Printed matter and related products

Tender description

The Authority currently uses lithographic machines to produce circa 1 000 000 publications each year, with an average weekly despatch of 21 500 volumes. The UKHO's route to market is via a number of Distributors, whom are the Authority's customer interface. The Distributors are responsible for the collection of packaged goods and transit. We currently offer a courier service which approximately 50 % of our Distributors use (further information on Distributors and sales can be found in the annexes to this document). The Authority does not intend to continue with the courier service as part of this Contract however the Contractor is free to offer a freight service to Distributors. Please note that any freight service offering will not be evaluated as part of your tender response and would be a direct arrangement between the Contractor and Distributor. This opportunity is for a third party to supply a full book publication and fulfilment service using print-ready files provided by the Authority via Azure Cloud or secure FTP site. The Contract is for the delivery of the Requirements stated below. The Authority is looking to develop a partnership relationship to demonstrate its commitment to the industry and portray the importance of this service to its customers. The Contractor will have access to information that is confidential to the Authority and its Distributors. Accordingly, interested parties are advised that Distributors of the Authority's nautical publications and any economic operators affiliated to such Distributors will be excluded from this award procedure, whether as sole tenderers or as members of consortia. The Authority reserves the right to determine, in its sole discretion, whether an economic operator falls into this excluded category of economic operators. The Authority defines ‘affiliate’ as: ‘Affiliate’ means any holding company or subsidiary of a distributor or any subsidiary of such a holding company. ‘Holding company’ and ‘subsidiary’ have the meanings given to them by section 736 of the Companies Act 1985 (as originally enacted) or, to the extent that it applies, section 1159 of the Companies Act 2006 (as originally enacted). For example a company that is part of the same group of companies as a Distributor or Value Added Reseller (VAR) is an Affiliate of that Distributor or VAR. The Open Procedure with accelerated time-scales is required to be used to enable the Authority to fulfil its related staff commitments that must be completed in this financial year.