Before you request a corporate communications proposal, fix the scope

Use this corporate communications selection checklist at the point where a plausible supplier needs to become an accountable purchasing decision. Tick a box only when its supporting evidence is available to the decision owner.

What to take away

Before requesting a proposal

Keep a copy of the brief issued to each candidate. A clarification given to one bidder should be available to others when it changes the common requirements. Decide which conditions are essential before reading persuasive proposals; leave desirable extras in a separate part of the assessment.

Worked example: a brief dated 12 February 2026 sets a two-page staff briefing, names the accepting manager, allows one revision round by 26 February and records one unresolved question on translation. The evidence file holds the issued version, the clarification and the acceptance note. Use the same pattern for a media-relations, employee-engagement or issues-and-crisis brief: the named deliverable, the accepting manager, the revision limit and the open question.

Keep the issued brief template, quotation rows, acceptance-task log, clarification log and decision-record note in one evidence file.

Check the contracting and delivery identities

For an incorporated bidder, search the Companies House register using GOV.UK's company information page, then check the company number, registered office and filing history. Match the entity on the proposal to the entity intended for the contract. Those public records are identity evidence only.

Ask who will perform the assignment and who can authorise a change in staffing. Where a subcontractor is involved, request the split of responsibilities. Check whether the named practitioners hold membership of a recognised UK body such as the Chartered Institute of Public Relations (CIPR), the Public Relations and Communications Association (PRCA) or the Institute of Internal Communication (IoIC), and keep proposed personnel distinct from people named in historic case studies. Obtain permission before circulating personal details beyond the evaluation group.

Require an inspectable offer

Compare charges only after matching the scope. Put recurring fees, implementation work and optional additions in different rows. Ask for the VAT treatment and the price-validity date rather than assuming either. Where one quotation leaves out required work, request clarification instead of inventing the missing charge.

Test the work you will depend on

Agree a small, controlled acceptance task before committing to a wider programme. For a media-relations or employee-engagement agency, ask the evaluator to draft the announcement or staff message, brief the sample audience, use a supplied source pack, log approval decisions and record each missed deadline.

For software, ask the evaluator to publish a test article, assign an editor role, attempt a permission change and note any action the environment blocks. For an internal-newsroom, intranet or employee-app platform, add one test that a scheduled bulletin reaches a group without routine desk access. Record which checks were completed and which remain open.

Retain what happened, including assistance from the seller and any task the evaluator could not complete. Do not treat a guided demonstration as evidence of independent use. Ask legal, information governance and accessibility leads to examine the contractual terms, the handling of personal data under the UK GDPR and the Data Protection Act 2018, and conformance with the accessibility standard WCAG 2.2, before signing off the accessibility requirements.

Define what success would mean

The UK government's communications standard is set by the Government Communication Service (GCS), whose OASIS planning framework — objectives, audience, strategy, implementation and scoring — places evaluation within the campaign lifecycle, supported by the GCS evaluation framework. It applies to government departments and arm's length bodies; borrowing its planning discipline does not certify a private purchase.

Write an acceptance condition for the purchased deliverable, then a separate plan for investigating audience response. Name the person who will collect evidence and the date when the organisation will revisit the decision. Avoid promising a reputation improvement merely because the supplier delivered the agreed material.

Close the decision record

List unresolved essentials, the evidence needed to resolve them and who must approve any exception. Record commercial relationships that could affect the assessment, including referral payments and free access.

Take the evidence file and outstanding questions to the authorised decision owner; keep the purchase conditional wherever an essential requirement remains unverified.

Before you act

Common questions

What should the finished record say for an England-based brief?

It should state what the supplier will deliver and what is excluded, who accepts it and how acceptance will be tested, the approved charges with their VAT treatment and validity date, the entity checked against the Companies House register, and every unresolved essential with the person who may approve an exception.

How should charges be compared between suppliers?

See the charge comparison instruction under the inspectable offer table, then use one evidence row per check.

What does the UK government communications standard cover?

The Government Communication Service's standard covers the planning, delivery and evaluation of government communication through the OASIS framework, and it applies to UK government departments and arm's length bodies. For a private England purchase, borrow the planning discipline but write your own acceptance condition for the purchased deliverable.

Note: This checklist is dated 6 September 2026. It makes no provider recommendation; carry each check out against your own brief, quotation rows and evidence file.