Expert Communications Support for the National Smart Meter Programme Customer Engagement Workstream

Commission for Energy Regulation

The Commission for Energy Regulation (CER) is Ireland's independent energy and water regulator. The CER was established in 1999 and now has a wide range of economic, customer protection and safety responsibilities in energy. The CER is also the regulator of Ireland's public water and waste-water system.
The National Smart Metering Programme (NSMP) is a plan for upgrading how electricity and gas retail markets operate with Smart Meters, in order to improve levels of service for all customers. The Commission for Energy Regulation (CER),
working closely with the Department of Communications Energy and Natural Resources (DCENR), established the NSMP in 2007.
The aim of the NSMP is a national rollout of smart meters to all residential consumers and the vast majority of SMEs in line with the target European legislation which requires that 80 % of residential electricity smart meters have been installed by the end of 2020, subject to a positive CBA, allowing consumers gain better insights into their electricity consumption. The exact timing of the rollout and the approach to the delivery of new customer services will be defined over phase 3 of the programme.
Following a decision on the High Level Design and the progression to the detailed design phase the CER requires expert communications support to develop the framework for engaging with consumers and stakeholders.
The successful tenderer will be producing deliverables within the defined governance structure for the NSMP, which encompasses all of the projects being delivered by key stakeholders as part of the NSMP i.e. ESB Networks, Gas Networks Ireland, EirGrid, energy Suppliers and other stakeholders. The successful tenderer will define the work of the CEAG and produce deliverables associated with the workstream. Some interaction with other workstreams will be required to develop those deliverables e.g. policy workstream.
The defined deliverables will involve work in the following areas:
— Communications strategy;
— Consumer engagement roadmap and work programme;
— Reporting mechanisms on consumer awareness and attitudes;
— Programme identity and branding;
— Research requirements (quantitative and qualitative);
— Stakeholder engagement; and
— Information gathering on smart metering roll-out strategies and experiences in other jurisdictions.
A detailed specification of requirements is set out in Section 2 of the Invitation to Tender (ITT) available to download from www.etenders.gov.ie

Deadline

The time limit for receipt of tenders was 2015-10-05. The procurement was published on 2015-08-21.

Suppliers

The following suppliers are mentioned in award decisions or other procurement documents:

Who? What? Where?
Procurement history
Date Document
2015-08-21 Contract notice
2015-12-22 Contract award notice
Contract notice (2015-08-21)
Object
Scope of the procurement
Title: Public relations consultancy services
Quantity or scope:
Deliverable 1 — Consumer Engagement Strategy.Description: Development of an overall communications strategy to deliver effective consumer engagement in each phase of the NSMP.Indicative Time-line: End Q1 2016Deliverable 2 — Programme Branding and Identity.Description: Advice on an overall brand strategy and identity for the NSMP to support effective consumer engagement.Indicative Time-line: End Q2 2016Deliverable 3 — Consumer Engagement Roadmap and Workplan.Description: Development of an overall communications roadmap and workplan (including PID) to deliver effective consumer engagement and outreach in each phase of the NSMP as well as dynamic ad-hoc communications support for CER on the NSMP to end 2016.Indicative Time-line for deliverable:Commence work — End Q1 2016.Initial Roadmap and workplan — End Q2 2016.Quarterly Reviews and updates — End Q3, Q4 2016.Deliverable 4 — Ad-hoc advice and support to CER.Description: Ad-hoc communications advice to CER between Q4 2016 and end 2017 on aspects of the NSMP as they arise.This ad-hoc advice will be additional advice to the advice planned through the consumer engagement strategy (deliverable 1) branding strategy (deliverable 2) and the roadmap (deliverable 3) and will be for approximately 1 — 2 days per month up to a maximum of 20 days over the period of the contract.
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Notice metadata
Original language: English 🗣️
Document type: Contract notice
Nature of contract: Services
Regulation: European Union, with participation of GPA countries
Common procurement vocabulary (CPV)
Code: Public relations consultancy services 📦

Procedure
Procedure type: Open procedure
Type of bid: Submission for all lots
Award criteria
The most economic tender

