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Supply and Support of Automated Film Scanners

Historic Environment Scotland

This public procurement record has 2 releases in its history.

Award

09 Sep 2026 at 11:37

Award Notice
Award

21 Jul 2026 at 16:29

Award Notice
Summary of the contracting process

Historic Environment Scotland procured five automated film scanners, described as automated digitisation workstations, for the National Collection of Aerial Photography (NCAP). The equipment is intended to automate the digitisation of pre-1970s aerial film. This is a specialist supply requirement combining automated scanning hardware, optical and precision equipment, and the support needed for its use. The requirement follows the successful development and acceptance testing of a bespoke prototype, rather than the purchase of standard catalogue scanners. Historic Environment Scotland is the buyer and national agency responsible for the historic environment. The work is associated with the buyer’s operations in Edinburgh and delivery in Scotland. Businesses with relevant scanning, imaging, automation and heritage digitisation capabilities would recognise this as a highly specialised equipment supply requirement.

The procurement has been completed and awarded through a limited procedure without prior publication of a competition. Historic Environment Scotland selected Hartech Automation Limited, after one electronic bid was received. The stated basis was that competition was absent for technical reasons because no other automated workstations were available for digitising pre-1970s aerial film; Hartech had developed and passed acceptance testing on the prototype. Price was the award criterion. The procurement covered one lot for five workstations, with an option for additional deliveries, partial replacement, or extensions to existing supplies and installations. Two active contracts are recorded separately: £190,000 signed on 21 July 2026 and £303,000 signed on 4 September 2026. The process is recorded as complete, while the lot is marked cancelled.

This outcome demonstrates demand for bespoke automation that can handle historic aerial film at institutional scale, and shows that a small or medium-sized specialist engineering business can satisfy the requirement where it develops and proves a working solution. A credible competitor for a future requirement would need expertise in automated film transport and scanning, optical and precision equipment, image capture, digitisation workflows and integration of hardware with specialist software. Experience with archival or heritage collections, especially fragile or pre-1970s aerial film, would be directly relevant. Suppliers would also need the engineering capacity to design, prototype, install, support and potentially replace or extend workstations, together with evidence from acceptance testing that the system performs reliably in operational use for a national photographic collection.

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Notice Information

Notice Title

Supply and Support of Automated Film Scanners

Notice Description

This Voluntary Ex-Ante Transparency (VEAT) Notice relates to the intended procurement of five automated film scanners.

Lot Information

Lot 1

Historic Environment Scotland (HES) intends to award this contract under the conditions of regulation 33.4.b(ii) of the Public Contracts (Scotland) regulations. The contract will be for the supply of five automated digitisation workstations, to be used by the National Collection of Aerial Photography (NCAP), following the successful development of a prototype for the automated digitisation of pre-1970s aerial film.

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.

Procurement Information

HES intends to award to the Supplier on the basis that competition is absent for technical reasons. On the basis no scanning workstations are available in the marketplace for the automated digitisation of pre-1970s aerial film, a procurement exercise was undertaken by Historic Environment Scotland in 2024 for the development of a prototype bespoke solution. This resulted in a contract being awarded to the Supplier. In January 2025 the prototype workstation successfully passed acceptance testing by the NCAP team. The supply of the workstations can therefore only be provided by the supplier.

Notice Details

Publication & Lifecycle

Open Contracting ID
ocds-h6vhtk-06d035
Publication Source
Find A Tender Service
Latest Notice
https://www.find-tender.service.gov.uk/Notice/085315-2026
Current Stage
Award
All Stages
Award

Procurement Classification

Notice Type
Award Notice
Procurement Type
Standard
Procurement Category
Goods
Procurement Method
Limited
Procurement Method Details
Award procedure without prior publication of a call for competition
Tender Suitability
Not specified
Awardee Scale
SME

Common Procurement Vocabulary (CPV)

CPV Divisions

38 - Laboratory, optical and precision equipments (excl. glasses)

CPV Codes

38000000 - Laboratory, optical and precision equipments (excl. glasses)

Notice Value(s)

Tender Value
Not specified
Lots Value
Not specified
Awards Value
Not specified
Contracts Value
£493,000 £100K-£500K

Notice Dates

Publication Date
9 Sep 20263 weeks ago
Submission Deadline
Not specified
Future Notice Date
Not specified
Award Date
Not specified
Contract Period
Not specified - Not specified
Recurrence
Not specified

Notice Status

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

Buyer & Supplier

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
Postcode Area
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
1
Supplier Name

Hartech Automation Limited

Further Information

Open Contracting Data Standard (OCDS)

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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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