Public procurement notice: Contract Notice
Published: 2017-06-21
Buyer: The British Broadcasting Corporation (BBC)
Country: UK
Contract type: Services
Procedure: Open procedure
CPV classification: 48900000 | 72251000: Disaster recovery services | 72253000: Helpdesk and support services | 72254000: Software testing | 72261000: Software support services
Submission deadline: 2017-07-17
Award criteria: The most economic tender

Technical requirements: We are seeking a supplier to provide the technology and service for running online votes in BBC Online audience facing products, both in responsive web pages as well as supporting voting in native mobile and connected television applications. The technology and service is expected to allow audience members to vote on high-profile events such as Strictly Come Dancing, as well as take part in polls tied to topical news and sport stories. The supplier is expected to provide a managed service to provide offsite and onsite support to administrate the running of a vote during key broadcast events, as well as technical support to editorial teams who will run their own votes. The supplier is expected to offer a wide range of voting formats for our audience to interact with, e.g. single choice, multiple choice, rankings etc.
The BBC requires a proven, robust, and high-capacity voting platform that will enable the audience to vote online on an editorial subject broadcast by the BBC. The editorial subjects will range from those with a significant material outcome such as deciding the winner or Sports Personality of the Year through to ‘just for fun’ votes where audience members are asked their opinion on, for example, whether they prefer popular music to classical.
The BBC also requires a simple web based interface for the creation and management of individual votes for its production teams to use throughout the lifecycle of a vote.
Event Type 1 BBC online votes are broadcast in both pre-recorded and live programmes as well as promoted online only. Where voting is promoted and/or resolved in a live broadcast, such as Strictly Come Dancing, the BBC requires a Managed Service with On-site support from the supplier as set out in Scenario 1. The BBC run approximately 5-15 votes that require a Managed Services per year with approximately 25 — 35 On-site events.
Where an Event Type 2 vote is promoted in a live or pre-recorded show and has a vote window of 24 hours +, such as the Countryfile Calendar Competition (2 week vote window) or RHS Chelsea Flower Show vote (3 day vote window) the BBC require Off-site support as outlined in Scenario 2. The BBC run approximately 10-30 votes that require Off-site support.
For votes that are BBC managed (Event Type 3), the BBC requires a web based User Interface for production teams to set up and run their own votes on an ad-hoc basis that is accessible 24 hours a day, 7 days a week. The BBC requires training and telephone support when managing their own votes as outlined in Scenario 3. The BBC runs approximately 500 production managed votes per year. We anticipate approximately 300 live BBC users, with 20-50 concurrent BBC users.
The Parties agree that the BBC may extend the Initial Term for up to 2 (two) separate periods of up to 12 (twelve) months per period commencing on expiry of the Initial Term and the first extension respectively (the ‘Extension(s)’) on the same terms (including the rates specified in Schedule 2).
Where there is more than one economic operator, the BBC reserves the right to require a grouping of economic operators to take a particular legal form or to require a single economic operator to take primary liability or to require that each party undertakes joint and several liability.
Please register your interest in this project by taking the following steps: 1 — Register your company on the BravoSolution e-Tendering portal (this is only required once): 1.1 — Go to https://bbc.bravosolution.co.uk. 1.2 — Click the link on the login page to Register. 1.3 — Accept the terms and conditions and click ‘Continue'. 1.4 — Enter your correct business and user details. 1.5 — Note the username you chose and click ‘Save' when complete. 1.6 — You will shortly receive an email with your temporary password. 2 — Express an Interest in the tender: 2.1 — Login to the portal with the username/password. 2.2 — Click the ‘PQQs / ITTs Open To All Suppliers' link. (These are Pre-Qualification Questionnaires or Invitations to Tender open to any registered supplier). 2.3 — Click on the relevant PQQ / ITT to access the content. 2.4 — Click the ‘Express Interest' button at the top of the page. This will move the PQQ  / ITT into your ‘My PQQs / My ITTs' page. (This is a secure area reserved for your projects only. 2.5 — You can now access any attachments by clicking ‘Buyer Attachments' in the ‘PQQ / ITT Details' box. 3. Responding to the tender: 3.1 — Click ‘My Response' under ‘PQQ / ITT Details', you can choose to ‘Create Response' or to ‘Decline to Respond' (please give a reason if declining). 3.2 — You can now use the ‘Messages' function to communicate with the buyer and seek any clarification. 3.3 — Note the deadline for completion, then follow the onscreen instructions to complete the PQQ / ITT There may be a mixture of online and offline actions for you to perform (there is detailed online help available). 3.4 — You must then submit your reply using the ‘Submit Response' button at the top of the page. If you require any further assistance please consult the online help, or contact the Bravo e-Tendering help desk.
In the case of technology requirements, the BBC may involve its technology partner (Atos IT Solutions and Services Limited) to assist in the scoping and drafting of invitations to tender and/or the evaluation of tenders. However, the final decision as to which is the most economically advantageous (by reference to the award criteria) will be made by the BBC. The awarding authority reserves the right not to award a contract and to annul the procurement process at any stage. Tenders and all supporting documents must be priced in sterling and all payments will be made in sterling. The contract shall be subject to English law. The awarding authority does not bind itself to accept the lowest, or any tender and reserves the right to accept part of a tender unless the tenderer expressly stipulates otherwise in the tender document.

Eligibility requirements: Where there is more than one economic operator, the BBC reserves the right to require a grouping of economic operators to take a particular legal form or to require a single economic operator to take primary liability or to require that each party undertakes joint and several liability. Please register your interest in this project by taking the following steps: 1 — Register your company on the BravoSolution e-Tendering portal (this is only required once): 1.1 — Go to https://bbc.bravosolution.co.uk. 1.2 — Click the link on the login page to Register. 1.3 — Accept the terms and conditions and click ‘Continue'. 1.4 — Enter your correct business and user details. 1.5 — Note the username you chose and click ‘Save' when complete. 1.6 — You will shortly receive an email with your temporary password. 2 — Express an Interest in the tender: 2.1 — Login to the portal with the username/password. 2.2 — Click the ‘PQQs / ITTs Open To All Suppliers' link. (These are Pre-Qualification Questionnaires or Invitations to Tender open to any registered supplier). 2.3 — Click on the relevant PQQ / ITT to access the content. 2.4 — Click the ‘Express Interest' button at the top of the page. This will move the PQQ  / ITT into your ‘My PQQs / My ITTs' page. (This is a secure area reserved for your projects only. 2.5 — You can now access any attachments by clicking ‘Buyer Attachments' in the ‘PQQ / ITT Details' box. 3. Responding to the tender: 3.1 — Click ‘My Response' under ‘PQQ / ITT Details', you can choose to ‘Create Response' or to ‘Decline to Respond' (please give a reason if declining). 3.2 — You can now use the ‘Messages' function to communicate with the buyer and seek any clarification. 3.3 — Note the deadline for completion, then follow the onscreen instructions to complete the PQQ / ITT There may be a mixture of online and offline actions for you to perform (there is detailed online help available). 3.4 — You must then submit your reply using the ‘Submit Response' button at the top of the page. If you require any further assistance please consult the online help, or contact the Bravo e-Tendering help desk.