New BBC Digital Design Roster: Call For Entries

Hi.

I'm Executive Creative Director for BBC User Experience & Design (UX&D). We are very excited to offer the chance for world class user experience and design agencies of all sizes and specialisms to join our new BBC Digital Design Services roster.

The new roster aims to help the BBC:

• Drive innovation and creativity

• Provide value for money

• And continually improve the quality of our digital products and services.

 

We will select up to seven agencies to join a roster with a life of 2-4 years, effective from 1st April 2014. Over that time we expect to reward £3-4.5m in contracts. The Pre-Qualification Questionnaire is available now on Bravo Solutions (log in required).

If your agency is selected, you will be working on:

- a number of the BBC’s digital products, including iPlayer, Radio, Homepage, Search, News, Weather, Sport, Knowledge & Learning and CBBC and CBeebies

- a variety of digital devices, including desktop, tablet, mobile and connected TVs

- developing innovative new digital features and potentially helping us to explore new platforms as they come to market

- contributing to the evolution of the BBC’s Global Experience Language (GEL)

- contributing to the BBC’s UX&D strategy.

We expect every agency selected for the roster to offer outstanding visual design and interaction design, but we also want our selection to show a diversity of other specialist skills, such as design strategy, design for children, prototyping, brand development, and so on.

We are eager to be an excellent client, not just on paper, but also when working together day-to-day. We expect to start building strong working relationships with you right from the outset as you work through our selection process.

This presentation (N.B. on Slideshare) gives an overview of what we’re looking for, and how the selection and tendering process will work.

Please have a read now, and if you’re up for it:

1) register on the BBC’s e-tendering service, BravoSolutions (login required)

2) throw your hat in the ring for the ‘Digital Design Services PQQ’ (the deadline for this stage is 7th October 2013)

Please also note that while we expect the majority of our product-based UX&D work to be offered to the agencies on this new roster, there will be a further opportunity later this year for agencies to also apply for a more broadly-based framework of digital service suppliers. More information about this will be published here on the blog and via Bravo Solutions in due course.

Any questions about the new Digital Design Roster should be sent to us via BravoSolutions (login required) by 23 September 2013. You can also leave a comment.

Good luck!

Colin Burns is Executive Creative Director, BBC User Experience and Design