Official UK procurement notice
Minor Archaeological Services Call-Off Contract
Authority: Historic Environment Scotland
What is being bought
Published requirement descriptionHistoric Environment Scotland (HES) requires a call off contract to be put in place for minor archaeological services.
- Recurrence: Six years from contract award
CPV: Archaeological services · Excavation work at archaeological sites · Geophysical surveys of archaeological sites
The lotProcurement structure
single lot · value publishedLot #1The proposed contract is for the provision of minor archaeological services on the HES estateRenewalPublished value£480,000
- Extensions
The Contracting Authority reserves the right to request additional deliveries by the Successful Tenderer, either intended as partial replacement of supplies or installations or as extensions of existing supplies and installations. The Contracting Authority may at it's sole discretion exercise this option. · The contract will be in place for an initial period of twenty-four months, with the option to extend the more…
contract by four further twelve month periods at the discretion of HES, giving a total potential contract length of seventy-two months.- Variant bids
- not allowed
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 (2)
- Technical — 60%
- price — 40%
Published award criteria (2)
- Technical — 60
- price — 40
- Economic & financial standing
HES use Scotbis, an independent provider of business credit reports, to assess the financial standing of tenderers. The overall aim of this assessment is to ensure, as far as possible, that any potential Supplier will not have financial difficulties that more…
endanger their ability to perform the Contract. If financial information cannot be gained from that source Historic Environment Scotland will request that you provide full audited accounts for the last full financial year. If Suppliers cannot provide any of the assurances as detailed above, and it is determined by HES that your financial strength is not adequate, then your company may not pass the financial evaluation. If you can provide the assurances as detailed above, HES may explore these options with you before determining whether your company can be taken forward in this procurement exercise. Bank details may also be sought to support the above.Minimum:With reference to SPD question 4B.5, 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 more…
levels of insurance indicated below: - Public Liability - minimum cover GBP 5 millio…
- Staff
- Names and qualifications of delivery staff must be submitted
Competition analysis · published record, not a forecast of who will bid
How Historic Environment Scotland runs Engineering-related scientific and technical services (CPV 7135) tenders for its clients — and who usually turns up
Historic Environment Scotland procures on behalf of other bodies; its record below covers every client it has tendered for, next to the Scotland market for the same work. Frameworks and DPS are kept out: they attract a different number of bids. Whole-market view: Engineering-related scientific and technical services (CPV 7135) →
How the contest usually goes
Left: the procurement agent running this notice. Right: the market where the work is delivered. Bids and award-vs-estimate pairs are per lot, from contested contracts only — direct awards (including PA 2023 transparency notices) report one bid by definition and are left out. On Procurement Act 2023 notices the count is the tenders assessed at the final stage, not every submission received; pairs compare like with like (VAT-exclusive, or VAT-inclusive on both sides). Empty means nothing was published, not filled in from elsewhere.
Historic Environment Scotland
Runs tenders for other bodies; the client is named in the notice, not in this record. contract notices in 36 months: 3 in CPV 7135 · 6 in division 71 (1 without competition) · 63 in all categories (11 without competition · 2 route not published)
i
How many companies usually bid for work like this.
Middle value of published bid counts, one per lot, for this buyer or this region in the same sector.
Based on this buyer’s tenders in this industry (CPV 71), last 36 months: 3 lots. All 3 lots are from older notices, which count bids received.
Nothing is filled in from UK-wide numbers. An empty tile means nothing usable was published.
i
How often only one company bid.
Share of lots that received exactly one bid, on the same competitions as the bids figure.
Based on this buyer’s tenders in this industry (CPV 71), last 36 months: 3 lots.
High means a thin market or an incumbent that is hard to beat.
i
Do awards for work like this land above or below the estimate.
Estimate against award per lot, for this buyer or this region in the same sector.
Based on this buyer’s tenders in all categories, last 36 months: 3 pairs.
A past pattern, not a price to bid.
i
How long buyers here take to decide after bids close.
Middle value in days from the deadline to the first award notice, on competitions that published both dates.
Nothing published for this buyer in this sector: no award dates published.
Only decided tenders count, so slow ones still waiting are not in.
i
How often this buyer changes a notice after publishing it.
Middle number of amendments per notice. Deadline extensions and corrections both count.
Based on this buyer’s tenders in all categories, last 24 months: 48 notices.
i
How often this buyer awards without a competition.
Direct or limited awards as a share of its notices that say which procedure was used. These routes are legal in defined cases. This is just the record.
Based on this buyer’s tenders in this sector (CPV 7135), last 36 months: 3 notices.
Scotland · Engineering-related scientific and technical services (CPV 7135)
contract notices delivered in Scotland in 36 months: 45 in CPV 7135 (34 competed, 6 route not published) · 536 in division 71 (395 competed, 82 route not published)
i
How many companies usually bid for work like this.
