Independent postal service wins €1m contract

THE independently-owned business-to-business postal services company DX Ireland has won a €1 million contract to undertake business mail services to the Property Registration Authority.

The three-year contract with what used to be the Land Registry and Registry of Deeds has been in the offing for several six years.

The Department of Justice, Equality and Law Reform — working on behalf of the Land Registry and Registry of Deeds — issued a tender in 1999 for the provision of business mail services.

An Post challenged the tender process in the High Court, leading to a six-year delay in the awarding of the contract. The issue was settled in 2005 and a new tender was issued last April.

“The winning of this contract is an important acquisition for us as we make further inroads towards a fully competitive postal sector in Ireland. This will provide a secure, reliable, overnight business document delivery service from the Property Registration Authority to the legal profession throughout Ireland, offering savings of €500,000 to taxpayers,” said Kevin Galligan, managing director of DX Ireland.

“We currently deliver over 10 million items of mail per year on behalf of 4,000 clients throughout Ireland. We believe competition in the sector is vital to ensure a reliable and secure postal service. Last year was a productive one for us with the majority of our customers continuing to demonstrate confidence in the reliability and efficiency in our next day delivery service — above that of the national postal provider, An Post.”

The legal profession makes up 67% of DX Ireland’s mail delivery business.

“Our public sector product, Gov DX, which we launched last year, also provides significant savings for the Irish taxpayer,” Mr Galligan said.

The Property Registration Authority’s deputy registrar, Diarmuid Clancy, said: “The nature of our business requires a fast, efficient and secure postal service. This ensures that time-sensitive, valuable legal documents are delivered to their destinations on time and providing significant value for money and savings to the taxpayer.”