Public procurement notice: Prior Information Notice Without Call For Competition
Published: 2016-12-23
Buyer: Office for National Statistics
Country: UK
Region: UNITED KINGDOM
Contract type: Services
CPV classification: 64100000 | 66171000 | 71241000 | 71317000: Hazard protection consultancy services | 72000000
Estimated value: 10000000 GBP

Technical requirements: The contracting authority is presently undertaking the delivery of the Census Transformation Programme (CTP). This Prior Information Notice (PIN) is to alert the market that the Contracting Authority is shortly planning to launch a procurement to source up to three suppliers of technical consultancy and design services (the ‘service providers’) that will help the contracting authority plan and manage the delivery of the 2021 Census.
It is presently envisaged that the service providers will provide the contracting authority with access to high-quality technical consultancy and impartial advisory services on an ‘as needed’ basis and on matters relating to or arising from the various projects related to CTP. This advice may include the identification of innovative market-driven solutions and making reasoned recommendations to the contracting authority on key issues.
It is also presently envisaged that the services will be procured in three ‘lots’, each of which will focus on a sector area of expertise and are briefly described as follows:
- Lot 1: People — which may involve advising the contracting authority on staff and HR management issues, and which may include (but not be limited to): recruitment, payroll services, human resources, training, equality and diversity, staff and organisational development and strategic planning.
- Lot 2: Digital and Technology — which may involve advising the contracting authority on the use of new technologies and digital solutions to enable major business improvements, and which may include (but not be limited to): data security, information assurance, data management enterprise architecture, agile software development and business continuity.
- Lot 3: Logistics and General Support — which may involve advising the contracting authority on logistics and facilities management issues, and which may include (but not be limited to): forecasting, planning, stock control, delivery management, assetising, printing, publication, secure storage, communications and publicity and procurement.
Please note: this Prior Information Notice aims to give the supplier market advanced warning of a future procurement but is not a contract notice advertising any specific contract opportunities. As such, no selection questionnaires or invitations to submit a tender are available and no expressions of interest are being accepted at this time.
The PIN does not formally signify the beginning of any procurement and does not constitute a commitment by the contracting authority to undertake any procurement exercise. However, in the event that the contracting authority does decide to formally commence procurement activity pursuant to the PIN, a separate contract notice will be despatched to the OJEU.
The contracting authority reserves its rights to amend or change any information contained in the PIN at any time.
The contracting authority is the UK's largest independent producer of official statistics, and is responsible for collecting and publishing statistics related to the economy, population and society at national, regional and local levels. The contracting authority also conducts the census in England and Wales every 10 years.
There has a been a census in England and Wales every 10 years since 1801, with the exception of 1941 due to the Second World War. The census is the most important single source of information about the size and population of the country's most valuable resource — its people. The next census will be taken in 2021 (the ‘2021 Census’).
Broadly the same questions are asked in the census each time and the information is recorded in the same way throughout England and Wales. This means the census allows the comparison of different groups of people and small areas across the entire nation. It also gives the opportunity for linking various characteristics of the population. And the high level of consistency between one census and another allows for change over time to be measured.
The planning, execution and evaluation of the 10-yearly population census is a vast and complex undertaking. It is often described as the largest peacetime operation carried out. It is certainly the largest statistical exercise, affecting every individual and household.
— delivered a mainly online census (including support for those members of the public that can't respond online) of England and Wales,
— delivered an Administrative Data Census (with a recommendation on the future of the census after the 2021 Census),