Find a TenderAwarded
Published 5 Aug 2025, 09:41 BST

Official UK procurement notice

FTS047 Pathways to Start - Lot 2 Moray

Official notice

Authority: Highlands and Islands Enterprise

ServicesOpen procedureSME suitable
Published estimate£240,000exc. VAT15.4% below published estimate
Submissions closed 8 Sept 2025awarded 9 Oct 2025
Awarded to Moray College (UHI)
Contract term 5 moends 31 Mar 2026 · extension options published · starts 20 Oct 2025

What is being bought

Published requirement description

THIS IS THE CONTRACT AWARD NOTICE FOR LOT 2 MORAY.

HIE procured a supplier to deliver a programme to support underrepresented groups in entrepreneurship. The programme will inspire participants to increase their ambition, confidence and capability to develop an entrepreneurial mindset and enter pathways for starting a business through a programme of entrepreneurial training and mentoring tailored towards underrepresented groups/individuals specific learning needs.

HIE’s current requirements are divided into two geographical Lots:

  • Lot 1: Argyll and Bute, covering HIE areas only
  • Lot 2: Moray

Note, Lot 1 covers Argyll and Bute geographical area i.e. excluding Arran, Cumbrae, and Helensburgh and Lomond.

The services are required from 20 October 2025 until 31 March 2026, unless terminated in accordance with the provisions of the Contract.

The delivery of the services, submission of all invoices and completion of all reports must be complete by 20 March 2026.

CPV: Adult and other education services · Business and management consultancy and related services · Business and management consultancy services · Business development consultancy services · Education and training services · General management consultancy services · Management training services · Personal development training services · Project management consultancy services · Technical and vocational secondary education services · Training programme services · Training seminars · +1 more

The lotProcurement structure

single lot · value published
Lot #1Key tasks are:Awarded 5 moPublished value£240,000

Key tasks are:

  1. Programme design
  2. Outreach, stakeholder engagement and participant recruitment
  3. Training delivery
  4. Programme administration and monitoring.

Please refer to the Scope of Requirement and Guidance document for full details. Additional information: 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.

Contract period: 20 Oct 2025 – 31 Mar 2026 (5 mo)
Delivery: Scotland
Extensions: HIE reserves the right, on giving reasonable written notice from time to time, to require changes to the Services (whether by way of the removal of Services, the addition of new Services, or increasing or decreasing the Services or specifying the order in which the Services are to be performed or the locations where the Services are to be provided). HIE shall not require any such change other than where it is permitted by Regulation 72 of the Public Contracts (Scotland) Regulations 2015. Examples of contract modifications are but not limited to: -Additional funding is obtained (beyond the GBP20,000 contingency included in the total contract value of each lot) and used e.g. to increase the number of participants. Tendered rates will apply to any increases. -Envisaged number of participants could not be recruited, resulting in reduced service requirements/volumes. -Less than 16 participants could be recruited for the programme – HIE reserves the right not to proceed with the programme and terminate the contract. -Recruited participant numbers exceed 45 for the lot. In this case (some of) the allowance of GBP20,000 will be utilised to provide services to further participants, as per tendered rates per participant. -Where HIE determines (at our sole discretion) that demand for the programme under a lot is lower than expected, HIE reserves the right to re-allocate the budget for that Lot to the other Lot subject to the maximum total budget of GBP480,000 (i.e. the maximum total of the two lots). -If Special Category Personal Data and/or other sensitive personal information requires further/different procedures, the supplier will be required to comply with these.Variant bids: not allowed

What it takes to win
i

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 more
How bids were scored
Quality: 60%Price: 40%
Published sub-criteria (5)
  • Q5 Management and Delivery Methodology: 20%
  • Q6 Delivery Methodology – Inclusivity: 15%
  • Q7 Management and Delivery Team: 20%
  • Q8 Fair Work First: 5%
  • price: 40%
Published award criteria (9)
  • Q1 Prompt Payment Standard Clause: pass/fail
  • Q2 Cyber Security: pass/fail
  • Q3 Payment of the Real Living Wage: pass/fail
  • Q4 UK Data Centres: pass/fail
  • Q5 Management and Delivery Methodology: 20%
  • Q6 Delivery Methodology – Inclusivity: 15%
  • Q7 Management and Delivery Team: 20%
  • Q8 Fair Work First: 5%
  • Price: 40%
Conditions of participation3
  • Suitability

    4A2 Bidders must confirm individuals involved in the delivery of the training programme are/will be registered with Disclosure Scotland’s Protecting Vulnerable Groups Scheme in circumstances where individuals will be required to work with children and/or protected adults. Such registration must be in place prior to commencing training delivery to such individuals and/or cohorts including such individuals.