Middle value of published bid counts, one per lot, for this buyer or this region in the same sector.
Based on this region’s tenders in this sector (CPV 7135), last 36 months: 18 lots. All 18 lots are from older notices, which count bids received.
Nothing is filled in from UK-wide numbers. An empty tile means nothing usable was published.
i
How often only one company bid.
Share of lots that received exactly one bid, on the same competitions as the bids figure.
Based on this region’s tenders in this sector (CPV 7135), last 36 months: 18 lots.
High means a thin market or an incumbent that is hard to beat.
i
Do awards for work like this land above or below the estimate.
Estimate against award per lot, for this buyer or this region in the same sector.
Based on this region’s tenders in this sector (CPV 7135), last 36 months: 10 pairs.
A past pattern, not a price to bid.
i
How long buyers here take to decide after bids close.
Middle value in days from the deadline to the first award notice, on competitions that published both dates.
Based on this region’s tenders in this industry (CPV 71), last 36 months: 5 notices.
Only decided tenders count, so slow ones still waiting are not in.
i
How much of this market goes to small and medium firms.
SME bidders where buyers published the split, otherwise SME winners.
Based on this region’s tenders in this sector (CPV 7135), last 36 months: 16 lots.
i
How much work like this goes to companies based in the delivery region.
Awards in this category delivered here where the winner’s registered address is in the region.
Based on this region’s tenders in this sector (CPV 7135), last 36 months: 11 awards.
Registered address, so a national firm with a local branch counts as outside.
i
Where this tender’s estimate would land if the usual pattern repeats.
We apply the buyer’s usual movement between estimate and award (or the region’s) to the estimate on this notice.
Based on 3 lots, so only the direction is shown, not a pound figure.
A benchmark, not a price to bid.
Coverage and what to read with care
- Each tile explains itself. The on a figure says what it is, how it is counted and which scope this notice’s own record came from (class, division, all categories, or the authority’s 24-month row). The two columns are never blended and nothing is filled from a UK-wide figure; an empty tile means the source published nothing usable. Long form: Methodology.
- Coverage. Roughly 40 % of notices publish a bid count; about half publish an ITL1 delivery location, so the market column reads the authority’s registered region when the notice has none (labelled). About 30 % of award-vs-estimate pairs are exact matches — the buyer published the award at the estimate. n is on every figure; a thin sample is muted, never hidden.
- “Match” and “relevance” are model scores from the nightly matcher, not published facts. Find a Tender does not publish who is bidding. Never shown: contact details, payment behaviour, or a recommended price.
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
- Open for tender
- 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
- Yes · Six years from contract award
- First published
- 25 Sept 2026, 12:13 BST
- Last source update
- 25 Sept 2026, 12:13 BST
- Award evaluation window
- 27 Oct 2026, 12:00 GMT — …
- Authority reference
HES/C/4362- Classification (CPV)
- Delivery area
- Official registry OCID
ocds-h6vhtk-077a71
- Electronic trading
- e-invoicing allowed · electronic ordering · electronic payment
Publisher note: NOTE: To register your interest in this notice and obtain any additional information please visit the Public Contracts Scotland Web Site at https://www.publiccontractsscotland.gov.uk/Search/Search_Switch.aspx?ID=843197. The buyer has indicated that it will accept electronic responses to this notice via the Postbox facility. A user guide is available at https://www.publiccontractsscotland.gov.uk/sitehelp/help_guides.aspx. Suppliers are advised to allow adequate time for uploading documents and to dispatch the electronic response well in advance of the closing time to avoid any last minute problems. Community benefits are included in this requirement. For more information see: https://www.gov.scot/policies/public-sector-procurement/community-benefits-in-procurement/ A summary of the expected community benefits has been provided as follows: A question on community benefits will form part of the scored quality evaluation for this tender. Please see the attached documentation for further details. (SC Ref:843197) Download the ESPD document here: https://www.publiccontractsscotland.gov.uk/ESPD/ESPD_Download.aspx?id=843197
How to participate & submission route
Submit via Public Contracts Scotland- Expression of interest (EOI)
- —
- Tender submission deadline
- 27 Oct 2026, 12:00 GMT
- Clarification deadline
- —
- Submission channel
- {"electronicSubmission"}
- Accepted languages
- en
- Bid validity
- 150 days from the deadline
- Bids opened
- 27 Oct 2026, 12:00 GMT
Timeline
3 published dates · Europe/London- Notice publishedjust passed25 Sept 2026, 12:13 BST
- Submission deadlinein 32 days27 Oct 2026, 12:00 GMT
- Bids openedin 32 days27 Oct 2026, 12:00 GMT
Commercial outcome & contract awards
Nothing awarded yet- Awards (0)
- No award published
- Contracts (0)
- No contract published
- Bid statistics
- No aggregate bid statistics published
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; the tender pack is on the portal.