Social and other specific services – public contracts
Contract notice
Section I: Contracting
authority
I.1) Name and addresses
Scotland Excel
Renfrewshire House, Cotton Street
Paisley
PA1 1AR
UK
Telephone: +44 1414888230
E-mail: adultsocialcare@scotland-excel.org.uk
NUTS: UKM83
Internet address(es)
Main address: http://www.scotland-excel.org.uk
Address of the buyer profile: https://www.publiccontractsscotland.gov.uk/search/Search_AuthProfile.aspx?ID=AA10383
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
Body governed by public law
I.5) Main activity
General public services
Section II: Object
II.1) Scope of the procurement
II.1.1) Title
Social Care Agency Workers Flexible Framework Agreement
Reference number: 1125
II.1.2) Main CPV code
85300000
II.1.3) Type of contract
Services
II.1.4) Short description
This procurement exercise is to establish a ‘National Flexible Framework Agreement’ in accordance with Regulations 74-76 of the Public Contracts (Scotland) Regulations 2015, “the Regulations” (further referred to as 'the Flexible Framework Agreement (FFA)') for the provision of trained and vetted Social Care Agency Workers in a variety of social care settings.
Once established, subject to the terms of the FFA, there may be opportunities for admission of new suppliers and existing suppliers may vary their service (see the Procurement Documents for full details).
The value provided in II.1.5 is an ESTIMATE only.
TENDER INFORMATION SESSIONS
Scotland Excel is running Tenderer Information Sessions on the following dates
– 22 September 2026 @ 1pm - 2.30pm and
- 23 September 2026 @ 1pm - 2.30pm.
Please contact adultsocialcare@scotland-excel.org.uk if you would like to attend either session.
II.1.5) Estimated total value
Value excluding VAT:
100 000 000.00
GBP
II.1.6) Information about lots
This contract is divided into lots:
Yes
Tenders may be submitted for all lots
II.2) Description
Lot No: 1
II.2.1) Title
Care Roles
II.2.2) Additional CPV code(s)
85310000
85311000
85311100
85311200
85311300
85312000
85312100
85312110
85312120
85312400
85312500
85312510
85323000
85300000
II.2.3) Place of performance
NUTS code:
UKM
II.2.4) Description of the procurement
Lot 1 is for the provision of trained and vetted Care Assistants, Support Workers, Housing Assistants and Senior Carers (see the Procurement Documents, Schedule 2 - Description of Core Roles).
The anticipated value is estimated and may be subject to change. There is no guarantee of any business, use, level of use or continuity of business through the FFA.
Award criteria
Quality criterion:
Technical Weighting: 60 / Commercial Weighting: 40
II.2.6) Estimated value
Value excluding VAT:
89 000 000.00
GBP
II.2.7) Duration of the contract, framework agreement or dynamic purchasing system
Duration in months: 48
II.2.13) Information about European Union funds
The procurement is related to a project and/or programme financed by European Union funds:
No
II.2.14) Additional information
Please note, the duration shown at section II.2.7 includes two, up to twelve (12) month extensions.
By virtue of Regulation 76(3) of the Public Contract (Scotland) Regulations 2015, Tenderers in any of the situations listed in Regulation 58 of the Regulations may be excluded.
Lot No: 2
II.2.1) Title
Professional Roles
II.2.2) Additional CPV code(s)
85310000
85311000
85311100
85311200
85311300
85312000
85312100
85312110
85312120
85312400
85312500
85312510
85320000
85323000
79612000
79622000
85300000
II.2.3) Place of performance
NUTS code:
UKM
II.2.4) Description of the procurement
Lot 2 is for the provision of trained and vetted Social Workers, Occupational Therapists, Social Work Managers and Social Work Assistants (see the Procurement Documents, Schedule 2 - Description of Core Roles).
The anticipated value is estimated and may be subject to change. There is no guarantee of any business, use, level of use or continuity of business through the FFA.
