Marketing Agency Procurement Notice - Early Engagement

Contracts Finder - Open Opportunities

Published March 10th, 2026

Detected March 10th, 2026

Summary

Health Innovation North East and North Cumbria (HI NENC) has published a procurement notice for marketing and communications services to support a new national programme aimed at increasing physical activity. Potential suppliers are invited to engage early, with a closing date for expressions of interest on 10 June 2026.

View original document View source feed page

What changed

Health Innovation North East and North Cumbria (HI NENC) has issued an early engagement notice for a significant procurement of marketing, PR, and communications services. This initiative supports a new nationwide behaviour change programme designed to increase physical activity and reduce inactivity across England, aligning with government health plan commitments. The procurement reference is AHSN001-DN670401-47287239, and the notice is open for early engagement until 10 June 2026.

Marketing and communications agencies interested in bidding must apply to HI NENC's Dynamic Purchasing System (DPS) under Lot 5. The Invitation to Quote (ITQ) is expected by the end of March 2026, though this timeline is subject to change. Suppliers are advised to apply to the DPS promptly to ensure they are eligible to bid for the contract, which involves developing and delivering a comprehensive marketing and communications strategy, including advertising investment, PR, and stakeholder engagement.

What to do next

Review the procurement notice and associated details for the national physical activity programme.
If interested, apply to the HI NENC Dynamic Purchasing System (DPS) under Lot 5 by the closing date of 10 June 2026.
Ensure acceptance to the DPS framework ahead of the expected Invitation to Quote (ITQ) publication by the end of March 2026.

Source document (simplified)

Published date: 10 March 2026

Last edited date: 10 March 2026

Open early engagement - This means that a procurement idea is currently active, it is in the early stage of development and judging interest from potential suppliers.

Watch this notice Print this notice Closing date: 10 June 2026

Contract summary

Industry

Marketing management consultancy services - 79413000

Location of contract

United Kingdom

Procurement reference

AHSN001-DN670401-47287239

Published date

10 March 2026

Closing date

10 June 2026

Contract is suitable for SMEs?

Yes

Contract is suitable for VCSEs?

Description

The purpose of this PIN is to inform market operators of a potential future exercise to procure services supporting the marketing and communications for a new nationwide programme to increase physical activity and reduce inactivity.

Health Innovation North East and North Cumbria (HI NENC) is commissioning an agency partner to design and deliver the marketing, PR, and communications strategy for a national behaviour change programme designed to increase physical activity and reduce inactivity across England.
The Programme responds directly to the Government's 10 Year Health Plan commitment to motivate millions to walk - and where possible run - regularly. Sir Brendan Foster has convened expert partners to support this. The Programme aims to reframe movement as personal, cumulative and achievable through the core proposition:
The Programme is not a traditional sports campaign. It is a long-term national behaviour change movement designed to: -
• Increase movement among inactive adults
• Address health inequalities
• Build a recognisable, inclusive national movement brand
• Enable sustainable habit formation through digital tools and rewards
• Advertising - including advertising investment to launch and sustain the campaign within the first year.
The associated marketing campaign must inspire participation at scale, whilst remaining grounded in behavioural science and public health evidence.
The appointed agency will be responsible for developing and delivering a full set of campaign materials, frameworks, strategies, activation plans, toolkits, digital assets, evaluation reports, and all content needed to deliver the programme end to end. This must be aligned to the overall narrative framework.
This will include planning major PR and press moments, building momentum towards launch dates and engaging with key stakeholders to strengthen partnerships.

More information

Previous notice about this procurement

Procurement of a Marketing & Communications Agency to support millions to move

Early engagement
Published 10 March 2026 Additional text

HI NENC would like to invite potential providers of Marketing and Communications services to apply to our Dynamic Purchasing System (DPS) DN670401 as a supplier.
You can do this by following this link: procontract.due-north.com/ProjectManagement/ProjectDashboard?projectId=c1881153-e6f3-ed11-8122-005056b64545
This opportunity will be developed as a further competition under Lot 5 of our DPS. You should therefore ensure you apply to Lot 5 to be able to bid to provide this service.
You are also welcome to apply for any other Lots on our DPS that you feel are relevant to your organisation.
We are expecting to put out the Invitation to Quote (ITQ) to our Lot 5 suppliers by the end of March 2026. This timeline is subject to change. Interested suppliers are advised to apply to the DPS promptly to ensure they have been accepted to the framework and receive the competition notification. Failure to be accepted to the framework ahead of the ITQ publication will mean that you will be unable to bid to supply.
This notice is for information and engaging with the supply market only. It is not a binding statement of intent or call for competition. HI NENC reserves the right not to enter a formal process and not award a contract. The information contained in this notice, including information relating to the nature and scope of the requirements, the service classification of this requirement from the list of CPV codes, is only indicative of the HI NENC's current thinking and is neither exhaustive nor binding. HI NENC reserves the right at its absolute discretion to amend it at the time of issue of any further notices or at any other time.
HI NENC will not be liable for any bid cost, expenditure, work or effort incurred by a potential supplier in acting on the basis of this PIN