Official UK procurement notice
Provision of Grounds & Winter Maintenance Services
Authority: National Galleries of Scotland
What is being bought
Published requirement descriptionNational Galleries Scotland (NGS) plan to procure a single Contractor for the Provision of Grounds & Winter Maintenance Services.
The Contractor will be responsible for providing all resources including labour, materials, plant and equipment to conduct the service activities required to be delivered.
The Contractor shall be required to apply modern horticultural techniques and practices which together with their own comprehensive expertise and experience, will manage and complete Grounds and Winter Maintenance to rigorous standards of discipline, cleanliness and tidiness to achieve the requirements of the contract.
The contract is anticipated to commence 1st August 2026 and run for a period of 5 years with the option to extend up to an additional 24 months, resulting in a maximum 7 year contract duration.
NGS is looking to engage with the market. The purpose of this PIN is to gauge interest as well as seek views and information from the marketplace in relation to a potential future contract opportunity. It will also inform the procurement strategy ensuring that any procurement route subsequently selected is attractive to the marketplace and will provide a competitive tendering environment for efficient delivery of any future contract requirements.
Contractors should note that this PIN does not constitute any guarantee or work, it is purely for market research purposes.
CPV: Grounds maintenance services · Landscape gardening services · Landscaping work for sports grounds and recreational areas
The lotProcurement structure
single lot · no lot value publishedLot #1This is a Request for Information (RFI) only (not an Invitation to Tender)Planned
This is a Request for Information (RFI) only (not an Invitation to Tender).
The RFI document is available from the Public Contracts Scotland Website.
The deadline for raising any questions in relation to the RFI is 12noon on Monday the 15th December 2025, with the deadline for responding to the RFI being 12noon on Friday 19th December 2025.
Pipeline intelligence · planning stage: how this market runs before the tender is published
How National Galleries of Scotland buys Planting and maintenance services of green areas (CPV 7731), and who usually turns up
National Galleries of Scotland’s own published record, next to the published market for the same work. Frameworks and DPS are kept out: they attract a different number of bids. Whole-market view: Planting and maintenance services of green areas (CPV 7731) →
How the contest usually goes
Winner shares use published awards; bid and price charts use contested lots.
i
How often small and medium firms win.
Share of awards where the winner’s size is known.
The counts under this question show how many awards have a known supplier size.
Small firms have won here. Neither number says whether you qualify; it describes who has been winning.
i
How often local firms win similar work.
Winners with a registered address in the delivery region, out of awards with a known address.
Here, local means registered in Scotland.
A local branch does not count if the registered address is elsewhere.
Most of this buyer’s recorded winners are registered in Scotland.
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.
Only decided tenders count, so slow ones still waiting are not in.
Half of these awards were announced within 45 days of the bid deadline.
i
How often work is awarded with no recorded rival.
Direct awards and tenders where every published lot count shows one bid.
Thin markets produce this too; it is not proof of a tailored specification.
Awards are recorded, but published direct routes and bid counts do not establish this buyer’s share.
How many bids did past lots attract?
i
How many bids past lots received.
Each colour is a bid-count range. Only competed lots with a published count are included.
Past bids do not predict this tender.
1 bid22%
2–348%
4–622%
7+7%
How did awards compare with estimates?
i
Where winning prices landed against estimates.
Each colour shows awards below, close to or above the published estimate, one lot at a time.
Past prices are a guide, not a bid price.
Below estimate53%
Within ±2%12%
Above estimate35%
Assess each lot i
What past awards tell you about each lot.
See the forecast, this buyer’s earlier suppliers and firms with relevant wins.
No supplier is confirmed as a bidder.
i
What past awards tell you about each lot.
See the forecast, this buyer’s earlier suppliers and firms with relevant wins.
No supplier is confirmed as a bidder.
Open a lot for its forecast, this buyer’s previous supplier and possible competitors, from published award history, not a bid list
Lot #1This is a Request for Information (RFI) only (not an Invitation to Tender)CPV 7731Estimate not published
i
How many bids this lot may attract.
The forecast uses similar past competitions. The bar shows either that forecast or past bid counts; the line below says which.
Each lot shows its own forecast based on its own category; forecasts for different lots of the same notice are not comparative. The bar shows 67 past lots.
A forecast, not a list of bidders.
1 bid22%
2–348%
4–622%
7+7%
i
Where the award price may land.
The forecast uses similar awards and the buyer’s estimate. The band covers the middle half of likely prices.
No comparable awards for this lot yet.
A statistical guide from past awards, not a price to bid.
Who has supplied this buyer on similar work? i
Who has done similar work for this buyer.
Past contracts are matched by buyer, title and type of work.
