The Provision of Hybrid Mail and Digital Communications - Market Engagement Notice

Descriptions

Denbighshire County Council (The Authority) are looking to engage with the market in relation to a cost effective, flexible, high quality and value for money hybrid mail and digital communication service. This is primarily for the Revenues and Benefits service but will also encompass some smaller additional teams, namely Sundry Debt, Court of Protection Team, Financial Assessment Team and Tackling Poverty Campaigns. Additional Council services may also wish to join the contract during its duration.

In addition, whilst contractual details are not yet agreed we include in this notice the following. The Authority are considering broader corporate hybrid mail needs and suppliers are invited to provide details of how Corporate requirements could also be met. (See details below entitled 'Corporate - Additional Key requirements)

Aims of Engagement

The purpose is to:

- Understand supplier capabilities and the very latest technologies and solutions available in the market

- Identify opportunities for innovation and best practice

- Test assumptions on costs, timescales, and implementation approaches

- Understand options available to the Authority, allowing for robust and comprehensive bilingual (Welsh and English) communications and alternative formats such as large print and Braille

Revenues & Benefits - Key requirements

- A hybrid mail delivery solution, 'print and post' for letters and correspondence where data and/or electronic information is converted to a physical mail item off site

- Ability to provide a service across a range of volumes, from an individual item to bulk mailings. Bulk mailing to include annual billing of Council Tax and Business Rates

- E-delivery functionalities including SMS, email communications and secure web-based communications

- The ability to process text only data streams in differing formats and merge with Authority supplied document templates

- The ability to process formatted data streams in differing formats eg pdfs

- The ability to merge data streams based on selection criteria e.g. Council Tax bills and Benefit notifications where reference, customer name and address match

- Sending ad hoc emails/SMS to customers without then signing up to the service permanently and ability to opt out completely from email/SMS delivery

- Functionality to send e-comms by email or SMS (ie multifactor authentication using email and SMS not a pre-requisite)

- Default to paper option, where if an e-communication is not delivered, is unopened or unread by the recipient, a paper mail item to be issued

- Ability to upload pdf documents for each notification type. The provider would need to be able to split the documents by new addressee and combined in envelopes where there are postal matches

- Provision of management reports for digital delivery

- Provision of management information split into different cost centres for the differing Authority teams using the service

- Capability to generate reconciliation reports that enable the authority to align daily document volumes with internal reconciliation records

Corporate - Additional key requirements

- Return to Sender reporting for non-deliverable physical items

- Same day processing for all mail classes

- Document tracking for all users and Administrators

- Ability to pause send and retract document from queue (within a specific time frame)

- In-built document library

- Group, team and user management

- Global and group level administrators for document tracking

- Provision of management reports across all delivery types

- Default and custom mailing profiles, including restrictions

- Upload and direct print options

- GDPR Compliant

- Thin client support