Printing and related services

Tender description

The provision of a third party print management service, to manage the secure transfer of Cheshire East Council data in various formats to then manipulate data, design, print, envelope, pack and distribute via Royal Mail or an equivalent secure postal distribution channel; the various revenues and benefits documents required covering Council Tax, business rates and benefits documentation and any additional enclosures as necessary for both daily and annual billing and any other print and/or design related services as required by the revenues and benefits department. The Cheshire East Revenues and benefits services are based at Macclesfield Town Hall and Delamere House, Crewe. The services require a fully managed solution to design, print, envelope, enclose and distribute all Council Tax, business rates and benefits documentation within agreed timescales in accordance with the Cheshire East Specification and in relation to this local authority revenues and benefits contract. Ultimately the Council requires the service provider to have experience and expertise to support in the delivery of the contract as well as the overall revenues and benefits objectives. The service provider will have the capability to provide a high quality service in line with Cheshire East Council Policies, required Service Levels and to the relevant Central Government Legislation. The scope, in providing the fully managed solution required by the revenues and benefits service consists of the following 3 key elements: 1) Revenues and benefits annual billing. This process takes place between February and March for Business Rates (NNDR), Council Tax (CTAX) and Benefits. This is a key process for the Council and there are strict time limits for the despatch of documents.The timescale is 10 working days from receipt of data to despatch of envelope packets. It is a mandatory requirement that all Annual Billing documents are posted out by the 14th March. 2) Revenues and benefits daily billing. This takes place during the period March to the following February. There are various documents and inserts associated with this process as detailed under the sections ‘Goods – Printed Stationery Requirement’. 3) Revenues and benefits ad-hoc print and post – this includes anything outside of daily billing covered by point 2, for example summons notices. Term and timetable: It is intended that the term of the goods and services contract will be for 7 years. Estimated contract start date will be May 2020. Robust implementation will take place from May 2020 and the Council will apply a phased approach in line with the revenues and benefits activity and workload deadlines, with a view to commencing with revenues and benefits daily billing production first. This contract would cover the following annual billing periods: — 2021-22, — 2022-23, — 2023-24, — 2024-25, — 2025-26, — 2026-27, — 2027-28. The values given in this notice are only estimations and are for the contract period of 7 years. The authority gives no guarantee or warranty or makes any representation as to the accuracy of any indicative volumes or as to the value of the work during the contract period.