Postal services

Tender description

Pre-sorting is the sorting of un-sorted daily nationwide post into 1 300 DWP post code groups and is a critical service to maintain effective mail delivery for the DWP data and document management service. Pre-sorting is the sorting by Royal Mail of un-sorted daily nationwide post into 1 300 DWP post code groups. On a daily continual basis citizen post flows from Royal Mails nationwide local post depots into its single Wolverhampton Mail Opening Unit (MOU). Post flows here because all DWP addresses use RMG ‘non geographic’ postcodes that are directed to Wolverhampton. The post is ‘pre-sorted’ by RMG into 1 300 post code groups. It is called ‘Pre-sorting’ because it is the stage of identifying and sorting DWP post that precludes the critical DWP Document and Data Management Services (DDM.) PSD post is transported by Royal Mail from Wolverhampton to DWP’s nominated Document and Data Management (DDM) Services provider 3 times a day. The PSD service takes place on a continual 24-hour cycle. The ‘pre-sorting’ service performed by Royal Mail ends once the post has arrived at DDM MOU in Kidderminster. After careful consideration and due diligence, extensive market engagement suggested adverse impact to current performance levels if an alternative supplier was to deliver the services. As a result, the Authority is now planning to undertake a direct award for its mail pre sortation service to Royal Mail Group. This will be for a period of 12 months from 1.7.2019 with options to extend up to a period of a further 2 years to align to the expiry of the DWP Data and document management service contract.