The Bermuda Post Office has launched a procurement process for a shipping partner in the wake of a recent court ruling that quashed a previous agreement.

A notice, published last week on the government procurement website, said the post office was searching for a vendor to provide “international package consolidation and transportation” services to Bermuda residents “at an affordable price”.

Documents included in the notice said: “The selected service provider shall provide registered Bermuda customers with a secure, unique overseas delivery addresses [sic] in the United States, or the United Kingdom and China etc.

“The service must receive, identify, inspect, store and prepare customer purchases for consolidation, customer pays for transport to Bermuda online and supported by clear operating procedures, customer notifications, address-management controls and reliable warehouse capacity in every approved origin market from contract commencement.

“Upon arrival in Bermuda, the BPO will provide last-mile processing and delivery services.”

The documents added that the service would need to include a BPO-branded customer online portal and secure overseas warehouse facilities, along with administrative tools to help BPO staff manage and support customers.

“The service provider shall provide a transparent, predictable international shipping price matrix covering each origin, weight band, package size, service level, surcharge and optional service,” the procurement documents said.

“Pricing must demonstrate savings achieved through consolidation and repacking, explain dimensional-weight calculations, identify excluded charges and allow customers to estimate total shipping costs before dispatch, with no undisclosed fees or unexplained post-shipment adjustments under operating conditions, with relevance to international tariffs and related restrictions.”

The service should also include “continuous end-to-end visibility” from warehouse receipt to final delivery or collection with timely status updates, while the provider would be expected to ensure service continuity during emergency situations.

The notice also said that the BPO reserved the right to reject proposals with “unbalanced pricing”.

The documents said: “For example, if a bidder submits an unsustainably high royalty percentage to BPO but compensates by locking in exorbitant retail shipping rates for the Bermuda public, the bid will be declared non-responsive and disqualified from the competition.”

The deadline for submissions was listed as 1pm on November 16.

The notice comes after Chief Justice Larry Mussenden found that the decision of the Minister of the Cabinet Office to enter an arrangement with Access USA Shipping should be quashed.

The judge, however, stayed the order for 90 days to allow a proper procurement process to take place and minimise disruption to customers.

The Supreme Court found in 2023 that the minister had entered into the partnership unlawfully because the proper procurement process had not been followed, with the Court of Appeal upholding the decision the next year.