Find a TenderAwarded
Published 9 Feb 2022, 22:45 GMT

Official UK procurement notice

Simple Payment Plan · UK public procurement notice

Official notice

Authority: The British Broadcasting Corporation (BBC)

ServicesCompetitive procedure with negotiation
Published estimate£42,000,000exc. VAT
Submissions closed 9 Mar 2022awarded 19 Apr 2024
Awarded to Wescot Credit Services Limited

What is being bought

Published requirement description

Provision of administration services for the “Simple Payment Plan”.

The Simple Payment Plan provides a payment scheme for a selected group of customers that is simple, affordable and flexible. To deliver against these key features, the Simple Payment Plan has been designed to:-

  • target low income households to help increase revenue income and reduce both first time prosecutions and repeat offending;
  • allow customers to spread their payments over the 12 month term of their licence, i.e. £159/12;
  • run for a term of 4 years, with the option to extend on two occasions of one year each.

The Service Provider will manage the accounts of customers on the scheme end-to-end. Specifically, Service Providers will be required to offer the following services:

i. collecting the licence fee, according to the regulations and as set out in any individual customer payment plans (including arrears management, payment processing and reconciliation services);

ii. campaign management services;

iii. fulfilment services;

iv. inbound and outbound customer communications services (including call centre facilities);

v. technology services;

vi. data management; and

vii. analytics

It should be noted that the following services are not in scope for the Service Provider:

i. field services;

ii. PR and stakeholder communications; and

iii. customer recruitment

The main objective of SPP is to ensure appropriate levels of support are provided to eligible customers, with particular focus on individuals who are willing to pay, but who are facing financial difficulty.

Critical Success Factors of Simple Payment Plan:-

  • Improved customer satisfaction;
  • Positive impact on evasion and/or improvement in rate of licence purchase following prosecution statement (from TV Licensing Administrator);
  • Improving Customer retention and revenue rates;
  • Reducing the number of Customers that fail to pay anything towards their licence – referred to as Leavers Never Paid (LNP);
  • Promoting Customers renewing their licences;
  • Facilitating Customers managing their payment account digitally end to end.

CPV: Collection agency services

The lotProcurement structure

single lot · no lot value published
Lot #1The Service Provider will collect the licence fee from customers on the Simple Payment…Awarded

The Service Provider will collect the licence fee from customers on the Simple Payment Plan via a range of payment methods and channels, and be responsible for:-

i. Issuing licences and payment plans to recruited customers on the scheme;

ii. Providing and managing various customer payment methods, as outlined in the table

above;

iii. Collecting the licence fee from customers via a variety of payment channels, including at a minimum: a contact centre; online, interactive voice response (IVR) and mobile applications;

iv. Identifying and, where appropriate, introducing new customer payment channels, in line with best practice within the market place and developments in technology;

v. Processing Simple Payment Plan applications and issuing payment cards to include replacements;

vi. Identifying, managing and collecting from accounts in arrears (see section 4.1.1 for further specifics on this requirement);

vii. Revoking licences where the licence fee is uncollected;

viii. Cancelling licences in appropriate circumstances where a customer has only partially paid the licence fee and ensuring accurate payment data is provided to the TVL administrator;

ix. Providing refunds to customers, where applicable;

x. Providing accurate accounting and clear management information regarding collection services, to be reported to the BBC on a monthly basis;

xi. Providing detailed analysis in regards to scheme performance and recommendations for improvement;

xii. Providing marketing communications and print facilities which are fit for the customer groups and meet quality control requirements;

xiii. Securely managing the flow of funds received from customers (including funds received from over the counter suppliers), reconciling funds received versus licences issued and disbursing monies received to the TVL Administrator;

xiv. Administering bank accounts with appropriate internal controls;

xv. Putting in place preventative measures and developing mitigation techniques to prevent the occurrence of fraud by customers and/or employees;

xvi. Providing a comprehensive investigation and prompt response/rectification of customer complaints, in accordance with the BBC’s complaint management framework;

xvii. Using root cause analysis to continually improve service support and reduce systematic errors and issues; and

xviii. Ensuring that processes comply with all relevant legislation and BBC Policies.

The Service Provider will manage and collect arrears proactively from customers who default or who are likely to default on payments; support customers to maintain payments, and manage the collection of arrears via the appropriate inbound and outbound channels. The Service Provider will manage potentially high volumes of low value arrears using techniques that balance cost effectiveness with revenue collection.

