Printed matter and related products

Tender description

HMRC’s objectives are to maximise revenues, improve customer experience and reduce costs in a sustainable way. Our strategy is based on understanding our customers, so we can deliver services tailored to their needs and positively influence their behaviour. HMRC’s digital strategy will help us meet our objectives and specifically states: “The drive to Digital by Default will significantly reduce both the volume of paper produced and sent to customers by mail and the amount coming into HMRC. HMRC currently issues in the region of 185 000 000 letters (c. 500 000 000 A4 images). HMRC is looking to procure a Customer Communication service that will allow the department to continue to send paper output but that also enables the move towards full multi-channel communication, ultimately reducing the volume of paper that the department issues. HMRC's Customer Communication requirements are split into 3 distinct categories and HMRC is seeking to aggregate all of them under 1 services agreement: Document Design, Composition and Control. HMRC currently owns the design of documents in-house within its Digital Services team and has a desire to eventually take ownership of all composition activity (composition for bulk printing is currently performed by a third party supplier) and channel control services. The solution will need to allow us to streamline the processes, so that form / letter creation and change is materially quicker and cheaper and allows us to create outputs capable of delivery to customers through the channel of HMRC's choice based on customer preferences. This includes, where required, print-ready files to send to production. Central Print Service. This is the default service for c39 000 users who create outputs on their desktops and moves the printing from their local office printers to a centralised print and despatch facility and generates in the region of 13 000 000 letters per year (20 000 000 images) including enclosure of mail and sorting for presentation in general to Down Stream Access mail distribution. The contract for Central Print expires in June 2017. Bulk Print Service. This is the service for print requirements generated out of a number of back end systems and includes enclosure of mail and sorting for presentation to Down Stream Access mail distribution. The current third party contract for Bulk Print expires in June 2017. For all print services, HMRC requires the utilisation of the lowest cost postal services available for all qualifying mail. Additional information: Due to the digitisation programme within HMRC, the volumes of physical paper produced will reduce significantly (up to approximately 75 %) through the life time of this parliament i.e. by 2020. The key objectives of this procurement are to: 1. Ensure continuity of high quality print services through the transition to the new contract and through HMRC's digital transformation journey and the reduction in paper input and output; 2. Optimise the end-to-end document creation and change processes; 3. Support the control, storage and management by HMRC of the channel preferences for communication with customers; 4. Ensure value for money / cost-effectiveness in the context of declining paper volumes; 5. Apply industry best practice and standards in document handling for both physical and digital media; 6. Avoid duplication of tasks in form design and composition activities; and 7. Deliver a solution that integrates easily and effectively with HMRC's systems. Staff working on the current service may transfer to the Supplier or its subcontractors under the Transfer of Undertakings (Protection of Employment) Regulations 2006 (SI 2006/246) (‘TUPE’), along with the Services. The Authority is prepared to reimburse the Supplier for any necessary redundancy costs in respect of current service employees incurred within 6 months of commencement of the contract, up to a cap. Tenderers are asked to propose a figure for this cap which will be incorporated into the overall bid price put forward by the Tenderer and evaluated accordingly.