When the Central Office of Information (C.O.I.) announced the agencies on its education roster last year, it described them as having significant experience in what is a ‘a highly specialised field’. Getting onto the C.O.I. roster takes significant effort and investment and naturally the listed agencies all hope to get a return. Unfortunately, several of these agencies regret their decision, as they now know that a listing is not a guarantee of work.
For example, since August 2005, there has only been one major pitch, for the Immigration and Naturalisation Directorate, part of the much-maligned Home Office. While many of the agencies we have spoken to are privately highly critical of the C.O.I., do they have a legitimate concern?
For several years, Educational Communications (EdComs) have won the bulk of the C.O.I.’s educational projects. This has led to some grumblings of favouritism, however this seems unlikely for four reasons.
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EdComs are a large agency (80 staff). They have been around for ten years and have a large portfolio of projects and clients
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All the pitches run by the C.O.I. are done on a competitive basis
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While the C.O.I. may advise their clients, the client makes the final choice
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The only pitch in the last eight months was won by Kids Connections who joined only the roster only last year.
The reality of the situation is that there are very few education projects coming out of the C.O.I. right now, and any agency who thought getting on the roster would underpin their business, has made a mistake.
