Commercial Ticketing and Retail Systems

HISTORIC ENVIRONMENT SCOTLAND

This public procurement record has 3 releases in its history.

Award

21 May 2026 at 10:18

Tender

21 May 2025 at 11:27

Planning

05 Mar 2025 at 14:02

Summary of the contracting process

Historic Environment Scotland (HES) has completed the procurement process for the "Commercial Ticketing and Retail Systems" project, with the award stage being finalised on 21 May 2026. This tender focused on procuring advanced information technology services, particularly regarding ticketing and retail systems. It targets upgrades across diverse HES sites in the UK, notably in the UKM75 region, to enhance visitor management and retail experiences. The procurement method utilised was a restricted procedure, with key dates including the signing of contracts on 28 April 2026 for the retail system and 14 May 2026 for the ticketing system. HES awarded the ticketing system contract to Ventrata and the retail system contract to Reply Limited.

This project offers strong business growth opportunities, especially for firms specialising in IT services, ticketing, retail solutions, and software integration. Companies with expertise in systems capable of managing omni-channel retail, visitor management, and integration with CRM systems like Microsoft Dynamics 365 would find this project particularly suitable. With HES focusing on scalable and adaptable systems, both SMEs and larger enterprises had opportunities to bid, demonstrated by successful awards to both an SME and a large company. This procurement emphasized quality and technical merit, with award criteria weighted 70% on quality, showcasing a preference for businesses that deliver high-performance solutions.

How relevant is this notice?

Notice Title

Commercial Ticketing and Retail Systems

Notice Description

Provision of commercial ticketing and retail systems

Lot Information

Ticketing System

Historic Environment Scotland (HES) has a requirement for a modern, functionally rich and adaptable ticketing system to take our visitor business to the next level. HES has a varied estate of sites, each with their own slightly different requirements; some are predominantly pre-booked, while many rely on walk-up ticketing. HES also sells afternoon teas, events tickets and multi-site passes. A new ticketing system must provide a first-class seamless process for online ticket transactions, along with intuitive point of sale and back-office processes that enables first class customer service and booking management. The following headline areas are within the scope of this ticketing system tender. - Online ticketing - Walk-up ticketing - Ticket collection kiosks - Travel Trade booking management - Explorer Passes - Education bookings - Admissions Gift Aid Management - Membership - Integration to Microsoft Dynamics 365, our primary membership & CRM System - Access control for ticket validation - Payment gateway integrations - Interface (file export) to Oracle Fusion - Reporting Further information can be found in the document attached with this notice.

Options: 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.

Renewal: The initial contract term will be 5 years with the option to extend for another 3 years and then a final 2 years (5+3+2 contract). The maximum possible contract length if all extensions are used will therefore be 120 months (10 years).

Retail System

HES requires a mainstream mid-market retail management system with functionality to cover planning, buying, merchandising, warehousing, reporting and full omni-channel management as we continue to develop our online offer and experience for the retail customer. The following headline areas are within the scope of this retail system tender: - All Retail Buying & Merchandising Processes - Warehouse Management for both general product management & eCommerce fulfilment - Integration to Shopify to have a fully managed stock ecosystem - Store Operations & Compliance - Mobile PoS for pop-up shops & event retailing - EPoS functionality - Integration to Oracle Fusion - Integration with Ticketing system - Reporting Further information can be found in the document attached with this notice.

Options: 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.

Renewal: The initial contract term will be 5 years with the option to extend for another 3 years and then a final 2 years (5+3+2 contract). The maximum possible contract length if all extensions are used will therefore be 120 months (10 years).

Publication & Lifecycle

Open Contracting ID
ocds-h6vhtk-04e9ce
Publication Source
Find A Tender Service
Latest Notice
https://www.find-tender.service.gov.uk/Notice/046916-2026
Current Stage
Award
All Stages
Planning, Tender, Award

Procurement Classification

Notice Type
Planning Notice
Procurement Type
Standard
Procurement Category
Services
Procurement Method
Selective
Procurement Method Details
Restricted procedure
Tender Suitability
Not specified
Awardee Scale
Large, SME

Common Procurement Vocabulary (CPV)

CPV Divisions

72 - IT services: consulting, software development, Internet and support


CPV Codes

72222300 - Information technology services

Notice Value(s)

Tender Value
£3,500,000 £1M-£10M
Lots Value
£3,500,000 £1M-£10M
Awards Value
Not specified
Contracts Value
£2,755,810 £1M-£10M

Notice Dates

Publication Date
21 May 20261 months ago
Submission Deadline
4 Jul 2025Expired
Future Notice Date
11 May 2025Expired
Award Date
27 Apr 20261 months ago
Contract Period
Not specified - Not specified
Recurrence
10 years from the original publication if all available extensions are used

Notice Status

Tender Status
Complete
Lots Status
Cancelled
Awards Status
Active
Contracts Status
Active

Contracting Authority (Buyer)

Main Buyer
HISTORIC ENVIRONMENT SCOTLAND
Contact Name
Available with D3 Tenders Premium →
Contact Email
Available with D3 Tenders Premium →
Contact Phone
Available with D3 Tenders Premium →

Buyer Location

Locality
EDINBURGH
Postcode
EH9 1SH
Post Town
Edinburgh
Country
Scotland

Major Region (ITL 1)
TLM Scotland
Basic Region (ITL 2)
TLM1 East Central Scotland
Small Region (ITL 3)
TLM13 City of Edinburgh
Delivery Location
TLM75 City of Edinburgh

Local Authority
City of Edinburgh
Electoral Ward
Southside/Newington
Westminster Constituency
Edinburgh South

Supplier Information

Number of Suppliers
2
Supplier Names

REPLY

VENTRATA

Open Contracting Data Standard (OCDS)

View full OCDS Record for this contracting process

JSON Markdown

The Open Contracting Data Standard (OCDS) is a framework designed to increase transparency and access to public procurement data in the public sector. It is widely used by governments and organisations worldwide to report on procurement processes and contracts.

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