Award criteria
Quality criterion:
Technical Weighting: 60 / Commercial Weighting: 40
II.2.6) Estimated value
Value excluding VAT:
8 000 000.00
GBP
II.2.7) Duration of the contract, framework agreement or dynamic purchasing system
Duration in months: 48
II.2.13) Information about European Union funds
The procurement is related to a project and/or programme financed by European Union funds:
No
II.2.14) Additional information
Please note, the duration shown at section II.2.7 includes two, up to twelve (12) month extensions.
By virtue of Regulation 76(3) of the Public Contract (Scotland) Regulations 2015, Tenderers in any of the situations listed in Regulation 58 of the Regulations may be excluded.
Lot No: 3
II.2.1) Title
Ancillary Roles
II.2.2) Additional CPV code(s)
98514000
55321000
55322000
79622000
98510000
II.2.3) Place of performance
NUTS code:
UKM
II.2.4) Description of the procurement
Lot 3 is for the provision of trained and vetted Domestic Assistants, Cooks, Kitchen Assistants, Handypersons and Bus Escorts. (see the Procurement Documents, Schedule 2 - Description of Core Roles).
The anticipated value is estimated and may be subject to change. There is no guarantee of any business, use, level of use or continuity of business through the FFA.
Award criteria
Quality criterion:
Technical Weighting: 60 / Commercial Weighting: 40
II.2.6) Estimated value
Value excluding VAT:
3 000 000.00
GBP
II.2.7) Duration of the contract, framework agreement or dynamic purchasing system
Duration in months: 48
II.2.13) Information about European Union funds
The procurement is related to a project and/or programme financed by European Union funds:
No
II.2.14) Additional information
Please note, the duration shown at section II.2.7 includes two, up to twelve (12) month extensions.
By virtue of Regulation 76(3) of the Public Contract (Scotland) Regulations 2015, Tenderers in any of the situations listed in Regulation 58 of the Regulations may be excluded.
Section III: Legal, economic, financial and technical information
III.1) Conditions for participation
III.1.4) Objective rules and criteria for participation
The services provided under this FFA are social and other specific services defined in Schedule 3 of the Regulations. As such, ALL WORKERS OFFERED FOR SUPPLY MUST BE vetted, qualified and Registered with the relevant Regulatory Body to perform the required role, all in accordance with Law. Full details are in the Procurement Documents.
Tenderers should note that full details of the minimum requirements are listed in the Contract Notice Attachment titled “1125 Contract Notice- Section III.1.4 Objective rules and criteria for participation” contained within the "Buyer Attachments" area of ITT 63739 (project 31740) on the Public Contracts Scotland-Tender (PCS-T) website:https://www.publictendersscotland.publiccontractsscotland.gov.uk
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.
III.2) Conditions related to the contract
III.2.2) Contract performance conditions
It is a material condition of the FFA that ALL WORKERS SUPPLIED MUST BE vetted, qualified and Registered with the relevant Regulatory Body to perform the required role, all in accordance with Law.
For full details of the contract conditions relevant to the FFA and contracts called off thereunder, please refer to the Procurement Documents which also set out requirements for a tendering group of entities (see I.3 above).
Tenderers require to confirm their acceptance of the contract conditions.
TENDERS MADE SUBJECT TO CONDITIONS MAY NOT BE CONSIDERED AND MAY BE REFUSED ON THE GROUNDS OF SUCH CONDITIONS ALONE.
Section IV: Procedure
IV.1) Description
IV.1.1) Type of procedure
Open procedure
IV.1.3) Information about a framework agreement
The procurement involves the establishment of a framework agreement
IV.1.11) Main features of the award procedure:
The scope of services to be provided under this FFA are within ‘Social and other Specific Services’ in Schedule 3 of the Public Contracts (Scotland) Regulations 2015 and therefor the procurement process shall be subject to the requirements of Section 7 of the Regulations. Please note the variations applied to this exercise together with the specific requirements and evaluation approaches applicable are set out in the Procurement Documents.
