2 February 2016

Invitation for suppliers to attend Census market engagement events

On 15 January 2016, the Office for National Statistics (ONS) opened registration for its forthcoming market engagement exercise on delivery of a nationwide census in 2021, and is inviting supplier organisations that may be interested in getting involved with the delivery of the census to sign-up to take part in the exercise and attend one of three Supplier Briefings being held in England and Wales.

ONS is presently finalising plans for the future procurement activity associated with the planning and delivery of the Census, which will be part of a wider programme of activity called the Census Transformation Programme (CTP). More information on ONS and the CTP can be found on the ONS website.

In May 2015 the CTP hosted an initial supplier briefing event in London and you can view useful information from the event by clicking here.

Following the market engagement event in May 2015, the CTP is planning to run another series of briefings in February 2016 to promote future procurement opportunities. The supplier briefings will update potential suppliers on emerging procurement plans and timescales.

The Programme will host three Supplier Briefings as follows:

1. The London Supplier Briefing, at the Kia Oval (the England Suite), Kennington, London SE11 5SS between 9:30 am and 14:00 pm on Wednesday 10 February 2016

2. The Wales Supplier Briefing, at Cardiff Council (Committee Rooms 2 & 3), County Hall, Atlantic Wharf, Cardiff CF10 4UW between 12:30 pm and 15:30 pm on Thursday 11 February 2016

3. The Manchester Supplier Briefing, at the Pendulum Hotel & Manchester Conference Centre, Weston Building, Sackville Street, Manchester, Greater Manchester, M1 3BB between 9:30 am and 12:30 pm on Thursday 18 February 2016

ONS is keen to see active involvement and participation in these briefings from a wide range of industries and sectors, including (but not limited to): IT systems and solutions, data collection / storage / processing, security, logistics and distribution, professional services (including management consultancy, legal and accountancy services), marketing / advertising, programme management / support / delivery, recruitment and training, professional development.

Due to the high level of demand anticipated, please note that each supplier will be limited to attending one supplier briefing only (with no more than two attendees).

To register for one of the Supplier Briefings, please send an email to: [email protected] providing the following information:

•  The supplier briefing you wish to attend (i.e. London, Cardiff or Manchester)
•  Name(s) of those attending (maximum of two persons) and Job Titles for each
• Name of the supplier / organisation being represented
• Industry sector you are in
• Area of the CTP you are interested in being involved in
• Size of your organisation.

Your request to register for the London briefing should be received by no later than 7 February 2016, and requests for either the Wales or Manchester briefing to be received by no later than 15 February 2016.

In addition to the above registration, any supplier that did not take part in the earlier CTP Tranche 1 Market Engagement Activities (May 2015) is asked to register on the ONS eTendering Portal (www.delta-esourcing.com) This will give ONS the ability to notify you of future CTP activities that may be of interest. 

To register, click on 'Supplier Register' and enter your details using the Access Code R5PJ7CHB2G. This will register you on the Portal and add you to the 'Census Transformation Programme Suppliers' list. You can check that you have been added to this supplier list by clicking on 'Profile' and then 'Supplier List'.