Contracting authority
Identity
Country: Ireland 🇮🇪
Awarding authority type: Body governed by public law
Awarding authority name: Commission for Energy Regulation
Postal address: The Exchange, Belgard Square North, Tallaght
Postal code: 24
Postal town: Dublin
Contact
Internet address: http://www.cer.ie 🌏
E-mail: procurement@cer.ie 📧
Phone: +353 14000800 📞
Fax: +353 14000850 📠

Reference
Dates
Date dispatched: 2015-08-21 📅
Submission deadline: 2015-10-05 📅
Publication date: 2015-08-26 📅
Identifiers
Notice number: 2015/S 164-300332
OJ-S issue: 164
Additional information
All information relating to this contract notice, including clarifications and changes will be published on the Irish Government Procurement Portal www.etenders.gov.ie only. Registration is free of charge and there is no charge for documents. The CER will not accept responsibility for information relayed (or not relayed) via third parties.
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Object
Scope of the procurement
Short description:
The Commission for Energy Regulation (CER) is Ireland's independent energy and water regulator. The CER was established in 1999 and now has a wide range of economic, customer protection and safety responsibilities in energy. The CER is also the regulator of Ireland's public water and waste-water system.
Show more
The National Smart Metering Programme (NSMP) is a plan for upgrading how electricity and gas retail markets operate with Smart Meters, in order to improve levels of service for all customers. The Commission for Energy Regulation (CER),
working closely with the Department of Communications Energy and Natural Resources (DCENR), established the NSMP in 2007.
The aim of the NSMP is a national rollout of smart meters to all residential consumers and the vast majority of SMEs in line with the target European legislation which requires that 80 % of residential electricity smart meters have been installed by the end of 2020, subject to a positive CBA, allowing consumers gain better insights into their electricity consumption. The exact timing of the rollout and the approach to the delivery of new customer services will be defined over phase 3 of the programme.
Show more
Following a decision on the High Level Design and the progression to the detailed design phase the CER requires expert communications support to develop the framework for engaging with consumers and stakeholders.
The successful tenderer will be producing deliverables within the defined governance structure for the NSMP, which encompasses all of the projects being delivered by key stakeholders as part of the NSMP i.e. ESB Networks, Gas Networks Ireland, EirGrid, energy Suppliers and other stakeholders. The successful tenderer will define the work of the CEAG and produce deliverables associated with the workstream. Some interaction with other workstreams will be required to develop those deliverables e.g. policy workstream.
Show more
The defined deliverables will involve work in the following areas:
— Communications strategy;
— Consumer engagement roadmap and work programme;
— Reporting mechanisms on consumer awareness and attitudes;
— Programme identity and branding;
— Research requirements (quantitative and qualitative);
— Stakeholder engagement; and
— Information gathering on smart metering roll-out strategies and experiences in other jurisdictions.
A detailed specification of requirements is set out in Section 2 of the Invitation to Tender (ITT) available to download from www.etenders.gov.ie
Quantity or scope:
Deliverable 1 — Consumer Engagement Strategy.
Description: Development of an overall communications strategy to deliver effective consumer engagement in each phase of the NSMP.
Indicative Time-line: End Q1 2016
Deliverable 2 — Programme Branding and Identity.
Description: Advice on an overall brand strategy and identity for the NSMP to support effective consumer engagement.
Indicative Time-line: End Q2 2016
Deliverable 3 — Consumer Engagement Roadmap and Workplan.
Description: Development of an overall communications roadmap and workplan (including PID) to deliver effective consumer engagement and outreach in each phase of the NSMP as well as dynamic ad-hoc communications support for CER on the NSMP to end 2016.
Show more
Indicative Time-line for deliverable:
Commence work — End Q1 2016.
Initial Roadmap and workplan — End Q2 2016.
Quarterly Reviews and updates — End Q3, Q4 2016.
Deliverable 4 — Ad-hoc advice and support to CER.
Description: Ad-hoc communications advice to CER between Q4 2016 and end 2017 on aspects of the NSMP as they arise.
This ad-hoc advice will be additional advice to the advice planned through the consumer engagement strategy (deliverable 1) branding strategy (deliverable 2) and the roadmap (deliverable 3) and will be for approximately 1 — 2 days per month up to a maximum of 20 days over the period of the contract.
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Reference number: 011-03-326
Place of performance
Main site or place of performance: Tallaght.

