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School Presenter Services Tender

Historic Royal Palaces

This public procurement record has 1 release in its history.

Tender

08 Oct 2026 at 16:42

UK4 - Tender Notice
Summary of the contracting process

Historic Royal Palaces is seeking a provider to run its school learning and presenter programme at the Tower of London, Hampton Court Palace and Kensington Palace. The service covers around 3,000 curriculum-linked sessions each year, alongside Home Educator Days, occasional community activities and contributions to new learning content and events. Sessions use immersive, participatory and site-based learning to bring palace history to life. The provider will work with HRP teams across the three London sites and support primary and secondary schools, specialist groups, learners with special educational needs and disabilities, international groups, and home-educating families. This is an education and heritage engagement service, rather than a general performance-entertainment commission.

The buyer invited offers through an open tender, with tenders submitted through Delta e-Sourcing. The submission deadline was 16 November 2026 at 12:00; the stated award decision date was 3 February 2027. The contract is scheduled to run from 1 September 2027 to 31 August 2030, with an option to extend for two years, to 31 August 2032. The estimated value is £2 million excluding VAT (£2.4 million including VAT). There is one lot, marked suitable for small and medium-sized businesses. Evaluation weights whole-life cost at 30% and response to HRP’s requirements at 30%; relevant experience carries 17.5%, inclusivity and accessibility 10%, safeguarding 5%, work in heritage and public-facing environments 5%, and mobilisation and transition 2.5%.

This opportunity suits an experienced education, museum, heritage, arts or cultural-learning provider able to manage a substantial, multi-site programme. The supplier must recruit, train, schedule, line-manage and support a presenter team, with enough staffing and contingency capacity to deliver reliably throughout the year. Strong operational coordination and quality assurance are central, as is the ability to adapt learning for diverse ages, backgrounds and access needs, including specialist and SEND audiences. Bidders need robust safeguarding policies, safer recruitment, workforce training, checks and procedures for handling concerns involving children, young people and vulnerable adults. They must also be able to deliver safely in busy public-facing historic environments, meeting health and safety, conservation and security requirements. Experience of comparable scale and complexity is an eligibility requirement.

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Notice Information

Notice Title

School Presenter Services Tender

Notice Description

Historic Royal Palaces (HRP) is a registered charity, responsible for the care, conservation and presentation of HM Tower of London (TOL), Hampton Court Palace (HCP), Kensington Palace State Apartments, (KP) the Banqueting House at Whitehall (BH), Kew Palace (KEW) and Hillsborough Castle and Gardens, (HCG) the official residence of HM The King in Northern Ireland and residence of the Secretary of State for Northern Ireland. We love and look after six of the most wonderful palaces in the world. The palaces are the setting for the stories that shape us all, and we're bringing them to people in ways that mean more to them. We want everyone to find themselves in the spaces and stories we share. HRP is a charity for everyone. We are committed to preserving and sharing the stories of our six magnificent palaces and making them accessible to all. Through partnerships, innovation, and storytelling, we strive to break down barriers, inspire curiosity and stir the spirit in people of all ages and backgrounds. Our curriculum-linked schools programmes bring palace stories to life through costumed, presenter-led sessions, alongside digital learning, teacher training events and activities for local community groups and families. HRP is an independent charity, receiving no government funding and derives its income principally from admissions, retail, licensing, commercial events, sponsorship and support from donors and members. We will be running a tender process with the intention of awarding a contract for the provision of School Presenter Services and are seeking expressions of interest from suitably experienced / qualified organisations. We are seeking a skilled and collaborative partner to deliver one of the UK's largest and most established heritage learning programmes. Each year, Historic Royal Palaces welcomes over 200,000 school visitors across our sites, with approximately half participating in a curriculum-linked learning session delivered by our presenter team. The contract includes the delivery of around 3,000 educational sessions annually across the Tower of London, Hampton Court Palace and Kensington Palace, together with Home Educator Days, occasional community activity and opportunities to contribute to new programme and content development. This is an opportunity to join a highly regarded and well-established programme that combines rigorous historical scholarship with immersive, participatory and site-based learning. Working in partnership with HRP, the successful supplier will recruit, train and manage a team of presenters capable of delivering engaging learning experiences for diverse audiences, including primary and secondary schools, specialist settings, SEND learners and home-educating families. We are looking for an organisation that shares our commitment to educational excellence, inclusion, safeguarding and collaboration, and that can maintain consistently high standards whilst operating across multiple sites and busy heritage environments. The successful supplier will play an important role in helping young people connect with the stories, people and places that have shaped our past. HRP's requirements: The successful supplier will be expected to: *Deliver approximately 3,000 curriculum-linked school sessions per year across our London sites *Recruit, train, schedule, line manage and support a team of presenters, ensuring sufficient staffing capacity and contingency arrangements to ensure reliable delivery of the programme. *Deliver learning sessions for a diverse range of audiences, including primary and secondary schools, specialist and SEND settings, international groups and home-educating families. *Deliver all activity in accordance with HRP's educational approach, Core Principles and commitment to high-quality, site-based learning. *Maintain consistently high standards of delivery, quality assurance and presenter performance *Demonstrate a strong commitment to inclusion, accessibility and representative historical interpretation, adapting delivery to meet a wide range of learning and access needs. *Provide day-to-day management, coordination and operational oversight of the programme, working collaboratively with HRP teams across all sites. *Maintain appropriate safeguarding policies, training and workforce checks, and comply with HRP safeguarding requirements and procedures. *Deliver activities safely within busy public-facing heritage environments and ensure compliance with relevant health and safety, conservation and security requirements. *Contribute to the development of new content, learning resources, events and bespoke projects where commissioned by HRP. *Support the delivery of Home Educator Days, community activity and other learning programmes as required. Exclusion criteria: Suppliers who are unable to demonstrate the following will not be considered eligible for award of this contract *Suppliers must have appropriate safeguarding policies, procedures and reporting arrangements for working with children, young people and vulnerable adults, including arrangements for safer recruitment, workforce training and the management of safeguarding concerns. *Suppliers must have relevant experience and organisational capacity to deliver learning, engagement or interpretation programmes for children and young people within museum, heritage, arts or cultural settings at a scale and complexity broadly comparable to this contract. Tender documents: The tender process will be run through HRP's e tendering system, Delta e-Sourcing. Tender documents will be made available on Delta to those suppliers who expressed an interest. Suppliers will need to register on Delta in order to participate in the tender process. Suppliers can register here https://www.delta-esourcing.com/register/ Anticipated contract start date: September 2027 (with contract mobilisation commencing March 2027) Contract period: 3 + 2 years HRP reserves the right not to award a contract. In addition, HRP reserves the right to negotiate with short-listed tenderers or the preferred supplier. If you experience any technical difficulties from accessing Delta, please contact the Delta eSourcing Helpdesk. Call 0800 923 9236 or email helpdesk@delta-esourcing.com. For more information about this opportunity, please visit the eSourcing portal at: https://www.delta-esourcing.com/tenders/UK-UK-East-Molesey:-Theatrical-producers%27%2C-singer-groups%27%2C-bands%27-and-orchestras%27-entertainment-services./67HNTVQ4E6 To respond to this opportunity, please click here: https://www.delta-esourcing.com/respond/67HNTVQ4E6

