University Drops £200 Charge for Tender Documents

In Scotland, Heriot-Watt University has dropped plans to charge agencies £200 to view tender documents relating to its £1.5m marketing services framework, including its £450k market research and £105k media monitoring briefs.

The Edinburgh-based university - which was founded in the 16th century - has an intake of around 18,000 students, about a third of whom are from outside the UK.

Up to 15 agencies are expected to be commissioned to undertake its marketing services provision, with contracts running for four years.

Interested agencies were initially told they would need to pay £200 to obtain specs and additional documents relating to each tender, but following wide criticism, the university has now waived the fee.

Heriot-Watt's Chief Procurement Officer Tony Newjem said that the original intention was to discourage 'spurious' bids: 'Given the level of concern the proposed fee generated, in principle, we have decided to waive it,' he added.

Requests for the now free tender documents can be made until 9 December.

Web site: www.hw.ac.uk .