Start by working out your service requirements and what capability you have in-house.
Define whether your requirement is for a specific project or campaign, or whether you’re looking for a long-term arrangement.
Determine your budget and get approval for it. Make sure you are clear on the scale of the project.
Provide a short, written brief for every piece of work before you engage with your prospective provider(s), so that everyone is clear about your objectives and expected outcomes.
For larger projects or campaigns you might want to follow up the written brief with a meeting.
Be transparent and share the budget and scale of the project in the brief.
You can either approach a provider directly or shortlist several providers for a secondary procurement process.
Secondary procurement processes for the creative and media services contract
Either way, you should ask providers about conflicts of interest they’d have if engaged by your agency. A provider must confirm whether they’d have an actual, potential or perceived conflict of interest related to the work. If they identify a conflict of interest, they cannot provide services until your agency approves it in writing. The conflict of interest should be recorded and, if necessary, a conflict of interest management plan put in place.
You can find the contact details for each panel provider on the Online Panel Directory (OPD).
Before work can begin, both your agency and the provider need to complete and sign a CMSO. If you select multiple providers, you need to complete a separate CMSO with each of them.
All other documentation (including briefs, reverse briefs, cost estimates and variations) can be referenced or attached as appendices for auditing, invoicing and reporting.
You can find the CMSO template in the contract documents section on the main contract page.
Make sure your CMSO includes:
Keep a copy of the signed CMSO in your agency’s records. Set up reminders to proactively manage a provider’s delivery of your agency’s requirements, and to meet any of your own obligations (like payment of provider invoices).
Your provider is required to send you a survey to complete after the engagement.
Under the terms of the MoU, you must complete the provider performance survey. The survey is short – you only need to answer 5 questions about your agency’s experience. We use this feedback to monitor providers’ performance and generate an average performance rating for each provider. You can find these ratings on OPD to help you choose providers.
If you have any questions email the Professional services team.
End of processIt’s good to be aware of how much it costs for providers to put together a pitch. In the creative industry, the cost can be high because the campaigns are often unique, require highly skilled staff, and may involve significant intellectual property (IP) costs.
Pitching ideas is still part of the creative process. However, when providers are required to put significant resources into pursuing new business it may affect their rates and your working relationships with them. This may in turn affect the value for money your agency can achieve and lead to poorer outcomes overall.
To help you decide what type of secondary procurement process you need, first consider the likely value of the project. In general, the higher the value of the project, the easier it is for a provider to absorb the cost of pitching.
Follow these guidelines for secondary procurement processes based on the value of the project.
In some cases, you may need to request more information from providers even if the project is lower in value.
For example, if your project is innovative or requires certain skills, you could request a relevant case study. Or, if the project may lead to a long-term working relationship, you could request a chemistry meeting to ensure a good team fit.
We recommend a phased approach where the volume of information you can request from providers increases with the project value.
Source a provider directly from Online Panel Directory (OPD). OPD provides you with key information such as providers’ performance ratings and prices.
Ask a maximum of 3 providers for their references or case studies to find out more about their working styles and processes. You could also ask for a list of key personnel that would work on the project, and information about their experience.
Ask 3 to 5 providers for the same resources above (references, case studies and a list of key personnel). You could also set up chemistry meetings to find out if they are a good fit.
You can use the methods outlined above to first gather information from 3 to 5 providers. Use this information to shortlist a maximum of 3 providers and invite them to pitch. If IP-based submissions are required (mock-ups or draft ideas) you should pay for them, even if you don’t end up contracting the provider.