The supply of spoken word and large print material to Hampshire's Library Service - including authors Danielle Steel and Ben Okri

The provision of alternative format material, spoken word and large print, serves the needs of two interrelated and socially excluded groups for Hampshire County Council (the Council); the elderly and the print disabled. The provision of spoken word and large print is a key area of library service provision and is one of our unique selling points.

The Council has previously been restricted on how to award the supply contract, as specific suppliers have negotiated exclusive rights with the original publishers to enable them to reproduce their works in large print for adults, audiobooks in CD and Playaway formats for adults and CD format for children.

The Council believe the current supplier has exclusive rights to the titles being produced and they do not supply their titles for the library market to other publishers or via any third party.

The Council wants to identify from the market if any potential suppliers have the publishers rights to supply the books and audiobooks in the formats specified. The Council is looking to undertake a quotation exercise with suppliers that can demonstrate they can supply the identified authors in the formats requested.

Addition, any supplier wishing to quote will need to ensure any EDI quotes, orders, fulfilment and invoices must be compatible with Spydus, our Library Management System. The stock must arrive fully processed and shelf ready. This includes, for each title, supplier EDI appliance of specified rotation rotas with variable start libraries within each individual rota. Delivery of stock is currently to a central location on a monthly basis.

Any supplier who would be interested in quoting for the opportunity needs to register on the Council e-tendering platform, Intend. Once registered, you will need to send an intend correspondence providing details of the identified authors you have the publishing rights for with regards to supply the large print books, audiobooks and Playaway formats.

Any supplier who can demonstrate they have the relevant publishing rights and meet the scope identified above will then be invited to quote for the opportunity. Interested suppliers need to have registered their interest by 14:00 Tuesday 19th December.