Delivery: UK
Extensions: The initial term of the contract is for a period of 48 months. The contract may be extended on two occasions by up to 12 months on each occasion, meaning the maximum potential term is 6 years in total.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: 100Price: 200
Published sub-criteria (3)
  • Merit: 100
  • Whole Life Cost: 100
  • price: 100
Published award criteria (3)
  • Merit: 100
  • Whole Life Cost: 100
  • Price: 100
Conditions of participation1
  • Suitability

    Where there is more than one economic operator, the BBC reserves the right to require a grouping of economic operators to take a particular legal form or to require a single economic operator to take primary liability or to require that each party undertakes joint and several liability.

    Please register your interest in this project by taking the following steps: 1 - Register your company on the Jaggaer eSourcing portal (this is only required once): 1.1 Go to bbc.bravosolution.co.uk ↗ 1.2 - Click the link on the login page to register. 1.3 Accept the terms and conditions and click 'Continue'. 1.4 - Enter your correct business and user details. 1.5 - Note the username you chose and click 'Save' when complete. 1.6 - You will shortly receive an email with your temporary password. 2 - Express an interest in the tender: 2.1 - Login to the portal with the username/password. 2.2 - Click the 'PQQs/ITTs Open to all Suppliers' link. (These are Pre-Qualification Questionnaires or Invitations to Tender open to any registered supplier). 2.3 - Click on the relevant PQQ/ITT to access the content. 2.4 - Click the 'Express Interest' button at the top of the page. This will move the PQQ/ITT into your 'My PQQs/My ITTs page. (This is a secure area reserved for your projects only. 2.5 - You can now access any attachments by clicking 'Buyer Attachments' in the 'PQQ/ITT Details' box. 3. Responding to the tender: 3.1 - Click 'My Response' under PQQ/ITT Details', you can choose to 'Create Respon…

What this means for your bid
  • Price carries 200 of 300 points: a 10% discount moves about 20 points. This one is won on the number: sharpen the price before polishing the prose.

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
Competitive procedure with negotiation
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
9 Feb 2022, 22:45 GMT
Last source update
8 May 2024, 09:47 BST
Authority reference
PROC 2022 01 JP
FTS notice number
2024/S 000-014610
Classification (CPV)
Collection agency services
Delivery area
UK
Official registry OCID
ocds-h6vhtk-031574 Find a Tender
Review and risk notes
Review procedure

As stated in the Public Contracts Regulations 2015. The applicable review time limits shall be as stated in Regulations 92 and 93 Public Contracts Regulations 2015.

Publisher note: In the case of technology requirements, the BBC may involve its technology partner (Atos IT Solutions and Services Limited) to assist in the scoping and drafting of invitations to tender and/or the evaluation of tenders. However, the final decision as to which is the most economically advantageous (by reference to the award criteria) will be made by the BBC. The awarding authority reserves the right not to award a contract and to annul the procurement process at any stage. Tenders and all supporting documents must be priced in sterling and all payments will be made in sterling. The contract shall be subject to English law. The awarding authority does not bind itself to accept the lowest, or any tender and reserves the right to accept part of a tender unless the tenderer expressly stipulates otherwise in the tender document.

How it was run

Official notice
Run through: portal not identified
Language: EN
Submission deadline
9 Mar 2022, 11:00 GMT
Submission channel
{"electronicSubmission","written"}
Accepted languages
en
Bid validity
120 days from the deadline
Detailed submission instructions & authority contactsFrom official release

Timeline

9 Mar 2022 → 8 May 2024 · 2 dates
  1. Submission deadline
    9 Mar 2022, 11:00 GMT
  2. Notice published
    8 May 2024, 09:47 BST

Notice history

1 event · 2 releases on Find a Tender
  1. Status changed to complete
    8 May 2024, 09:47 BST

Commercial outcome & contract awards

Published awards, contracts and bid statistics, not a forecast
Awards 1
Awarded value £42,000,0001 contract exc. VAT
Bids received 4
Contracts signed 1latest 19 Apr 2024
Awarded toValueDateStatus
Wescot Credit Services Limited£42,000,000 †—Awarded

Contracts

Bid statistics published by the authority

BidsSMEVCSEValid bid range
4bids———

Contracting authority & participating public bodies

The British Broadcasting Corporation (BBC)

Contracting authorityBody governed by public lawBroadcasting Broadcasting House, Portland Place, London, UK, W1A 1AAContact name, email, phone Published organisation website ↗

Dispute resolution & review bodies

  • Business and Property Courts of England and Wales – TCCReview body London

Bidders & participating suppliers

1 commercial party on the notice

Official documents & specifications (2)

Official links; attachments are not copied

Tender pack and attachments

  • Economic and financial selection criteriatenderEconomic and financial selection criteria
  • Technical selection criteriatenderTechnical selection criteria