Legal, economic, financial and technical information
Conditions for participation
Suitability to pursue the professional activity:
All tenderers are required to complete a Declaration of Bona Fides pursuant to Article 45 EU Directive 2001/1/EC (See Appendix B of Invitation for Tender).
Economic and financial standing:
Please refer to Section 4.1 of the Invitation to Tender document, available to download from www.etenders.gov.ie for relevant conditions with respect to Qualification Criteria applicable to this contract.
Minimum level(s) of standards:
Please refer to Section 4.1 of the Invitation to Tender document, available to download from www.etenders.gov.ie for relevant conditions with respect to Qualification Criteria applicable to this contract.
Technical and professional ability:
Please refer to Section 4.1 of the Invitation to Tender document, available to download from www.etenders.gov.ie for relevant conditions with respect to Qualification Criteria applicable to this contract.
Contract execution
Main financing conditions and payment arrangements and/or reference to the relevant provisions governing them:
The Commission for Energy Regulation operates in accordance with the European Communities (Late Payment in Commercial Transactions) Regulations 2002.
Payments for deliverables 1-3 will made in accordance with the payment milestone schedule set out in section 3.3 of the ITT, based on percentages of the total fixed fee proposal.
CER shall be entitled to establish such monitoring and budgetary arrangements in relation to the operation of the contract as they may reasonably deem appropriate.
Legal form to be taken by the group of economic operators to whom the contract is to be awarded:
A grouping, if successful, must contract as a single entity, having joint and severable liability.
Names and professional qualifications of the staff ✅

Procedure
Tender validity period: 160 days
Languages
Language: English 🗣️
Irish 🗣️

Contracting authority
Identity
National registration number: N/a
Contact
Contact point: Siobhan Keating
Address of the buyer profile: http://irl.eu-supply.com/ctm/Supplier/CompanyInformation/Index/1232 🌏
URL for participation: http://irl.eu-supply.com/app/rfq/rwlentrance_s.asp?PID=92136&B=ETENDERS_SIMPLE 🌏
URL for documents: http://irl.eu-supply.com/app/rfq/rwlentrance_s.asp?PID=92136&B=ETENDERS_SIMPLE 🌏

Reference
Identifiers
Reference number attributed by the contracting authority: 011-03-326

Complementary information
Review body
Name: The High Court
Postal address: Chief Registrar, Four Courts, Inns Quay
Postal town: Dublin
Postal code: 7
Country: Ireland 🇮🇪
Internet address: http://www.courts.ie/ 🌏
Source: OJS 2015/S 164-300332 (2015-08-21)
Contract award notice (2015-12-22)
Object
Scope of the procurement
Total value of the procurement: 260 825 💰
Notice metadata
Document type: Contract award notice

Procedure
Type of bid: Not applicable

Reference
Dates
Date dispatched: 2015-12-22 📅
Publication date: 2015-12-26 📅
Identifiers
Notice number: 2015/S 250-458622
Refers to notice: 2015/S 164-300332
OJ-S issue: 250

Procedure
Award criteria
Criterion: 1. Quality and technical merit of proposals for providing service detailed in Section 2 of the ITT (30)
2. Technical Merit of the Human Resources Proposed (35)
3. Ultimate Cost of providing the service (35)

Award of contract
Date of contract conclusion: 2015-12-22 📅
Name: Drury Communications Ltd t/a Drury | Porter Novelli
Postal address: 17a Gilford Road, Sandymount
Postal town: Dublin
Postal code: 4
Country: Ireland 🇮🇪
E-mail: debbie.carrigy@drurypn.ie 📧
Internet address: http://www.drurypn.ie 🌏
Information about tenders
Number of tenders received: 5

Contracting authority
Identity
National registration number: 139459
Source: OJS 2015/S 250-458622 (2015-12-22)
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