Lot Information

Lot 1

Renewal: 3 year contract + option to extend for 2 years

Notice Details

Publication & Lifecycle

Open Contracting ID
ocds-h6vhtk-07842e
Publication Source
Find A Tender Service
Latest Notice
https://www.find-tender.service.gov.uk/Notice/095401-2026
Current Stage
Tender
All Stages
Tender

Procurement Classification

Notice Type
UK4 - Tender Notice
Procurement Type
Standard
Procurement Category
Services
Procurement Method
Open
Procurement Method Details
Open procedure
Tender Suitability
SME
Awardee Scale
Not specified

Common Procurement Vocabulary (CPV)

CPV Divisions

80 - Education and training services

92 - Recreational, cultural and sporting services

CPV Codes

80200000 - Secondary education services

80340000 - Special education services

92312100 - Theatrical producers', singer groups', bands' and orchestras' entertainment services

92312110 - Theatrical producer entertainment services

92312240 - Services provided by entertainers

92340000 - Dance and performance entertainment services

Notice Value(s)

Tender Value
£2,000,000 £1M-£10M
Lots Value
£2,000,000 £1M-£10M
Awards Value
Not specified
Contracts Value
Not specified

Notice Dates

Publication Date
8 Oct 20264 days ago
Submission Deadline
16 Nov 20262 months to go
Future Notice Date
Not specified
Award Date
Not specified
Contract Period
1 Sep 2027 - 31 Aug 2030 3-4 years
Recurrence
Not specified

Notice Status

Tender Status
Active
Lots Status
Active
Awards Status
Not Specified
Contracts Status
Not Specified

Buyer & Supplier

Contracting Authority (Buyer)

Main Buyer
Historic Royal Palaces
Contact Name
Available with D3 Tenders Premium →
Contact Email
Available with D3 Tenders Premium →
Contact Phone
Available with D3 Tenders Premium →

Buyer Location

Locality
EAST MOLESEY
Postcode
KT8 9AU
Postcode Area
Kingston upon Thames
Country
England
Major Region (ITL 1)
TLI London
Basic Region (ITL 2)
TLI7 Outer London - West and North West
Small Region (ITL 3)
TLI75 Hounslow and Richmond upon Thames
Delivery Location
Not specified
Local Authority
Richmond upon Thames
Electoral Ward
Hampton
Westminster Constituency
Twickenham

Further Information

Notice Documents

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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