Official UK procurement notice
Production Agency & Brand Hub
Authority: OPEN UNIVERSITY(THE) (Education)·Consortium: 2 public authorities
What is being bought
Published requirement descriptionContract awarded to one supplier who will be responsible for the Brand hub - hosting and management. This includes both technical services, digital and creative developments, digital builds and regular updates. In addition, we need an agency who can provide digital, creative design and production services. All in line with the OU Brand guidelines.
CPV: Marketing services
How this framework works
From the published notice- Bids received
- 1 bids received · 1 suppliers appointed
The lotProcurement structure
single lot · no lot value publishedLot #1Website deliveryAwarded
Website delivery
•Conception, design, development of existing and new digital pages/sites
•Hosting of Brand hub and Brand policy
•Ongoing maintenance of site, including updating pages and building of new pages, adapting
the site for user needs
•Services site for both internal (staff) and external (agencies/third party partners) audience with asset distribution
•Immediate response to systems issue/errors/changes
Brand templates development
Using Brand guidelines to design, create and deliver on brand assets and templates for OU colleagues and partners
•Build and maintenance of Microsoft Office suite templates, finely tuned to maximize productivity and brand consistency to be used by a broad range of OU stakeholders with built in guidance, preset fonts, colours, brand elements and data-linked elements.
Online & offline creative assets
•Using Brand guidelines to design, create and deliver on brand assets and templates for OU colleagues and partners
•Assets include videos, animations, illustrations; printed assets; graphic files in multiple formats. (e.g. Designing doordrop leaflet; suite of social media animated videos; ezines;
openlearn content projects; digital banners; resizing outdoor artwork; brochures; leaflets;
building vinyl; pull-up banners; event stand collateral)
Brand asset management
•Safely store and make maintain Brand assets on both the Asset bank and on servers to service Brand guidelines
•Full knowledge of use of Brand guidelines and brand assets
Brand guidelines & web toolkits
•Creation of multiple brand toolkits and online guidelines with cross-linking to the OU asset bank
•The Asset bank is used by both internal and external users for obtaining up to date Brand assets, brand images and case stories
•The Asset bank tracks user download details and asset usage
Host Brand guidelines
•Maintain guidelines - add new pages, action updates, input to development to ensure we are leading with the best technology and for easy user experience.
Problem-solving and systems support
•Intricate problem-solving within the digital environment, encompassing the rapid deployment of complex solutions that leverage new technologies to address any challenges
posed.
•Provide technical support to enhance the online offering to OU users
•Provide new solution and technology to enhance the user experience and host the complicated web infrastructure
End-to-end technical support
•Provide solutions and recommendations for best practice/best use of system
•Immediate response to critical issues/queries
•Immediate response to urgent/business critical changes that need to be implemented Accessibility enhancement
•Rigorous adherence to the latest accessibility standards, including WCAG 2.1 AA, with indepth conformance reviews and comprehensive audits, ensuring a frictionless experience for users of all abilities across all media such as templates, guidelines and websites.
•Ensure the site is fully compliant with OU and industry accessibility guidance
•Knowledge and experience of accessibility requirements for digital and offline users
Procedure terms & legal framework
From the official record- Procedure method
- Award procedure without prior publication of a call for competition
- Legal basis
- CELEX · 32014L0024 Public Contracts Regulations 2015 (Directive 2014/24/EU)
- Procurement category
- Services
- Notice status
- Awarded without competition
- Procurement threshold
- Unspecified in notice
- Regulatory regime
- Standard
- Commercial structure
- Framework agreement
- Who may use this agreement
- Not stated in the notice; call-off rights may be limited to the establishing authority
- Competition type
- Direct award (no call for competition)
- GPA / WTO covered
- Yes (GPA)
- Recurring procurement
- Unspecified in notice
- First published
- 6 Dec 2024, 09:20 GMT
- Last source update
- 4 Feb 2025, 16:44 GMT
- FTS notice number
2025/S 000-003720- Classification (CPV)
- Delivery area
- Official registry OCID
ocds-h6vhtk-04c2cfFind a Tender
- Why no open competition
The works, supplies or services can be provided only by a particular economic operator due to absence of competition for technical reasons
- Published justification
Matrix Graphics Ltd have developed a bespoke brand infrastructure, spanning technical architecture, institutional workflows and alignment to the University's specific operational
and compliance requirements. At its core lies a codebase developed over many years, drawing on advanced methodologies, such as modular programming, adaptive algorithms, and bespoke data handling systems, to support the institution's unique and evolving needs.
Notice history
1 event · 2 releases on Find a Tender- Buyer details updated4 Feb 2025, 16:44 GMT
Commercial outcome & contract awards
Published awards, contracts and bid statistics, not a forecast2 suppliers are admitted to this framework without individual award values or dates, see the supplier list below.
Contracts
All 2 of these contracts carry the same published figure, £1,000,000, the framework's maximum for the whole notice, not each contract's own value. They are not eleven separate sums.
Contract 003720-2025-1
- Signed
- 1 Feb 2025
- Value
- ceiling above
- Status
- active
Contract 039352-2024-1-1
- Signed
- 6 Dec 2024
- Value
- ceiling above
- Status
- active
Bid statistics published by the authority
| Bids | SME | VCSE | Valid bid range |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1bids · 1 electronic | 1 | — | — |
Contracting authority & participating public bodies
2 public bodies on the noticeDispute resolution & review bodies
- The Open UniversityReview body
Framework contractors & participating bidders
2 commercial parties on the notice- Matrix Graphics LtdFramework contractor
- Matrix Graphics LtdFramework contractor
Official documents & specifications
Official links; attachments are not copiedNo document links were published on the notice.