Official UK procurement notice
DCAF - Secure Transport and Escort of Children to Scottish Ministers
Authority: Scottish Government (Central government)
What is being bought
Published requirement descriptionScottish Ministers seek to appoint an external service provider for the provision of Secure Transport and Escort of Children.
CPV: Prisoner-escort services · Special-purpose road passenger-transport services
The lotProcurement structure
single lot · value publishedLot #1Scottish Ministers are responsible for the placement and management of children under…RenewalPublished value£1,000,000
Scottish Ministers are responsible for the placement and management of children under the age of 18 who are sentenced to detention by the courts, including responsibility for their secure transportation. Legislative changes introduced through the Children (Care and Justice) (Scotland) Act 2024 reinforce Scotland’s commitment to a rights-based, trauma-informed, child-centred justice system.
The service will provide secure transport and escort services for children between courts, secure centres, hospitals, and other premises across Scotland. This will include, but is not limited to planned, unplanned and standby escorts, and custody and supervision at court, and transfer arrangements when a child reaches the age of 18, where required. The Service will only cover children whose secure transport and escort are the responsibility of Scottish Ministers.
The contract is anticipated to commence in January 2027 for a period of 36 months with the option to extend by up to a further 24 months.
What it takes to wini
How this buyer will score bids.
The evaluation criteria and weights exactly as published on the notice, grouped by family (price, quality, social value and so on).
Evaluation split and conditions of participation as published; the tender pack may add morei
How this buyer will score bids.
The evaluation criteria and weights exactly as published on the notice, grouped by family (price, quality, social value and so on).
Published sub-criteria (11)
- Operational Delivery Model: 20
- Safeguarding, Welfare & Child-Centred Practice: 15
- Mobilisation & Implementation: 15
- Staffing, Training & Workforce: 10
- Risk Management & Incident Handling: 10
- Vehicle, Logistics & Security: 10
- Performance & Continuous Improvement: 5
- Climate Emergency: 5
- Fair Work First: 5
- Business Continuity And Disaster Recovery (BCDR): 5
- price: 25
Published award criteria (12)
- Operational Delivery Model: 20
- Safeguarding, Welfare & Child-Centred Practice: 15
- Mobilisation & Implementation: 15
- Staffing, Training & Workforce: 10
- Risk Management & Incident Handling: 10
- Vehicle, Logistics & Security: 10
- Performance & Continuous Improvement: 5
- Climate Emergency: 5
- Fair Work First: 5
- Business Continuity And Disaster Recovery (BCDR): 5
- Community Benefits: 0
- Price: 25
- Suitability
It shall be a requirement of the contract that all relevant staff must be a certified Prison Custody Officer (PCO). Accordingly, Bidders must confirm that appropriate staff will have, or undertake to achieve, PCO Certification prior to thew Full Service Commencement Date of the Contract.
- Economic & financial standing
4B.4 - Financial Ratios
4B.5.1a/b, 4B.5.2 and 4B.5.3 - Insurance
Minimum: 4B.4 - Bidders must demonstrate a Current Ratio of not less than 1.0 Current Ratio will be calculated as follows: Total Current Assets divided by Total current liabilities. There must be no qualification or contra-indication from any evidence provided in support of the bidders ec… - Technical & professional ability
4C.1.2 - Relevant Experience
4C.4 - Supply Chain Management/Tracking Systems Used
4C.7 - Environmental Management
4C.10 - Proportion (%) to be Sub-Contracted
Minimum: 4C.1.2 - Bidders will be required to provide examples that demonstrate that they have the relevant experience to deliver the services/supplies within the past three years. 4C.4 - If bidders intend to use a supply chain to deliver the requirements detailed in the Contract Notice, …
- Price carries 25 of 125 points: a 10% discount moves about 2.5 points. The method statement decides this lot, not the discount.
Price arithmetic assumes straight proportional scoring; the tender pack may use another formula.
Procedure terms & legal framework
From the official record · publisher note attached- Procedure method
- Open procedure
- Legal basis
- CELEX · 32014L0024 Public Contracts Regulations 2015 (Directive 2014/24/EU)
- Procurement category
- Services
- Notice status
- Closed
- Procurement threshold
- Unspecified in notice
- Regulatory regime
- Standard
- Commercial structure
- Stand-alone contract (no framework)
- Competition type
- Competitive procedure
- GPA / WTO covered
- Yes (GPA)
- Recurring procurement
- No (one-off requirement)
- First published
- 8 May 2026, 11:59 BST
- Last source update
- 6 Jul 2026, 14:48 BST
- Award evaluation window
- 5 Aug 2026 – …
- Authority reference
CASE/850444- FTS notice number
2026/S 000-063254- Classification (CPV)
- Delivery area
- Official registry OCID
ocds-h6vhtk-06947dFind a Tender
- Electronic trading
- e-invoicing allowed · electronic ordering · electronic payment
Publisher note: Economic operators may be excluded from this competition if they are in any of the situations referred to in regulation 58 of the Public Contracts (Scotland) Regulations 2015. Single Procurement Document will be scored on a pass/fail basis. Award Criteria Questions can be found in the ITT together with the weightings. Question scoring methodology for award criteria outlined in Invitation to Tender. Bidders must complete the SPD (Scotland) to demonstrate adherence to the exclusion and selection criteria for this procurement. The buyer is using PCS-Tender to conduct this ITT exercise. The Project code is 32261. For more information see: http://www.publiccontractsscotland.gov.uk/info/InfoCentre.aspx?ID=2343 (SC Ref:836392)
How it was run
Official noticeTender documents are also served through a separate tool: http://www.publictendersscotland.publiccontractsscotland.gov.uk ↗
- Submission deadline
- 5 Aug 2026, 12:00 BST
- Submission channel
- {"electronicSubmission"}
- Accepted languages
- en
- Participation fee
- document
- Bid validity
- 180 days from the deadline
- Bids opened
- 5 Aug 2026, 12:00 BST
Timeline
26 Jun 2026 → 5 Aug 2026 · 4 dates- Next notice expected121 days ago26 Jun 2026, 00:00 BST
- Notice published110 days ago6 Jul 2026, 14:48 BST
- Submission deadline80 days ago5 Aug 2026, 12:00 BST
- Bids opened80 days ago5 Aug 2026, 12:00 BST
Notice history
4 events · 2 releases on Find a Tender · since 6 Jul 2026- Published value updated to £1,000,0006 Jul 2026, 14:48 BSTwas £720,000
- Status changed to active6 Jul 2026, 14:48 BST
- Procurement method changed6 Jul 2026, 14:48 BST
- Deadline published: 5 Aug 2026, 12:00 BST6 Jul 2026, 14:48 BST
Contracting authority & participating public bodies
Dispute resolution & review bodies
- Edinburgh Sheriff CourtReview body
Official documents & specifications
Official links; attachments are not copiedNo document links were published on the notice.