Tender for International Visitors' Programme for the European Union Referendum

The Electoral Commission would like to procure a service provider to plan, organise and administer a visitors' programme for international delegates observing the European Union Referendum.

The service provider will be responsible for organising and delivering a programme of activity in the week of the European Union Referendum, including the day of the poll. This will include responsibility for running a briefing day event and a schedule of accompanied group visits to observe at polling stations and count proceedings. A report will also be produced by the service provider, drawing on direct comments and feedback from delegates.

We are looking for an organisation(s) which can rely on its own established networks to deliver this project. In particular, the service provider should have: •a strong understanding of electoral administration in the UK; •links with the international electoral community; •a good track record of delivering projects of this kind; and •the flexibility to adapt to variables in the project (such as timescales).

At the time of writing, the date for the European Union Referendum has not yet been announced. The Electoral Commission must be prepared for a range of scenarios in relation to the timing of the poll. For the purposes of this tender, service providers are asked to use a working assumption that the earliest date for the referendum poll, as it stands, is Thursday 16 June 2016 but with the flexibility to deliver an international visitors' programme at any point between then and the end of 2017. We appreciate this has implications for planning and scheduling and we want to appoint an organisation that has the capability and flexibility to manage this effectively.

We welcome recommendations on location(s) and approach but would like to see Manchester costed as one option for the location of the briefing event. Further information can be found in the Scope of Work.

The project is separate from, but designed to complement, the accreditation scheme for election observers administered by the Electoral Commission