures payment of sub-contractors at all stages of the supply chain within 30 days and includes an obligation to provide a point of contact for sub-contractors to refer to in the case of payment difficulties. This will require active monitoring of payment performance as well as the provision of evidence and reports to the Council on request or as contractually scheduled. Bidders should confirm that this condition will be met within the response to this question. Part IV: Selection criteria - C: Technical and Professional Ability – Living Wage Payment – Question 4C.4 Tenderers are asked to confirm that they will pay staff that are involved in the delivery of the [framework agreement / contract, and/or any subsequent call off contract] (including any agency or sub-contractor staff) directly involved in the delivery of the [framework agreement / contract, and/or any subsequent call off contract]), at least the real Living Wage. Part IV: Selection criteria - C: Environmental Management Measures – Question 4C.7 - Bidders will be required to provide evidence that their organisation has taken steps to build their awareness of the climate change emergency and how they will respond. Accepted evidence includes but is not limited to the provision of a carbon reduction plan Where a Tenderer’s response is of a less than the acceptable standard, the Council may exclude the Tenderer from the competition or may apply discretion seeking supporting evidence to determine the Tenderer’s suitability to proceed in the competition. Part IV: Selection criteria - D: Quality Assurance Schemes & Environmental Management – Question 4D.1 - It is a mandatory requirement that Tendering Organisations with more than 5 employees have in place a Health & Safety Policy which is approved at a senior level within the Organisation and is reviewed regularly. Bidders should confirm that this condition has been met within the response to this question. Where a Bidder does not have a Health & Safety Policy and is required to do so, the Council may exclude the Bidder from the competition (SC Ref:757599)

How it was run

Official notice
Run through: Public Contracts Scotland · Who buys & how to bid on PCS
Supplier login requiredLanguage: EN
Access & registration note: Free single registration for Scotland; PCS-Tender (Jaggaer) for full bidding

Tender documents are also served through a separate tool: https://www.publiccontractsscotland.gov.uk ↗

Submission deadline
10 Aug 2023, 12:00 BST
Submission channel
{"electronicSubmission"}
Accepted languages
en
Participation fee
document
Bid validity
90 days from the deadline
Bids opened
10 Aug 2023, 12:00 BST
Detailed submission instructions & authority contactsFrom official release

Timeline

1 Jun 2023 → 7 Feb 2024 · 4 dates
  1. Next notice expected
    1 Jun 2023, 00:00 BST
  2. Submission deadline
    10 Aug 2023, 12:00 BST
  3. Bids opened
    10 Aug 2023, 12:00 BST
  4. Notice published
    7 Feb 2024, 14:48 GMT

Notice history

5 events · 3 releases on Find a Tender · since 11 Jul 2023
  1. Published value published: £370,000
    11 Jul 2023, 12:21 BST
  2. Status changed to active
    11 Jul 2023, 12:21 BST
  3. Procurement method changed
    11 Jul 2023, 12:21 BST
  4. Deadline published: 10 Aug 2023, 12:00 BST
    11 Jul 2023, 12:21 BST
  5. Status changed to complete
    7 Feb 2024, 14:48 GMT

Commercial outcome & contract awards

Published awards, contracts and bid statistics, not a forecast
Awards 1
Awarded value £370,0001 contract exc. VAT
Bids received 77 from SMEs
Contracts signed 1latest 29 Jan 2024
Awarded toValueDateStatus
BIG Partnership£370,000 †—Awarded

Contracts

  • Contract 004080-2024-CT2942-1 · BIG Partnership

    Signed
    29 Jan 2024
    Value
    £370,000
    Status
    active

Bid statistics published by the authority

BidsSMEVCSEValid bid range
7bids · 7 electronic · 7 from abroad7——

Contracting authority & participating public bodies

The City of Edinburgh Council

Contracting authorityLocal CouncilRegional or local authorityGeneral public services Waverley Court, 4 East Market Street, Edinburgh, Scotland, EH8 8BGContact email, phone Published organisation website ↗

Dispute resolution & review bodies

  • Sheriff CourtReview body Edinburgh

Bidders & participating suppliers

1 commercial party on the notice
  • BIG PartnershipAwarded supplier 4th Floor, Venue Studios, 21 Calton Road, Edinburgh, UK, EH8 8DLContact phone

Official documents & specifications

Official links; attachments are not copied

No document links were published on the notice.