IV.2) Administrative information
IV.2.1) Previous publication concerning this procedure
Notice number in the OJ S:
2025/S 000-080806
IV.2.2) Time limit for receipt of tenders or requests to participate
Date:
20/10/2026
Local time: 12:00
IV.2.4) Languages in which tenders or requests to participate may be submitted
EN
Section VI: Complementary information
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
IMPORTANT NOTE: The specific requirements and evaluation approaches applicable to this process are set out in the Procurement Documents.
This process is subject to the Law and Guidance applicable in Scotland to the award of public contracts including (without limitation) the Public Contracts (Scotland) Regulations 2015 as currently in force.
As such, this exercise is based upon the Open Procedure to establish a Flexible Framework Agreement with variations as permitted under the Regulations. In particular, once established, subject to the terms of the FFA, there may be opportunities for admission of new suppliers and existing suppliers may vary their service (see the Procurement Documents for full details).
Scotland Excel is a central purchasing body and is procuring this framework on behalf of the following contracting authorities (and successor bodies):
A) The 32 local authorities in Scotland as listed at https://home.scotland-excel.org.uk/about-us/our-members
B) Scotland Excel associate members as listed at https://home.scotland-excel.org.uk/about-us/our-members
C) any Integration Authority, or other body, established pursuant to the Public Bodies (Joint Working) (Scotland)Act 2014.
D) Scottish Prison Service (SPS)
The above is subject to each contracting authority entering into and maintaining a relevant membership agreement or other access agreement with Scotland Excel.
Tenderers may be excluded from evaluation (in whole, or in part) if they do not include the information required in accordance with instructions given.
Full details of the requirements of this FFA (include permitted variations and contract conditions) are available in the Procurement Documents contained within the relevant project on PCS-T: Project_ itt_63739. For more information see: http://www.publiccontractsscotland.gov.uk/info/InfoCentre
SUBCONTRACTING: Tenderers will be required to confirm whether they intend to subcontract and, if so, for what proportion of the contracts to be called-off under the proposed framework agreement.
If you intend to subcontract any share of the contract to third parties on whose capacity you do not rely to satisfy the selection criteria, you must secure that each subcontractor completes a separate SPD (Scotland) Response for all Parts of the SPD (Scotland) Qualification Envelope, except Part 4 (Selection criteria). Please note that these subcontractors on whose capacity the tenderer does not rely will be subject to the rules regarding Exclusion as set out in 11.2.14.
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:
In accordance with section 25(3) of the Procurement Reform (Scotland) Act 2014 note that, Scotland Excel intends to include community benefit requirements. As part of your response within the Technical Envelope, bidders will be requested to commit to delivery of community benefits in accordance with the methodology outlined in the tender documents.
(SC Ref:680805)
A sub-contract clause has been included in this contract. For more information see: http://www.publiccontractsscotland.gov.uk/info/InfoCentre.aspx?ID=2363
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 summary of the expected community benefits has been provided as follows:
In accordance with section 25(3) of the Procurement Reform (Scotland) Act 2014 note that, Scotland Excel intends to include community benefit requirements. As part of your response within the Technical Envelope, bidders will be requested to commit to delivery of community benefits in accordance with the methodology outlined in the tender documents.
(SC Ref:841427)
VI.4) Procedures for review
VI.4.1) Review body
Court of Session
Parliament Square
Edinburgh
EH1 1RQ
UK
VI.4.3) Review procedure
Precise information on deadline(s) for review procedures:
An economic operator that suffers, or risks suffering, loss or damage attributable to a breach of duty under the Public Contracts (Scotland) Regulation 2015 (SSI 2015/446) (as amended) may bring proceedings in the Sheriff Court or the Court of Session.
VI.5) Date of dispatch of this notice
15/09/2026