COI splits frameworks to speed up procurement

The Central Office of Information is scrapping its ‘design and creative for print’ roster and splitting it into three new frameworks, in an attempt to speed up the procurement process.

The new frameworks will categorise rostered design consultancies into ‘branding and brand identity’, ‘content and publishing’ and ‘design and related services’.
The branding and brand identity framework, which the COI claims will be worth about £1m a year, will be the first of the three new rosters to launch a tender next month.

About 25 to 30 groups will be appointed to sit on each of the rosters, with consultancies allowed to appear on multiple frameworks.

The branding tender launches in October, with the COI looking to appoint groups by June next year.

The existing design and creative for print framework expires next year when its 63 groups reach the end of their four-year contracts.

‘The [new] frameworks will allow consultancies to compete for Government and public sector work without going through a lengthy procurement process for every contract,’ the COI claims in a statement.

The COI has been rearranging its rosters since last year, in response to a new EU directive requiring ‘all suppliers on a framework capable of performing a contract to be invited to compete for every piece of business’.

The three new frameworks will be divided into 11 ‘lots’ which are intended, according to the COI, to allow ‘easy-to-access shortlists for competition’. One of the lots will be a ‘rapid-response, round-the-clock branding service’.

‘We need a really good mix of consultancies across all the lots to respond to the variety of briefs we handle from across the public sector,’ says COI creative director Fanny Sigler.

The COI has reviewed about eight of its rosters over the past year, altering them in line with the new EU directive, and has about 25 left to go.

In April, the COI created its first ever regional marketing framework, which includes a handful of design groups including Elmwood, Seal, Mad River, The Consult and Origin Creative Design. The new roster is intended to provide local government with marketing services with detailed local knowledge (DW 28 April).

Lots of branding
The COI’s new branding and brand identity framework will be divided into 11 lots:

• Corporate branding
• Campaign branding
• Service branding
• Channel branding
• Events, consultation and experiential branding
• Accreditation marks
• Brand design innovation
• Brand engagement and guardianship
• Intellectual property and trademark services
• Brand evaluation
• Rapid-response (round-the-clock) branding service