Post Office to review roster

The Post Office is set to create a new roster of design consultancies from 1 April next year and is taking the opportunity to review the nature of the design services it buys. The exact roster line up will be announced in the New Year.

Although it is still unclear if the Post Office intends to expand the existing roster of 13 consultancies, a Post Office spokeswoman says a shortlist of between 20 and 25 consultancies will be made by the end of this year. The Post Office has so far had around 100 responses to an invitation to tender placed in the Official Journal of the European Communities.

“We are not unhappy with the companies on the existing roster. However, it is our legal obligation to re-tender as we come to the completion of the three-year roster cycle we put in place,” explains the spokeswoman.

This cycle is completed on 31 March 2001. “As it is time for renewal we are taking the opportunity to broaden the scope to include a further range of disciplines,” she adds.

The focus of the shift in design-buying is likely to encompass corporate literature, point-of-sale material, information design, internal communications and digital media. Consultancies included on the new roster will be allocated specific categories and then assigned specific projects within those categories.

The current roster is made up of the following consultancies: Andrew Boag & Associates, Bang Creative, Bi-Design, Bostock & Pollit, Carter Wong Tomlin, Coley Porter Bell, Information Design Unit, Interbrand Newell & Sorrell, Open Company UK, The Oyster Group, Rufus Leonard, Start Design and True Design.

The Post Office roster includes work for the Royal Mail, the group’s letters division and Post Office Network, the retail arm.