A past supplier may not bid again.
i
Who has done similar work for this buyer.
Past contracts are matched by buyer, title and type of work.
A past supplier may not bid again.
| Supplier | This buyer’s earlier contract | Lot | Award value | Why listed |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Nurture Landscapes LtdEarlier contract | Provision of Grounds & Winter Maintenance Servicesnotice published Nov 2022 | — | £906k | Matched as the earlier contract |
Who could compete for this lot? i
Who could compete for this lot?
Firms with relevant past wins. On a framework, we show firms on that agreement.
None is confirmed as a bidder.
i
Who could compete for this lot?
Firms with relevant past wins. On a framework, we show firms on that agreement.
None is confirmed as a bidder.
Candidate suppliers for this notice have not been worked out yet, so this is not a verdict that nobody fits.
About this data
- Source. Official UK public procurement notices (Find a Tender), reused under the Open Government Licence v3.0. New notices arrive through the day; the figures are rebuilt nightly.
- Two views, kept apart. The authority’s own track record and the wider market for the same kind of work sit side by side and are never mixed. Where the local picture is too thin, a figure widens to a broader market and says which one it used.
- Forecasts are labelled. The price forecast and its range, possible competitors and the earlier-work matches are our estimates from past awards: not published facts, not win chances and not price advice. Official notices do not say who is bidding.
- Every figure shows what it rests on. Not every notice publishes a bid count, a value or a delivery region, so each figure carries the number of records behind it, and one built on few records is marked as such. The on a figure explains it; the counting rules are in the methodology. Spotted something wrong? Tell us.
What this replaces i
Who has done similar work for this buyer.
Past contracts are matched by buyer, title and type of work.
100% title match.
A past supplier may not bid again.
i
Who has done similar work for this buyer.
Past contracts are matched by buyer, title and type of work.
100% title match.
A past supplier may not bid again.
The prior contract this notice most likely re-tenders · matched by title and category (100% title match), the holder is not guaranteed to re-bid
Provision of Grounds & Winter Maintenance Services — held by Nurture Landscapes Ltd; no contract end date published.
Procedure terms & legal framework
From the official record · publisher note attached- Legal basis
- CELEX · 32014L0024 Public Contracts Regulations 2015 (Directive 2014/24/EU)
- Procurement category
- Services
- Notice status
- Planned procurement
- 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
- Unspecified in notice
- First published
- 4 Dec 2025, 10:32 GMT
- Last source update
- 4 Dec 2025, 10:32 GMT
- FTS notice number
2025/S 000-079618- Classification (CPV)
- Delivery area
- Official registry OCID
ocds-h6vhtk-05ee84Find a Tender
Publisher note: Please note this notice is NOT a Call for Competition. Any future contract opportunities related to this requirement may be published on Public Contracts Scotland (PCS) and/or Find a Tender Service (FTS). By issuing this Prior Information Notice (PIN), NGS does not make any commitment to procure any of the stated requirements. This PIN is a Request for Information. Suppliers should refer to the 'PIN - Request for Information - Scope' document which summarises certain aspects of the potential tender exercise but does not purport to contain complete descriptions of such potential arrangements. The services described in the document are proposals ONLY and should not be taken as final. The Form 'PIN - Request for Information - Response' should be used to provide a response. Dates and other information contained in this notice are indicative only and may be subject to change. No other tender documentation is available at this time. NGS may use information, comments etc. provided and/or future correspondence when compiling any final tender documents but reserves the right not to accept any such information, comments etc. from any respondent. This decision will be at the sole discretion of NGS. All correspondence regarding this PIN will be via Public Contracts Scotland (PCS). PCS is free to use and free to register and also gives access to an online 'Question & Answer' facility which must be used to raise any queries relating to this PIN. Queries must be raised before 12noon on Monday 15th December 2025. Please return your completed response by 12noon on Friday 19th December 2025 to [email protected] only, using the title 'Provision of Grounds & Winter Maintenance Services - PIN Response' in your email header. NGS will not be liable for any costs incurred in submitting a response to this RFI. 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=817572. (SC Ref:817572)
How it was run
Official noticeTender documents are also served through a separate tool: https://www.publiccontractsscotland.gov.uk ↗
- Submission deadline
- —
Timeline
4 Dec 2025 → 27 Feb 2026 · 2 dates- Notice published322 days ago4 Dec 2025, 10:32 GMT
- Tender notice expected237 days ago27 Feb 2026
Commercial outcome & contract awards
Pipeline notice- Awards (0)
- No award published
- Contracts (0)
- No contract published
- Bid statistics
- No aggregate bid statistics published
Contracting authority & participating public bodies
Official documents & specifications
Official links; attachments are not copiedNo document links were published on the notice.