---
title: "FIRNS Community of Practice Facilitation"
ocid: "ocds-r6ebe6-0000768712"
canonical_url: "https://d3tenders.com/contract/?ocid=ocds-r6ebe6-0000768712"
markdown_url: "https://d3tenders.com/contract/ocds-r6ebe6-0000768712.md"
json_url: "https://d3tenders.com/contract/ocds-r6ebe6-0000768712.json"
source: "Public Contracts Scotland"
current_stage: "Award"
buyer: "SCOTTISH NATURAL HERITAGE"
published: "2024-06-11"
---

# FIRNS Community of Practice Facilitation

Buyer: SCOTTISH NATURAL HERITAGE  
Current stage: Award  
OCID: ocds-r6ebe6-0000768712

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## Summary

Scottish Natural Heritage, a national agency based in Inverness, UK, has completed the procurement process for the "FIRNS Community of Practice Facilitation" in the environmental protection industry category. The tender, with an award value of 54,000 GBP, was awarded to Social Investment Scotland through an "Award procedure without prior publication of a call for competition". The tender was initiated as a Limited procurement with the main procurement category being services. The deadline for the procurement was in May 2024. The contract involves facilitating the Community of Practice for the Facility for Investment Ready Nature in Scotland and managing knowledge sharing beyond the CoP.

This procurement opportunity for the "FIRNS Community of Practice Facilitation" can be beneficial for large-scale businesses in the environmental protection sector. Companies interested in facilitation services, knowledge sharing, and reflective learning within the scope of the Community of Practice are well-suited to compete. The opportunity, awarded by Scottish Natural Heritage, offers a chance to contribute to the evaluation of FIRNS and engage with various entities in the natural environment and green finance sectors. Being part of this contract can provide valuable exposure and networking opportunities within the nature conservation domain.

## Notice

NatureScot along with the National Lottery Heritage Fund (NLHF), and on behalf of Scottish Government, is running the Facility for Investment Ready Nature in Scotland (FIRNS). A Community of Practice (CoP) is an essential element of FIRNS and NatureScot is looking for a supplier, possibly as a consortium, of services to establish and support the CoP and to contribute to evaluation of FIRNS as a programme. The concept of the CoP is summarised in Section 3.1. The scope of the services requested includes: a. Facilitate the CoP, with advice from NatureScot and NHLF b. Collect, analyse and present the experience and learning of CoP participants in a series of topic papers and a set of case studies. This reflective learning, will be important material for FIRNS' evaluation which will be carried out in-house in 2025/26 c. Manage the sharing of knowledge beyond the CoP e.g. with the Scottish Nature Finance Pioneers, the Ecosystems Knowledge Network, the Green Finance Initiative and the Natural Environment Investment Readiness Fund

### Lot Information

Lot 1

NatureScot along with the National Lottery Heritage Fund (NLHF), and on behalf of Scottish Government, is running the Facility for Investment Ready Nature in Scotland (FIRNS). A Community of Practice (CoP) is an essential element of FIRNS and NatureScot is looking for a supplier, possibly as a consortium, of services to establish and support the CoP and to contribute to evaluation of FIRNS as a programme. The concept of the CoP is summarised in Section 3.1. The scope of the services requested includes: a. Facilitate the CoP, with advice from NatureScot and NHLF b. Collect, analyse and present the experience and learning of CoP participants in a series of topic papers and a set of case studies. This reflective learning, will be important material for FIRNS' evaluation which will be carried out in-house in 2025/26 c. Manage the sharing of knowledge beyond the CoP e.g. with the Scottish Nature Finance Pioneers, the Ecosystems Knowledge Network, the Green Finance Initiative and the Natural Environment Investment Readiness Fund

