Posti to outsource private firms for mail delivery

The national postal and logistic services operator Posti has resumed its outsourcing procedure for mail delivery services in areas not covered by early-morning newspaper delivery.

Companies interested in submitting a bid can register for the competitive tendering as of February 3, 2020, said an official press release on Monday.

Posti will float the entire service portfolio of the tender for areas where it intends to outsource the service.

The Postal Act requires Posti to put out to tender annually the five-day delivery of universal service letters—i.e., letters and postcards equipped with a stamp or other cash payment method—in areas not covered by early-morning newspaper delivery that has been agreed upon commercially.

The competitive tendering was organised for the first time in 2018. For this year’s tendering, the Finnish Transport and Communications Agency Traficom has re-determined the areas. Previously, the areas were based on postal codes. In the reformed model, the areas have been assessed with delivery point precision. There are altogether 4,324 areas included in the tendering.

“Posti is now organising the outsourcing procedure for the third time. It is of utmost importance to us that this task is carried out in accordance with the stipulations of the Postal Act in a transparent and neutral way. In addition to the universal service items, Posti will organise a tendering in two areas for the delivery and picking of items that are not included in the basic delivery,” said Posti Consumer Mail & International Affairs Director Tuija Åkerman.

The Postal Act only requires that the delivery of universal service items is tendered. In previous rounds, the competitive tendering has not introduced any new deliverers, which means that Posti has organised the delivery of all areas mentioned in the competitive tendering.

The sourcing will not affect the basic delivery of newspapers in sparsely populated areas. Newspaper delivery will continue according to existing contracts.

Companies willing to participate in the tendering are requested to register between February 3 and February 14 using the registration link on Posti’s website.

Like last year, the competitive bidding will be organised electronically in Posti’s Sourcing Portal.

The basic criteria of the competitive tendering include the company’s commitment to the ethical guidelines and environmental criteria of Posti’s suppliers as well as being a Reliable Partner in accordance with Vastuugroup.fi.

At the end of the tendering procedure, Posti’s sourcing will compare the tenders on April 2–30 and award the contract to the most economically advantageous tender based on an overall assessment. Operations under the contract will begin on July 1.