Posti floats tender for mail delivery by private operators

National postal and logistic services operator Posti on Monday floated tender process with the view to appoint private companies for letter delivery work.

The tender was floated to initiate the sourcing procedure on the five-day delivery of universal service letters in areas not covered by early-morning newspaper delivery, said a press release.

Companies willing to participate in the tendering are requested to register between February 4 and February 15 using the registration link on Posti’s website postikilpailutus.fi

The Postikilpailutus.fi website contains information on the implementation of the competition, the tendering destinations and special requirements. Companies wishing to participate in the competition will be asked to register using an electronic form filled in with the particulars of the company and contact person.

Like the previous year, the tender will be held electronically in the Posti's Sourcing Portal. The bidding company will select the bidding destinations or destinations and will leave a binding bid in the Sourcing Portal by marking the bid price it offers.

“All bidders are treated in a uniform manner and the choice is made objectively in accordance with the criteria stated in the Posti´s Sourcing Portal,” said Noora Laaksonen, Vice President of Posti.

The basic criteria for the tender are, for example, that the company commits itself to complying with the ethical guidelines for Posti's suppliers and is a Reliable Partner (Luotettava Kumppani) under Tilaajavastuu.fi.

At the end of the tendering procedure, Posti’s Sourcing will compare the tenders and award the contract to the most economically advantageous tender based on an overall assessment. Operations under the contract will begin on July 1, 2019.

The amended Postal Act requires Posti to put out to tender 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 newspaper early-morning delivery that has been agreed upon commercially.

The tendering was arranged first time last year. In order to organize this year's competition, The Finnish Transport and Communications Authority Traficom has made a new area definition. The tendering covers 1,831 destinations. As a result of the regional definition, the number of areas under competitive tendering has increased by 41.

As a new feature Posti is piloting in certain areas a model where delivery and collection of all deliveries are including in tendering process in addition to universal service letters. The Postal Act requires only the tendering procedure for the delivery of universal service letters.

“The tendering procedure is organized annually in accordance with the requirements of the Postal Act. As last year Posti wants to perform this task transparently and neutrally. This year, the process has been developed so that in two areas we are piloting the competition for a regional service entity,” said Laaksonen.

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

Posti already employs subcontractors in mail delivery and transport services. Most of these are small companies. In mail delivery, Posti currently uses subcontractors on 157 distribution routes.