### Procurement Information

The initial budget set aside for the work was 40,000 GBP. We had little intelligence on which to base an estimate of the cost. We reduced the scope of the requirements in order to maximise the chance of receiving tenders to fit with this budget. Nature Finance is a very immature sector, and the pool of expertise is very narrow. A few potential suppliers were obvious and well known to us. There is some parallel experience in the social capital/investment field which we tapped into and two of the tenders came from this group. Although we didn't use the PCS portal to advertise the opportunity, we did use LinkedIn to connect with potential contractors beyond established contacts. Two of the tendering firms found out about the procurement exercise through this route. We also received recommendations from colleagues in Scottish Government. Four further contacts received the Statement of Requirements but did not tender; two of these came through the LinkedIn route. It is very difficult to give indicative costs or length of an extension at this point. The Community of Practice may extend beyond March 2025, but there is currently no budget provision for it. If it does continue then it is not clear what the governance, funding and running arrangements might be. The outputs would likely be similar to those expected from this contract i.e. facilitation, knowledge sharing and reflective learning. Should the Community of Practice continue beyond the period of this contract then we will seek legal advice and support to help us decide how to progress compliantly and minimise the risk of challenge / reputational risk to NatureScot, especially if the cumulative values of the contract including all proposed extensions are likely to equal or exceed the threshold of 139,688 GBP (including VAT) or 116,407 GBP (excluding VAT).

## Key Details

| Field | Value |
| --- | --- |
| Publication source | Public Contracts Scotland |
| Latest notice | https://www.publiccontractsscotland.gov.uk/search/show/search_view.aspx?ID=JUN507235 |
| Notice type | PCS Notice - Website Contract 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 | 11 Jun 2024 |
| Submission deadline | Not specified |
| Future notice date | Not specified |
| Award date | 7 May 2024 |
| Contract period | Not specified |
| Recurrence | Not specified |

## Values

| Field | Value |
| --- | --- |
| Tender value | Not specified |
| Lots value | Not specified |
| Awards value | Not specified |
| Contracts value | £54,000 |

## Status

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

## Buyer

| Field | Value |
| --- | --- |
| Main buyer | SCOTTISH NATURAL HERITAGE |
| Locality | INVERNESS |
| Post town | Inverness |
| Postcode | IV3 8NW |
| Country | Scotland |
| ITL 1 | TLM Scotland |
| ITL 2 | TLM2 Highlands and Islands |
| ITL 3 | TLM20 Highlands and Islands |
| Local authority | Highland |
| Electoral ward | Inverness West |
| Westminster constituency | Inverness, Skye and West Ross-shire |
| Delivery location | TLM Scotland |

## Supplier

| Field | Value |
| --- | --- |
| Number of suppliers | 1 |
| Supplier names | SOCIAL INVESTMENT SCOTLAND |

## CPV Codes

### Divisions

- 72 - IT services: consulting, software development, Internet and support

### Codes

- 72224000 - Project management consultancy services

## Release History

- 11 Jun 2024 at 00:00 - Award - PCS Notice - Website Contract Award Notice - https://www.publiccontractsscotland.gov.uk/search/show/search_view.aspx?ID=JUN507235

## Documents

- https://www.publiccontractsscotland.gov.uk/search/show/search_view.aspx?ID=JUN507235
  FIRNS Community of Practice Facilitation - NatureScot along with the National Lottery Heritage Fund (NLHF), and on behalf of Scottish Government, is running the Facility for Investment Ready Nature in Scotland (FIRNS). A Community of Practice (CoP) is an essential element of FIRNS and NatureScot is looking for a supplier, possibly as a consortium, of services to establish and support the CoP and to contribute to evaluation of FIRNS as a programme. The concept of the CoP is summarised in Section 3.1. The scope of the services requested includes: a. Facilitate the CoP, with advice from NatureScot and NHLF b. Collect, analyse and present the experience and learning of CoP participants in a series of topic papers and a set of case studies. This reflective learning, will be important material for FIRNS' evaluation which will be carried out in-house in 2025/26 c. Manage the sharing of knowledge beyond the CoP e.g. with the Scottish Nature Finance Pioneers, the Ecosystems Knowledge Network, the Green Finance Initiative and the Natural Environment Investment Readiness Fund

## Notice URLs

- http://
- http://www.nature.scot
- https://api.publiccontractsscotland.gov.uk/v1/Notice?id=ocds-r6ebe6-0000768712
- https://www.scotcourts.gov.uk/the-courts/court-locations/inverness-sheriff-court-and-justice-of-the-peace-court

## 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-r6ebe6-0000768712. The underlying structured data is available as OCDS JSON at https://d3tenders.com/contract/ocds-r6ebe6-0000768712.json.