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Published 24 Mar 2025, 09:06 GMT

Official UK procurement notice

Website Development, Maintenance and Hosting Framework

Official notice

Authority: Highlands and Islands Enterprise·Consortium: 3 public authorities

Framework agreementServicesOpen procedureSME suitable

Sectors: IT Services & Software (72)Business Services & Consultancy (79) Delivery: Scotland (UKM)

Framework ceiling (notional)£1,173,600framework ceiling, not attributable revenue

Submissions closed 14 May 2025awarded 17 Jul 2025

What is being bought

Published requirement description

THIS IS A CONTRACT AWARD NOTICE AND AS SUCH THE PROCUREMENT PROCESS IS COMPLETE.

Highlands and Islands Enterprise (HIE) is seeking to appoint a suitably qualified supplier to further develop, maintain and host its suite of websites on the Umbraco content management system. This Framework is being procured for Highlands and Islands Enterprise (HIE) and on behalf of Wave Energy Scotland (WES), Orkney Research and Innovation Campus (ORIC) and any other Contracting Authority wholly or partly under the control of, or funded by HIE, WES or ORIC, at any point during the term of this Framework, subject to case-by-case approval by HIE.

These services will be required from 1 August 2025 for an initial period of 3 years (unless terminated in accordance with the provisions of the Framework agreement) with HIE having the option to extend for a period or periods together not exceeding 1 year following the Initial Term.

Recurrence: HIE reserves the right to re-tender for these services upon termination of the framework or at the end of the Framework, including any extension period.

CPV: Application service providers · Custom software development services · Data services · Internet development services · Internet or intranet client application development services · Internet services · Marketing management consultancy services · Marketing services · Programming services of packaged software products · Provider services · Sales, marketing and business intelligence software development services · Software programming and consultancy services · +4 more

How this framework works

From the published notice

Places: up to 1 suppliers · 5 bids received (5.0 per place) · 1 appointed (full)

The lotProcurement structure

single lot · value published

Lot #1This framework will support the ongoing evolution of our websitesAwardedRenewalPublished value£1,173,600

This framework will support the ongoing evolution of our websites. The key tasks under the framework are:

1.Hosting

2.Transfer of existing websites

3.Website planning, scoping, design and build

4.Aftercare – maintenance, support and upgrades

5.Project management and reporting

6.Code red

7.Usability, accessibility and testing

8.Website sustainability

9.Strategic campaign planning and delivery

10.Metrics and optimisation

The 3-year budget, excluding VAT but inclusive of travel and subsistence, currently available to deliver these services is between GBP 526,000 and GBP 880,200. 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.

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 such as a business need, 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 modification include but are not limited to: - To provide for additional services by the original supplier that have become necessary and were not included in the initial procurement. - Where services/part of the service provided can be delivered inhouse by HIE/HIE shared IT services and no longer necessitate outsourcing. - Where changes to available technology mean that one or more of the Contracting Authorities considers that it would benefit from additional Services of a similar character to the Services. - Where one or more of the Contracting Authorities requires additional Services as a result of changes in Scottish Government policy or as a result of a direction given to them by the Scottish Government. · The framework will be awarded for an initial period of 3 year with HIE having the option to extend for a period or periods together not exceeding 12 months following the Initial Term.Variant bids: not allowed

72200000 Software programming and consultancy services 72210000 Programming services of packaged software products 72212480 Sales, marketing and business intelligence software development services 72230000 Custom software development services 72240000 Systems analysis and programming services 72250000 System and support services

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: 65%Price: 40%

Published sub-criteria (7)

Q5 Implementation, management and delivery methodology – HOSTING: 18%
Q6 Implementation, management and delivery methodology –WEBSITE: 18%
Q7 Management and Delivery Team: 10%
Q8 Inverness Campus Project: 12%
Q9 Fair Work: 5%
Q10 Monitoring and Reporting of Community Benefits: 2%
price: 40%

Published award criteria (11)