  • Condition of participation
    no text published
    Minimum: It is a requirement of this Contract that bidders hold, or can commit to obtain prior to the commencement of any subsequently awarded Contract, the types and levels of insurance indicated below: 4B5a Professional Risk Indemnity – minimum GBP1m in aggregate 4B5b Employers (compuls…
  • Technical & professional ability

    4C4 If bidders intend to use a supply chain to deliver the requirements detailed in the Contract Notice, they should confirm they have (or have access to) the relevant supply chain management and tracking systems to ensure a resilient and sustainable supply chain. Please refer to Scope of Requirements for full requirements. If bidders do not pay at least 95% of valid invoices on time and are unable to provide a proportionate and timely improvement plan, their organisation will not be selected to participate further in this procurement.(pass/fail)

    4C10 Bidders will be required to confirm whether they intend to subcontract and, if so, for what proportion of the contract. (for info)

Staff
Names and qualifications of delivery staff must be submitted
What this means for your bid
  • Price carries 40 of 100 points: a 10% discount moves about 4 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
Awarded
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
5 Aug 2025, 09:41 BST
Last source update
20 Oct 2025, 15:59 BST
Award evaluation window
8 Sept 2025 – …
Authority reference
FTS047 - Lot 2
FTS notice number
2025/S 000-066814
Classification (CPV)
Adult and other education servicesBusiness and management consultancy and related servicesBusiness and management consultancy servicesBusiness development consultancy servicesEducation and training servicesGeneral management consultancy servicesManagement training servicesPersonal development training servicesProject management consultancy servicesTechnical and vocational secondary education services
+3 moreTraining programme servicesTraining seminars
Delivery area
Scotland (UKM62)
Official registry OCID
ocds-h6vhtk-058132 Find a Tender
Contract terms
Electronic trading
e-invoicing allowed · electronic ordering · electronic payment
Performance terms

Refer to the Scope of Requirements and Guidance document.

Publisher note: The figure stated in sections II.1.7 and V.2.4 is the total value of the contract for this lot including the GBP 20,000 allowance. (SC Ref:812711)

How it was run

Official notice
Run through: Public Contracts Scotland · Who buys & how to bid on PCS
Supplier login requiredLanguage: EN
Access & registration note: Free single registration for Scotland; PCS-Tender (Jaggaer) for full bidding
Submission deadline
8 Sept 2025, 12:00 BST
Submission channel
{"electronicSubmission"}
Accepted languages
en
Bid validity
90 days from the deadline
Bids opened
8 Sept 2025, 12:00 BST
Detailed submission instructions & authority contactsFrom official release

Timeline

8 Sept 2025 → 20 Oct 2025 · 4 dates
  1. Submission deadline
    8 Sept 2025, 12:00 BST
  2. Bids opened
    8 Sept 2025, 12:00 BST
  3. Contract starts368 days ago
    20 Oct 2025, 00:00 BST
  4. Notice published367 days ago
    20 Oct 2025, 15:59 BST

Notice history

1 event · 2 releases on Find a Tender
  1. Status changed to complete
    20 Oct 2025, 15:59 BST

Commercial outcome & contract awards

Published awards, contracts and bid statistics, not a forecast
Awards 1
Awarded value £203,0611 contract exc. VAT
Bids received 1211 from SMEs
Contracts signed 1latest 9 Oct 2025
Awarded toValueDateStatus
Moray College (UHI)SMESubcontracting: mentoring£203,061 †—Awarded

Contracts

  • Contract 066814-2025-FTS 047 Lot 2-1 · Moray College (UHI)SME

    Signed
    9 Oct 2025
    Value
    £203,061
    Period
    … – 31 Mar 2026
    Status
    active

Bid statistics published by the authority

BidsSMEVCSEValid bid range
12bids · 12 electronic · 12 from abroad11——

Contracting authority & participating public bodies

Highlands and Islands Enterprise

Contracting authorityRegional or local agency/officeEconomic affairs An Lòchran, 10 Inverness Campus, Inverness, Scotland, IV2 5NAContact email, phone Published organisation website ↗

Dispute resolution & review bodies

  • Inverness Sheriff Court and Justice of the Peace CourtReview body InvernessContact email, phone

Bidders & participating suppliers

1 commercial party on the notice

Official documents & specifications

Official links; attachments are not copied

No document links were published on the notice.