---
title: "Association of Leading Visitor Attractions Benchmarking Survey"
ocid: "ocds-h6vhtk-078c63"
canonical_url: "https://d3tenders.com/contract/?ocid=ocds-h6vhtk-078c63"
markdown_url: "https://d3tenders.com/contract/ocds-h6vhtk-078c63.md"
json_url: "https://d3tenders.com/contract/ocds-h6vhtk-078c63.json"
source: "Find A Tender Service"
current_stage: "Award"
buyer: "Historic Environment Scotland"
published: "2026-10-21"
---

# Association of Leading Visitor Attractions Benchmarking Survey

Buyer: Historic Environment Scotland  
Current stage: Award  
OCID: ocds-h6vhtk-078c63

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## Summary

Historic Environment Scotland commissioned a market research service: the Association of Leading Visitor Attractions (ALVA) benchmarking survey. It benchmarks three of Historic Environment Scotland’s leading attractions against leading visitor attractions across the UK. The attractions covered are Edinburgh Castle, Stirling Castle and Urquhart Castle. The work is connected to Historic Environment Scotland’s membership of ALVA, a national framework representing tourism bodies. The survey is intended to provide comparative performance data for the three castles against other major UK attractions, supporting an understanding of their position within the visitor attractions sector.

The procurement is complete and the contract was awarded to Ipsos (market research) Ltd. Historic Environment Scotland used a limited procedure without prior publication of a competition, on the stated grounds that competition was absent for technical reasons: no other economic operator provides the ALVA benchmarking survey. The award was made on 21 October 2026, and the contract was signed that day. The contract is active and is valued at £40,000. It covers one lot for the benchmarking survey. No evaluation criteria are stated beyond the technical-reasons basis for selecting the supplier.

For this requirement, a credible supplier needs to provide the ALVA benchmarking survey itself: the buyer’s rationale for selecting Ipsos was that no other economic operator provided it. This makes access to the survey’s established benchmarking scope and ability to compare major visitor attractions across the UK central to competing for the same work. Relevant capability would include market research and producing comparative evidence for heritage visitor attractions, with the capacity to cover multiple prominent sites and benchmark them against leading attractions nationally. Historic Environment Scotland’s purchase also demonstrates demand for external benchmarking of Edinburgh, Stirling and Urquhart Castles through its ALVA membership. Suppliers offering adjacent tourism research without the specific ALVA survey would not match the stated basis for this award.

## Notice

ALVA (Association of Leading Visitor Attractions) Benchmarking Survey

### Lot Information

Lot 1

HES are members of ALVA (the Association of Leading Visitor Attractions). ALVA is a national framework representing tourism bodies across the country. ALVA benchamrking survey which benchmarks our 3 top attractions against the leading attractions within the UK.

### Procurement Information

HES intends to award to the Supplier on the basis that competition is absent for technical reasons as per Public Contracts (Scotland) Regulations 2015 33.1.b (ii) No other economic operator provides the ALVA benchmarking survey

## Key Details

| Field | Value |
| --- | --- |
| Publication source | Find A Tender Service |
| Latest notice | https://www.find-tender.service.gov.uk/Notice/099246-2026 |
| Notice type | Award Notice |
| Procurement type | Standard |
| Procurement category | Services |
| Procurement method | Limited |
| Procurement method details | Award procedure without prior publication of a call for competition |
| Tender suitability | Not specified |
| Awardee scale | Large |
| All stages | Award |

## Dates

| Field | Value |
| --- | --- |
| Publication date | 21 Oct 2026 |
| Submission deadline | Not specified |
| Future notice date | Not specified |
| Award date | Not specified |
| Contract period | Not specified |
| Recurrence | Not specified |

## Values

| Field | Value |
| --- | --- |
| Tender value | Not specified |
| Lots value | Not specified |
| Awards value | Not specified |
| Contracts value | £40,000 |

## Status

| Field | Value |
| --- | --- |
| Tender status | Complete |
| Lots status | Not specified |
| Awards status | Active |
| Contracts status | Active |

## Buyer

| Field | Value |
| --- | --- |
| Main buyer | Historic Environment Scotland |
| Locality | EDINBURGH |
| Postcode area | Edinburgh |
| Postcode | EH9 1SH |
| Country | Scotland |
| ITL 1 | TLM Scotland |
| ITL 2 | TLM1 East Central Scotland |
| ITL 3 | TLM13 City of Edinburgh |
| Local authority | City of Edinburgh |
| Electoral ward | Southside/Newington |
| Westminster constituency | Edinburgh South |
| Delivery location | TLM Scotland |

## Supplier

| Field | Value |
| --- | --- |
| Number of suppliers | 1 |
| Supplier names | Ipsos MORI |

## CPV Codes

### Divisions

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

### Codes

- 79310000 - Market research services

## Release History

- 21 Oct 2026 at 08:54 - Award - Award Notice - https://www.find-tender.service.gov.uk/Notice/099246-2026

## Notice URLs

- http://historicenvironment.scot
- https://api.publiccontractsscotland.gov.uk/v1/Notice?id=ocds-r6ebe6-0000846204
- https://www.publiccontractsscotland.gov.uk/search/Search_AuthProfile.aspx?ID=AA00164

## 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-078c63. The underlying structured data is available as OCDS JSON at https://d3tenders.com/contract/ocds-h6vhtk-078c63.json.