Digital printing services

Tender description

Wokingham Borough Council has secured a contract for the provision of electoral printing services, covering all elections and referenda during the contract period and printing for registration purposes. Whilst the tender was divided into separate lots for election printing (lot 1) and registration printing (lot 2), the selected candidate was successful in lot 3, which combined both services into a single integrated contract. Accordingly, the contract award is not divided into lots. Wokingham Borough Council invited tenders for the provision of electoral printing services, covering all elections and referenda during the contract period and printing for registration purposes. The tender was divided into 3 lots: Lot 1: Election printing – to cover all elections and referenda; Lot 2: Registration printing – covering all printing for registration purposes; Lot 3: Both of lots 1 and 2 in a single integrated contract. WCB currently runs local elections by thirds, meaning we have elections on 3 consecutive years with a fallow year in the 4th year, before the cycle starts again. There are also scheduled national elections taking place during the period and the possibility of snap national elections and by-elections in any of our Borough wards or parishes. There is a high level of residential development going on across the Borough, such that our electorate/councillor ratios will soon trigger a boundary review. The number of wards and the frequency of our scheduled elections may therefore be subject to change during the lifetime of this contract. The electoral register is currently updated on an annual basis, whereby every property needs to be sent a Household Enquiry Form (HEF), through 3 stages of canvass. In accordance with regulation, we also issue ‘Invitation to Register’ forms to potential new registrants on a weekly basis. Proposals to make the canvass process more cost effective are currently being considered by Central Government. Printing requirements for HEF’s in the future are expected to be based on data matching, with only those properties that have not been matched being sent a form. The impact of this is that we expect the HEF requirements to reduce substantially, although we believe there may be a requirement to send a communication to matched households to confirm whom we have registered.