Contract notice
Section I: Contracting
authority
I.1) Name and addresses
Scottish Parliamentary Corporate Body
The Scottish Parliament, Procurement Services
Edinburgh
EH99 1SP
UK
Contact person: Euan Muirhead
Telephone: +44 1313485000
E-mail: Euan.Muirhead@parliament.scot
NUTS: UKM75
Internet address(es)
Main address: http://www.parliament.scot
Address of the buyer profile: https://www.publiccontractsscotland.gov.uk/search/Search_AuthProfile.aspx?ID=AA10284
I.2) Joint procurement
The contract is awarded by a central purchasing body
I.3) Communication
The procurement documents are available for unrestricted and full direct access, free of charge at:
https://www.publictendersscotland.publiccontractsscotland.gov.uk
Additional information can be obtained from the abovementioned address
Tenders or requests to participate must be sent electronically to:
https://www.publictendersscotland.publiccontractsscotland.gov.uk
I.4) Type of the contracting authority
Other: Devolved Parliament
I.5) Main activity
Other: Legislative Body
Section II: Object
II.1) Scope of the procurement
II.1.1) Title
Recruitment Services for Deliberative Engagement
Reference number: SPCB-0523
II.1.2) Main CPV code
79600000
II.1.3) Type of contract
Services
II.1.4) Short description
The SPCB require a Contractor to provide recruitment services to randomly select and recruit members of the public to participate in deliberative engagement events delivered to support the work of the Scottish Parliament.
II.1.6) Information about lots
This contract is divided into lots:
No
II.2) Description
II.2.3) Place of performance
NUTS code:
UKM75
II.2.4) Description of the procurement
The SPCB require a Contractor to provide recruitment services to randomly select and recruit members of the public to participate in deliberative engagement events delivered to support the work of the Scottish Parliament.
Recruitment shall be undertaken using a robust and transparent random selection methodology, designed to minimise selection bias and maximise inclusivity. The preferred approach is random selection via postal invitation to a randomly generated sample of residential addresses, with appropriate follow-up procedures to support response rates and accessibility. Where alternative or supplementary methods are proposed, Contractors must clearly demonstrate how these preserve the integrity of random selection.
Potential participants will then be stratified from the pool of respondents to broadly reflect the specified demographic profile requested by the Scottish Parliament, such as the adult population of Scotland, a Parliamentary region, or within a specified radius of an event location. To ensure broad participation the contractor should consider how their methodology encourages participation from residents in lower SIMD and have contingency plans to support successful fulfilment of all demographic targets.
The SPCB will typically require between 20–30 participants to be involved in deliberative engagement processes; however, this may vary depending on the needs of the Parliamentary Committee requesting deliberative input and available budget.
The Contractor shall propose a methodology that is both cost-effective and consistent with the principles of random selection and stratified sampling, setting out how participants will be contacted, recruited, and selected from the respondent pool.
II.2.5) Award criteria
Criteria below:
Quality criterion: Quality
/ Weighting: 70
Cost criterion: Price
/ Weighting: 70
II.2.7) Duration of the contract, framework agreement or dynamic purchasing system
Duration in months: 12
This contract is subject to renewal: Yes
Description of renewals:
option of four 12-month extensions at the sole discretion of the SPCB
II.2.9) Information about the limits on the number of candidates to be invited
II.2.10) Information about variants
Variants will be accepted:
No
II.2.11) Information about options
Options:
No
II.2.13) Information about European Union funds
The procurement is related to a project and/or programme financed by European Union funds:
No
Section III: Legal, economic, financial and technical information
III.1) Conditions for participation
III.1.1) Suitability to pursue the professional activity, including requirements relating to enrolment on professional or trade registers
List and brief description of conditions:
In relation to the SPD:
4A.1 not used
4A.2 not used
III.1.2) Economic and financial standing
List and brief description of selection criteria:
The Scottish Parliamentary Corporate Body (SPCB) uses Creditsafe, an independent provider of online business credit reports, to assess the financial standing of tenderers. We highly recommend that tenderers review their financial performance on Creditsafe to understand their credit score rating which will be used by the SPCB to evaluate the financial standing of the tenderer and that they read the information about how that data is collected and used prior to submitting a tender. Information and the opportunity to run a free report can be found at http://www.creditsafe.com/products/business-credit-reports/
Minimum level(s) of standards required:
The SPCB requires tenderers to have a Creditsafe Risk Score of 40 or higher to demonstrate satisfactory financial standing. If a tenderer has a lower credit risk score than 40 on Creditsafe and has the backing of a parent company with a credit risk score of 40 or higher, then the provision of a parent company guarantee will be required prior to the award of any contract. If a tenderer has a lower credit risk score than 40 and cannot provide a parent company guarantee, they must submit evidence to support a stable and improved financial standing with their tender or the tender may be rejected. If no evidence is provided with the tender or the evidence provided is not sufficient to demonstrate a satisfactory financial position to the satisfaction of the SPCB (whose decision in this regard shall be final), then the tender will be rejected and will not be evaluated further.
