THE QUIZ LEAGUE OF LONDON
INVITATION TO TENDER FOR THE SUPPLY OF QUESTIONS
INTRODUCTION
1. This document invites tenders from firms or other organisations/groups to supply sets of
quiz questions to the Quiz League of London (QLL) for its principal competitions for the
season 2015-16 and, subject to satisfactory performance, the two following seasons.
2. QLL’s requirement is summarised in paragraph 7. QLL will consider tenders to meet the
whole of the requirement, one or more of the 3 parts of the requirement, or a stated
proportion of the requirement (in terms of a maximum number of question sets).
3. QLL would also like to receive and consider expressions of interest from individuals who
would like to contribute pairs of questions and/or edit question sets. This would be done
by agreement with and via whatever organisation may be contracted to meet the
requirement. It may be that a number of individuals who express interest could form a
group capable of tendering.
BACKGROUND
4. The QLL is a not-for-profit association owned and run by its member teams. It was
founded in 1990 as the South London Quiz League. The QLL is managed by officers and
a committee elected annually at a General Meeting of members. The Constitution of QLL
empowers the committee to contract with persons or bodies to provide sets of questions
for its competitions.
5. The requirement relates to the QLL’s 2 principal competitions, played on Tuesday
evenings. The first is a League competition played from late September to February. This
currently consists of 31 teams in 3 divisions. The second competition is a knockout Cup
and Plate for member and guest teams, played in March and April. The rules for these
matches can be found at http://www.quizleagueoflondon.co.uk/about/rules.aspx.
6. Recently, the questions for the main QLL requirement have been set by Quizzica. It is the
policy of the QLL committee to re-tender its question-setting contract at least every 3
years.
REQUIREMENT
7. In summary, the requirement is for:

about 18-20* sets of quiz questions (league sets) consisting of 32 pairs of related
questions in 8 rounds (plus at least 3 spare questions per set);

about 4-6* sets of questions (cup sets) consisting of 36 pairs of related questions in 9
rounds (plus at least 3 spare questions per set);

timely delivery of each week’s sets in accordance with paragraph 14 and Annex B.
* QLL will confirm the exact number of sets required prior to each competition.
Requirements for question sets
8. Each question set should consist of 8 (league) or 9 (cup) rounds of 8 questions each. In
each round, questions are asked alternately to members of each team, and are to be
numbered ‘1a’ to ‘4b’, the first player of the side receiving the first question has question
‘1a’ and the 4th player of the opposing side receives ‘4b’. The order of play switches after
4 rounds.
9. Questions should be set in balanced pairs on similar or related topics. Using the key in
the prescribed QLL template, the two questions in a pair will appear in different halves of
the quiz. Therefore, to ensure they are asked to different teams, they will be numbered
either both ‘a’ or both ‘b’. If both questions in a pair appear in rounds in the same half of
the quiz (1-4, 5-8), one must be numbered ‘a’ and the other ‘b’. It is important to the
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balance of the quiz that this requirement is met, and the editor should check each set
particularly carefully in this regard.
10. In cup sets, round 9 is played as a tie-break and should be self-contained, consisting of 4
balanced pairs. Round 9 may use any pattern in which one question in each pair is ‘a’
and one ‘b’. This round should not include any very easy or very hard pairs. Cup sets
must also include a single final tie-break question, with a numerical answer to be
estimated by both teams on a ‘nearest wins’ basis.
11. The question sets must be provided in the template prescribed by QLL, including the date
of the fixture, headings, numbering and notes as shown. The template can be found at
http://www.quizleagueoflondon.co.uk/quizzes/Team_Quiz_Template.docx.
12. Setters and editors must take account of the detailed requirements and guidance in
Annex A. QLL would be happy to discuss this with the chosen setters, and clarify, expand
or amend as appropriate. Annex A stipulates, in particular, that:

each set should contain questions on a wide variety of topics, distributed so that each
seat receives questions from 8 different broad subject categories;

each set should contain questions across a range of difficulty levels, and each seat
should receive a similar number of harder and easier question, and in particular each
seat should receive 2 distinctly easy questions;

the questions in each pair should be of a similar level of difficulty.
13. Setters should also take account of QLL’s published notes for guidance on questionsetting (http://www.quizleagueoflondon.co.uk/quizzes/setting.aspx)1, and should note the
following in particular:

questions should be phrased and punctuated so that that they can easily be read
aloud, and should rarely be longer than 3 lines in the QLL template;

answers should be short (usually one or two words only) and straightforwardly factual;
the answer or required part of a longer answer should be underlined, and should
reflect the minimum information necessary to indicate the relevant knowledge;

in particular, surnames are usually sufficient as answers to questions involving
persons – forename(s) should be included on the answer sheet, but should only be
required (and underlined) when necessary to avoid ambiguity;

there should be no multiple choice questions or questions requiring multi-part
answers (as opposed to multi-word answers for a single title, name, term or phrase);

there should be no cryptic questions, spelling questions, word or arithmetic puzzles
etc.

