Communications Marketplace

A Marketplace for marketing and communications services to help UK government and public sector bodies run public service campaigns.

Description

UK government and public sector organisations can access a wide range of specialist marketing and communications services from agencies across the UK and overseas.

The agreement uses a Dynamic Purchasing System (DPS) with a filtering system to help identify a shortlist of relevant agencies to invite to competition. Agencies can apply to join at any time throughout the life of the agreement. Registration is free and there is no limit on the number of agencies who can join the Marketplace. If you would like to be part of this agreement, apply to join.

The agreement covers:

  • creative development
  • direct marketing
  • sponsorship
  • events
  • production
  • Public Relations (PR)
  • social marketing and emerging channels
  • campaign coordination
  • marketing and advertising technology advice
  • data science
  • in-house agency services
  • recruitment advertising
  • partnerships
  • content aggregation marketing
  • marketing and communications strategy
  • marketing strategic advice and consultancy
  • data provision, management and augmentation
  • internal communications and engagement
  • innovation and experience

The Marketplace enables direct relationships with agencies of all sizes from across the UK and overseas, who provide specialist expertise and niche services. You can choose an agency to work on a standalone basis or to support an integrated campaign.

The Communications Marketplace complements the Campaign Solutions 2 (RM6125) Framework Agreement. Campaign Solutions 2 provides access to longer term, strategic relationships for end to end campaign solutions.

Benefits

  • broad range of marketing and campaign services to meet client needs
  • ability to shortlist agencies based on the needs of your brief (filter by: services, audience, outcome and location for delivery)
  • increased agility with an unlimited number of agencies providing flexible access to talent and specialist expertise to meet the changing needs of clients
  • agencies can apply to join at any time
  • low barrier to entry for SMEs with just a simple registration process

Products and suppliers

Please read the 'How to buy' tab below for detailed instructions on how to find out which suppliers are on this agreement.

Lot 1: Communications Marketplace

Expires:

How to buy

Before using this agreement you must have internal approval from your organisation.

If you are in central government and spending over £100,000, this will be subject to the advertising, marketing and communications spend controls. You must get the needed approval to spend through the GCS Professional Assurance process

Spending under £100,000 is subject to approval from Number 10 which can be sought through the Cabinet Office Campaign lead for the relevant Build Back Better theme.

If you have any questions about the approval processes, email the GCS team

To buy through this agreement you will need to:

  1. Register as a buyer
    1. note: you can use the above link to register as a buyer or supplier
    2. once registered you will need to agree to the terms of use on the Communications Marketplace DPS page
  2. on your ‘Manage your DPS Category Exports’ page, you will now have two options: 
    1. view appointed agencies
    2. click on the link to create a new category export (this is how you filter the suppliers who can meet your needs)
  3. when creating a new category, use the filtering tool to select all the options that apply to your specific needs
  4. click the ‘filter’ option and this will create a list of capable agencies
  5. save your filtered list of capable agencies by clicking the ‘save category’ option
  6.  from your ‘Manage your Category Exports’ page, you can export the list of agencies and contact details into an Excel spreadsheet 
  7. use this list of agencies to run a further competition
  8. invite the agencies identified by the DPS to bid against your detailed brief, evaluation criteria and contract format
    1. as new agencies can apply to join the DPS at any time, your list of capable agencies is only up to date for 2 working days from the date of its creation 
    2. if your further competition excludes eligible agencies it potentially breaks procurement regulations
    3. if you don’t use your agency list within 2 working days you will need to select the ‘search again’ option in your export
    4. then you should repeat steps 3 to 5 to create an up to date list 
    5. to run a further competition you can use our free eSourcing tool 
  9. allow at least 10 days for standard agency responses, or longer if your needs are more complex 
    1. for more guidance on recommended procurement timescales, read the customer guidance document
  10. evaluate agency responses
  11. ask the winning agency(ies) to provide any needed evidence to show that they can meet your needs
    1. we advise that you set all agencies a deadline of 2 days to submit evidence
  12. if you’re happy with the evidence provided, award the contract
  13. where appropriate, notify us of the award on Find A Tender Service

Charge for central government

Government bodies using this agreement must pay the Government Communication Service (GCS) management charge. This is 1% of the total net contract value.

This charge is a set contribution from all government communications spending through the agreements and funds the GCS. It has been in existence since 2013/14 and is approved by the Civil Service Board, Ministerial Board and with the agreement of all Directors of Communications.

Documents

Updates

 

RM6124 PIN

RM6124 Contract Notice

Documents