Purpose

This report seeks approval to procure a new
supplier to deliver the Digital Advertising Contract for Newham
Street furniture. The existing contract with JCDecaux UK ended in April 2023 and has been
extended on a rolling basis until a new provider is secured.
 
The future contract will provide a street
furniture advertising service, which will move our paper-based
advertising to digital. The result will increase income received by
the Council from £28,000 to an estimated £110,000 pa,
due to offering more advertising space per CIP unit via a digital
screen. There is no capital or revenue expenditure for the Council;
the future provider will be responsible for the investment to
convert the advertising space, known as a Council Information Panel
(CIP) from paper units to digital along with costs for ongoing
repairs and maintenance.
 

Decision

Decision:
 
For the reasons set out in
the report and its appendices Cabinet RESOLVED to Agree to:
 

i) 
Approval to procure a digital advertising concession
contract for LB Newham street furniture for a period of 7 years
(with the option of an additional three-year extension) at an
estimated contract income value of £110k per
annum.

 

ii) 
Delegate authority to the Corporate Director of Environment and
Sustainable Transport to terminate the contract with the existing
provider to coincide with mobilisation of new contract award.

 

ii) 
Delegate authority to the Corporate Director of
Environment & Sustainable Transport in consultation with the
Lead Member for Environment and Sustainable Transport for the award
and implementation of the Digital Advertising Contract for LB
Newham street furniture as set out in this report.
 
Alternatives
Considered
 

a) 
In January 2023, LB Newham commissioned
‘Council Advertising Network (CAN) to review LB
Newham’s current advertising estate and benchmark against
other Local Authorities. CAN proposed three options:

 

· 
Option 1 – Do nothing - Re-negotiate with JC Decaux
with ‘as is’, paper-based CIP units. This model has
been discounted; it will not maximise income potential and there is
a need to comply with procurement law and the Councils Contract
Standing Orders.

· 
Option 2 – To upgrade all paper CIP units to digital,
increase the number of CIP units by adding 12 new locations and
re-tender the contract with improved terms and conditions. This is
the recommendation outlined in this report.

· 
Option 3 – A mix of paper and digital sites. This
option was discounted due to paper-based advertising becoming a
declining market and is slowly being phased out. Suppliers will
only bid for the digital advertising units, leaving
paper-advertising sites unsold.