Q1 Umbraco and Microsoft Developers: pass/fail
Q2 Prompt Payment Standard Clause: pass/fail
Q3 Cyber Security: pass/fail
Q4 Hosting location – UK servers only: pass/fail
Q5 Implementation, management and delivery methodology – HOSTING: 18%
Q6 Implementation, management and delivery methodology –WEBSITE: 18%
Q7 Management and Delivery Team: 10%
Q8 Inverness Campus Project: 12%
Q9 Fair Work: 5%
Q10 Monitoring and Reporting of Community Benefits: 2%
Price: 40%

Staff: Names and qualifications of delivery staff must be submitted

What this means for your bid

Price carries 40 of 105 points: a 10% discount moves about 4 points. The method statement decides this lot, not the discount.
“Website Development, Maintenance and Hosting Framework” is a framework: the contest is a place on its panel, up to 1 suppliers, not a single contract.

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: Framework agreement
Who may use this agreement: Not stated in the notice; call-off rights may be limited to the establishing authority
Competition type: Competitive procedure
GPA / WTO covered: Yes (GPA)
Recurring procurement: Yes · HIE reserves the right to re-tender for these services upon termination of the framework or at the end of the Framework, including any extension period.
First published: 24 Mar 2025, 09:06 GMT
Last source update: 17 Jul 2025, 11:36 BST
Award evaluation window: 14 May 2025 – …
Authority reference: FTS 043
FTS notice number: 2025/S 000-040856
Classification (CPV): Application service providersCustom software development servicesData servicesInternet development servicesInternet or intranet client application development servicesInternet servicesMarketing management consultancy servicesMarketing servicesProgramming services of packaged software productsProvider services
+6 more
Sales, marketing and business intelligence software development servicesSoftware programming and consultancy services
Delivery area: Scotland (UKM)
Official registry OCID: ocds-h6vhtk-04f7a8 Find a Tender

Contract terms

Electronic trading: e-invoicing allowed · electronic ordering · electronic payment

Publisher note: The total value of the framework over the maximum duration of 4 years will be GBP 1,086,190 (excluding VAT). This is the figure which has been used in II.1.5 & II.2.6. (SC Ref:804688)

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

Appointment period ends: 14 May 2025, 12:00 BST
Submission channel: {"electronicSubmission"}
Accepted languages: en
Bid validity: 90 days from the deadline
Bids opened: 14 May 2025, 12:00 BST

Detailed submission instructions & authority contactsFrom official release

www.publiccontractsscotland.gov.uk ↗

Timeline

14 May 2025 → 17 Jul 2025 · 3 dates

Admission / appointment period endsperiod end, not a bid countdown
14 May 2025, 12:00 BST
Bids opened
14 May 2025, 12:00 BST
Notice published
17 Jul 2025, 11:36 BST

Notice history

1 event · 2 releases on Find a Tender

Status changed to complete
17 Jul 2025, 11:36 BST

Commercial outcome & contract awards

Published awards, contracts and bid statistics, not a forecast

Suppliers appointed 1admitted to the panel · see the list ↓

Bids received 55 from SMEs

Contracts signed 1latest 17 Jul 2025

1 suppliers are admitted to this framework without individual award values or dates, see the supplier list below.

Contracts

Contract 040856-2025-FTS 43-1
Signed
17 Jul 2025
Value
£1,086,190
Status
active

Bid statistics published by the authority

Bids	SME	VCSE	Valid bid range
5bids · 5 electronic · 5 from abroad	5	—	—

Contracting authority & participating public bodies

3 public bodies on the notice

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 ↗

Consortium members and other public bodies

Orkney Research and Innovation Campus LLPContracting authority Stromness, UKContact email, phone
Wave Energy Scotland LimitedContracting authority Inverness, ScotlandContact email, phone

Dispute resolution & review bodies

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

Framework contractors & participating bidders

1 commercial party on the notice

Bright Digital Marketing LTD (Bright Signals)Framework contractor 33 Lynedoch St, Glasgow, Scotland, G3 6AA

Official documents & specifications (2)

Official links; attachments are not copied

Tender pack and attachments

Economic and financial selection criteriatenderEconomic and financial selection criteria
Technical selection criteriatenderTechnical selection criteria