This public procurement record has 1 release in its history.

Tender

09 Oct 2026 at 16:42

Summary of the contracting process

Historic England is seeking research and consultancy services to map training and qualifications for heritage construction trades across England. The work will establish a baseline dataset covering the provision and funding of relevant training, participation and completion rates, including where training takes place, who provides it and how many people take part. The research must examine where heritage content appears in construction qualifications, identify geographical and occupational gaps in provision, assess trends over time and flag qualifications that may be at risk. The purpose is to give Historic England evidence to target advocacy and interventions, strengthen education and training provision, and support the supply of skills needed to repair, maintain, conserve and retrofit traditional buildings.

Historic England invited offers through a below-threshold open competition. The deadline for questions was 30 October 2026 at 17:00, and bids were due by 6 November 2026 at 09:30. The contract is scheduled to run from 14 December 2026 to 31 May 2027, with an option to extend by three months, up to 31 August 2027. The stated estimated value is £50,000 excluding VAT and £60,000 including VAT. The procurement is a single lot. Evaluation places 70% weight on quality and 30% on price. Electronic submission is allowed through Historic England’s supplier portal.

This requirement is suited to research consultancies and organisations able to map education and training provision, assemble and analyse data, and produce a repeatable method for future updates. Relevant strengths include investigating qualifications and funding, measuring participation and completion, and comparing provision across locations and construction roles. Suppliers should be able to interpret where heritage skills content is taught, identify gaps and changes over time, and assess which qualifications may be at risk. The findings need to support practical decisions about advocacy and interventions at national and regional levels. The work is focused on England’s heritage construction skills supply and traditional buildings, so experience in construction training, heritage skills, education research or related social research would be relevant.

How relevant is this notice?

Notice Information

Notice Title

ITT - Mapping Training and Qualifications for Heritage Construction Trades in England - UID 370

Notice Description

Heritage construction skills are essential for the repair, maintenance, conservation and retrofit of England's 5.5 million traditional buildings (built pre-1919), but the industry faces significant skills shortages. Complex and patchy provision of relevant training is a major barrier to closing these skills gaps. At present, we have only limited visibility of provision and uptake for construction qualifications which contain heritage content. This project would fill this gap in our knowledge and evidence by establishing a baseline dataset of current provision, funding, participation in, and completion rates of relevant training and qualifications. This will provide a detailed picture of where training is taking place, who is offering the training, and how many people are undertaking it as well as a repeatable methodology enabling this project to be repeated in future. This project will also analyse the data alongside other research to identify where heritage content is included, and where there are gaps in available provision (both geographically and in terms of construction roles), trends over time, and identify qualifications which might be at risk. With this information we will be able to better target our advocacy and interventions to improve education and training provision in this area and maximise our impact at both a national and regional level. This will directly support our work supporting the supply of heritage construction skills and enabling a greater volume of relevant training.

Notice Details

Publication & Lifecycle

Open Contracting ID
ocds-h6vhtk-07851f
Publication Source
Find A Tender Service
Latest Notice
https://www.find-tender.service.gov.uk/Notice/095824-2026
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
Below threshold - open competition
Tender Suitability
Not specified
Awardee Scale
Not specified

Common Procurement Vocabulary (CPV)

CPV Divisions

73 - Research and development services and related consultancy services

79 - Business services: law, marketing, consulting, recruitment, printing and security


CPV Codes

73110000 - Research services

73210000 - Research consultancy services

79315000 - Social research services

Notice Value(s)

Tender Value
£50,000 Under £100K
Lots Value
£50,000 Under £100K
Awards Value
Not specified
Contracts Value
Not specified

Notice Dates

Publication Date
9 Oct 20263 days ago
Submission Deadline
6 Nov 20264 weeks to go
Future Notice Date
Not specified
Award Date
Not specified
Contract Period
14 Dec 2026 - 31 May 2027 1-6 months
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 England
Contact Name
Available with D3 Tenders Premium →
Contact Email
Available with D3 Tenders Premium →
Contact Phone
Available with D3 Tenders Premium →

Buyer Location

Locality
SWINDON
Postcode
SN2 2EH
Postcode Area
Swindon
Country
England

Major Region (ITL 1)
TLK South West (England)
Basic Region (ITL 2)
TLK7 Gloucestershire and Wiltshire
Small Region (ITL 3)
TLK71 Swindon
Delivery Location
Not specified

Local Authority
Swindon
Electoral Ward
Mannington and Western
Westminster Constituency
Swindon South

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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