there should be no binary questions: Yes/No, True/False, Left/Right etc.

there should be no trick questions.
Delivery of question sets
14. Annex B sets out full details of the current delivery scheme. The 3rd part of the
requirement is to replicate this scheme (or provide an alternative approach, to be agreed
with QLL, which fully meets the same objectives). In most QLL matches, the quiz is
accessed and read as an electronic document downloaded from the internet. The
delivery scheme therefore includes provision of a web page on which the quizzes (and a
second ‘friendly’ quiz to be provided by QLL) are posted as password-protected
documents shortly before each match is due to start. It also includes sending text
messages with half of each password to representatives of the home and away teams
(currently 30 recipients per week).
1
This also includes less detailed guidance on the issues discussed in paragraph 12 and Annex A. The
latter should be followed in the case of any perceived contradiction.
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Originality and publication of question sets
15. The requirement is to provide QLL with original sets of questions. These sets (or
substantially similar ones) should not previously have been used in other quiz
competitions or published on a website or otherwise. Nor should they have been
substantially copied from published quiz books (not least because these often contain
errors). The setters must ensure that the contents of forthcoming sets are kept secure,
and are not communicated to anyone who has or may have any connection with QLL.
16. QLL recognises that setters may wish to re-use the sets or question pairs for other
purposes. However, QLL would like to be able to publish the sets used on its public
website. Bidders are therefore invited to specify a period after which their sets would no
longer have commercial value to them and QLL may publish them. QLL would give such
acknowledgement of the setters and their copyright in the set as the setters should
require. QLL will in any event wish to make the sets available immediately to its own
members for private use.
DURATION AND TERMINATION
17. QLL intends to contract for the setting of questions according to this specification for the
seasons 2015-16, 2016-17 and 2017-18. It is envisaged that the contract will allow either
party to terminate the contract at the end of any season prior to a date to be agreed.
18. It is also envisaged that QLL will be entitled to terminate the contract during a season in
the case of serious breach by the other party, and withhold some or all payment in the
case of other breaches. It is envisaged that termination during a season would be
exceptional, and subject to a notice procedure to be set out in the contract. Potential
breaches by the setting party include, but are not restricted to:

failure to produce any of the required sets;

failure to deliver sets in a timely fashion;

breaches of security (e.g. prior publication);

failure to distribute pairs correctly between the two teams (see paragraph 9 above);

provision of sets with missing or factually inaccurate questions or answers; or

repeated failure to take account of the detailed requirements and guidance in
paragraphs 12-13 and Annex A, or any feedback that QLL may provide on the
quizzes.
19. As a minimum, QLL would intend to withhold payment on a pro rata basis for any sets not
provided on time, any pairs where both questions are directed to the same team, and any
question or answer that is missing or demonstrably factually incorrect.
TIMETABLE
23 March 2015
Specification published on QLL website and Facebook page etc.
5 May 2015
Closing date for tenders and expressions of interest (to be sent to
QLL’s General Secretary)
End May 2015
New setters chosen
End June 2015
Contract signed
FORM OF TENDER
20. Firms or other organisations/groups tendering should provide:

a covering letter with business style letter heading, clearly indicating:
(a) the requirement or part/proportion of the requirement bid for (see paragraphs 2 &
7);
(b) the proposed fee per 8-round quiz to be provided for season 2015-16 (the fee for
9-round quizzes to be calculated pro rata);
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(c) the fees or basis for calculating fees (which may be by reference to an index) for
the two subsequent seasons;
(d) if tendering for the delivery part of the requirement only, the fee for this (delivery
should be included in the fee per set if tendering for both);
(e) period after which QLL may publish sets on its website.

a completed QLL Supplier Profile Form (Annex C)

one sample league (8-round) question set (QLL will consider requests to submit this
after the deadline for tenders).
21. Individuals interested in joining (or helping to form) a group to provide quizzes should
express their interest in an email, stating whether they are interested in setting, editing or
both, and attaching a 2-round question set (8 pairs) and Annex C with the relevant parts
completed: name, contact details, setting experience, QLL connections/experience.
All communications in regard to the above, including tenders, shall be by email to:
Gavin Fuller
General Secretary
[email protected]
Potential bidders may email the General Secretary to seek clarification of the requirements in this
document or the website material referred to in it. QLL shall not be bound to release any information
regarding short-listed candidates or their final choice of supplier.
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