Tender Policy Memorandum

The ACOS memorandum on tenders aims to improve the efficiency of public relations tenders and to establish industry standards that enable client companies to achieve the best results during tenders.

When selecting a PR agency for future collaboration, companies often face the challenge of assessing the agency's qualifications and the services it provides. Tenders are used worldwide to ensure a civilized and rationally informed selection of a partner agency, whether for a single project or for long-term collaboration.

However, the widespread practice of holding such tenders in Russia lacks clearly defined rules and approaches. The lack of generally accepted standards increases economic losses for both clients and agencies participating in the professional PR services market.

To positively impact this situation, in 2010 ACOS presented a memorandum on tenders for the procurement of ACOS PR services. However, the market is changing, so the Association regularly updates its data and approaches based on specialized research. Specifically, based on the results of research conducted between 2013 and 2020, an updated version of the memorandum and templates for the required documents was published; the list of professional services and agency specializations was revised in line with the current classification of PR activities in Russia, as defined by AKOS. These standards summarize international experience, best practices of AKOS members, and recommendations from specialists and heads of procurement departments of companies from various sectors of the economy who participated in the project.

AKOS is currently completing a new cycle of research, after which it will present a modern package of materials.