--- title: "PROCAT Digital Service Rebuild" ocid: "ocds-h6vhtk-051556" canonical_url: "https://d3tenders.com/contract/?ocid=ocds-h6vhtk-051556" markdown_url: "https://d3tenders.com/contract/ocds-h6vhtk-051556.md" json_url: "https://d3tenders.com/contract/ocds-h6vhtk-051556.json" source: "Find A Tender Service" current_stage: "Planning" buyer: "THE NATIONAL ARCHIVES" published: "2025-05-22" --- # PROCAT Digital Service Rebuild Buyer: THE NATIONAL ARCHIVES Current stage: Planning OCID: ocds-h6vhtk-051556 [View canonical contract page](https://d3tenders.com/contract/?ocid=ocds-h6vhtk-051556) [Download OCDS JSON](https://d3tenders.com/contract/ocds-h6vhtk-051556.json) ## Summary The National Archives, a central government public authority based in Richmond, is currently in the planning phase for their "PROCAT Digital Service Rebuild" project. This service aims to refurbish their existing system used to catalogue public records due to obsolescent components that pose operation and cyber security risks. The procurement process is classified under IT services, encompassing consulting, software development, internet, and support. The authority has issued a preliminary market engagement notice to gauge interest, with a deadline for expressions of interest on 9 June 2025. The expected contract value is £500,000 with a gross value of £600,000, and the contract period will span from 1 September 2025 to 31 August 2027. The project's main goal is to identify a suitable supplier who can help transition the architecture to a more stable and compatible system. This opportunity can significantly benefit small to medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) and IT service providers with expertise in system architecture transition, data ingest improvement, and modern search engine replacements. Businesses specialising in these areas stand a good chance of securing a beneficial partnership with The National Archives, potentially expanding their clientele in the public sector. Interested parties are encouraged to express their interest by the specified deadline to be considered for upcoming supplier engagement events, which can further streamline collaboration and clarify project expectations. ## Notice PROCAT is a bespoke service which was commissioned by The National Archives (TNA) in 1999EUR0. It was built to catalogue public records, to provide an end-to-end service for both staff involved in cataloguing records, and for the public searching TNA's online catalogue via our public website. A service (SAR) controlling access based on PRA principles, was added soon afterwards. Although the public catalogue access is now supplied by the Discovery service, PROCAT and SAR are still in use every day for preparing descriptions of newly accessioned paper records and revising descriptions and access to existing TNA paper records. ("Paper" here stands for any records not born-digital). The service is built with components (web pages, search engine, SQL database and batch processes) of that era which have lasted well. However, many elements are now obsolete and are increasingly incompatible with any modern servers used to provide the service. TNA has already commissioned a discovery process to detail the problem areas and outline a route to a transitional architecture which will partly replace those obsolete components. The aim is to provide a stable service prior to complete replacement. This avoids both the risks inherent in a "big bang" complete replacement project and maintains the service while other elements of the successor architecture are defined. TNA now wishes to identify a delivery partner to deliver the transitional architecture. In summary these are: Improve data ingest for large scale data loads ("accessioning") and large-scale access control ("change Open\Closed status") Replace Active X based activation of an XML editing tool for markup Replace an obsolete search engine used for detailed search of the existing catalogue by inhouse ("TNA staff") users ### Planning Information The purpose of this notice is to gauge the level of potential interest in this opportunity from the marketplace, and to have the opportunity to engage with interested parties to a) provide more insight into the requirement, b) identify suppliers that may be able to supply the services required, and c) develop the authority's requirements and approach to the procurement. Any interested parties who submit an expression of interest for the opportunity will be invited to one or more supplier events at date(s) to be determined. To submit your expression of interest, simply email procurement@nationalarchives.gov.uk by 5pm on 09 June 2025 with your contact details. ## Key Details | Field | Value | | --- | --- | | Publication source | Find A Tender Service | | Latest notice | https://www.find-tender.service.gov.uk/Notice/025018-2025 | | Notice type | UK2 - Preliminary Market Engagement Notice | | Procurement type | Standard | | Procurement category | Services | | Procurement method | Not Specified | | Procurement method details | Not specified | | Tender suitability | SME | | Awardee scale | Not specified | | All stages | Planning | ## Dates | Field | Value | | --- | --- | | Publication date | 22 May 2025 | | Submission deadline | Not specified | | Future notice date | 9 Jun 2025 | | Award date | Not specified | | Contract period | 31 Aug 2025 - 31 Aug 2027 | | Recurrence | Not specified | ## Values | Field | Value | | --- | --- | | Tender value | £500,000 | | Lots value | Not specified | | Awards value | Not specified | | Contracts value | Not specified | ## Status | Field | Value | | --- | --- | | Tender status | Planning | | Lots status | Planning | | Awards status | Not specified | | Contracts status | Not specified | ## Buyer | Field | Value | | --- | --- | | Main buyer | THE NATIONAL ARCHIVES | | Locality | RICHMOND | | Post town | Twickenham | | Postcode | TW9 4DU | | Country | England | | ITL 1 | TLI London | | ITL 2 | TLI7 Outer London - West and North West | | ITL 3 | TLI75 Hounslow and Richmond upon Thames | | Local authority | Richmond upon Thames | | Electoral ward | Kew | | Westminster constituency | Richmond Park | | Delivery location | Not specified | ## CPV Codes ### Divisions - 72 - IT services: consulting, software development, Internet and support ### Codes - 72000000 - IT services: consulting, software development, Internet and support ## Release History - 22 May 2025 at 13:43 - PlanningUpdate - UK2 - Preliminary Market Engagement Notice - https://www.find-tender.service.gov.uk/Notice/025018-2025 - 19 May 2025 at 08:51 - PlanningUpdate - UK2 - Preliminary Market Engagement Notice - https://www.find-tender.service.gov.uk/Notice/022459-2025 - 16 May 2025 at 08:56 - Planning - UK2 - Preliminary Market Engagement Notice - https://www.find-tender.service.gov.uk/Notice/022042-2025 ## Documents - https://www.find-tender.service.gov.uk/Notice/025018-2025 22nd May 2025 - Preliminary market engagement notice on Find a Tender - https://www.find-tender.service.gov.uk/Notice/022459-2025 19th May 2025 - Preliminary market engagement notice on Find a Tender - https://www.find-tender.service.gov.uk/Notice/022042-2025 16th May 2025 - Preliminary market engagement notice on Find a Tender ## Notice URLs - http://www.nationalarchives.gov.uk - https://www.legislation.gov.uk/ukpga/2023/54/contents ## Provenance This Markdown file is an alternate public rendering of the D3 Tenders contract record. The canonical page is https://d3tenders.com/contract/?ocid=ocds-h6vhtk-051556. The underlying structured data is available as OCDS JSON at https://d3tenders.com/contract/ocds-h6vhtk-051556.json.