If a tenderer is not listed on Creditsafe, for whatever reason, then it will be asked to submit equivalent accounts to enable the required assessment of financial standing to be carried out. If the information provided does not, in the SPCB’s opinion, demonstrate a satisfactory financial position, the bid may be rejected.
In relation to the SPD:
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 levels of insurance indicated below:
- Employers’ Liability GBP 5,000,000
- Public Liability GBP 1,000,000
- Professional Indemnity GBP 500,000
III.1.3) Technical and professional ability
List and brief description of selection criteria:
For SPD question 4C.1 - Not used
For SPD question 4C.1.2 - Please provide details of one contract completed within the last three years that demonstrate your relevant experience in delivering recruitment services for deliberative engagement, citizens' assemblies, citizens' panels, people's panels, public participation exercises or similar projects.
Please provide:
- Client name and organisation;
- A description of the services provided;
- The methodology used to recruit participants, including any random selection, sortition or stratified sampling approaches;
- The steps taken to achieve a representative sample of the target population;
- Any challenges encountered and how these were addressed;
- The outcomes achieved, including evidence of successful recruitment against agreed demographic targets; and
- Contact details for a referee who may be approached for verification.
Bidders should demonstrate experience of recruiting participants from diverse demographic groups and delivering recruitment exercises that support deliberative engagement and informed public participation.
Failure to provide an example which demonstrate the relevant experience will result in the bidder’s submission being rejected.
Minimum level(s) of standards required:
In relation to the SPD:
4C.2 - 4C.12 Not Used
4D.1 - 4D.2 Not Used
III.2) Conditions related to the contract
III.2.2) Contract performance conditions
In order to ensure the highest standards of service quality in this contract the SPCB requires the contractor to take a positive approach to fair work practices. Full details of all performance conditions are set out in the procurement documents.
Section IV: Procedure
IV.1) Description
IV.1.1) Type of procedure
Open procedure
IV.1.8) Information about Government Procurement Agreement (GPA)
The procurement is covered by the Government Procurement Agreement:
Yes
IV.2) Administrative information
IV.2.1) Previous publication concerning this procedure
Notice number in the OJ S:
2026/S 000-053434
IV.2.2) Time limit for receipt of tenders or requests to participate
Date:
02/11/2026
Local time: 12:00
IV.2.4) Languages in which tenders or requests to participate may be submitted
EN
IV.2.7) Conditions for opening of tenders
Date:
02/11/2026
Local time: 12:00
Section VI: Complementary information
VI.1) Information about recurrence
This is a recurrent procurement:
Yes
Estimated timing for further notices to be published:
Estimated timing for further notices to be published: 5 years
VI.2) Information about electronic workflows
Electronic ordering will be used
Electronic invoicing will be accepted
Electronic payment will be used
VI.3) Additional information
Please note there are minimum requirements concerning Cyber Security for this contract to which a pass/fail marking will attach. Tenderers will be required to complete a Supplier Cyber Assurance Questionnaire.
The questionnaire will be aligned to a Cyber Risk Profile that has been established for the contract, based on the Contracting Authority’s assessment of cyber risk.
For this contract, minimum requirements also include the holding of Cyber Essentials certification (or suitable equivalent).
Further details will be set out in the procurement documents. A contract condition for this procurement requires the Tenderer to comply with the minimum security requirements.
Covered by CPTPP
The buyer is using PCS-Tender to conduct this ITT exercise. The Project code is 32885. For more information see: http://www.publiccontractsscotland.gov.uk/info/InfoCentre.aspx?ID=2343
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:
While not a mandatory requirement, the Contractor should consider what community benefits it can achieve as part of the delivery of the Services.
The SPCB will work with the Contractor to help develop a Community Benefits Action Plan setting out specific objectives and outcomes to be achieved to support the delivery of specific community benefits throughout the Contract Period.
(SC Ref:844441)
VI.4) Procedures for review
VI.4.1) Review body
Edinburgh Sheriff Court House
Sheriff Court House, 27 Chambers Street
Edinburgh
EH1 1LB
UK
VI.5) Date of dispatch of this notice
01/10/2026