---
title: "Data Lab Community Platform Licences"
ocid: "ocds-r6ebe6-0000826896"
canonical_url: "https://d3tenders.com/contract/?ocid=ocds-r6ebe6-0000826896"
markdown_url: "https://d3tenders.com/contract/ocds-r6ebe6-0000826896.md"
json_url: "https://d3tenders.com/contract/ocds-r6ebe6-0000826896.json"
source: "Public Contracts Scotland"
current_stage: "Award"
buyer: "UNIVERSITY OF EDINBURGH"
published: "2026-03-23"
---

# Data Lab Community Platform Licences

Buyer: UNIVERSITY OF EDINBURGH  
Current stage: Award  
OCID: ocds-r6ebe6-0000826896

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## Summary

The University of Edinburgh, located at Charles Stewart House, 9-16 Chambers Street, Edinburgh, UKM75, has completed the award stage of its procurement process for the renewal of Hivebrite software licences for The Data Lab Community Platform. The contract, signed on 23rd March 2026, utilises a limited procurement method without prior publication due to technical reasons. The Data Lab Community Platform, an essential part of the University's business model, falls under the education category, with a total contract value of £88,635.83. This procurement ensures continuity and avoids the risks associated with adopting alternative systems. The award was made to Hivebrite, an SME based in Paris, confirming its role as the supplier for these services.

This tender offers significant growth opportunities for companies specialising in community management platforms, particularly those with unique technical functionalities. Companies that can offer integrated software solutions for education-related services may find opportunities similar to this one, particularly if they also offer continuity and minimal disruption in service delivery. As the procurement rationale focused on maintaining an embedded platform, businesses with established relationships and a strong track record in technical support for educational platforms may position themselves well for such competitive bids. Additionally, firms with capabilities in content development and community engagement will find themselves advantageous in similar procurement opportunities.

## Notice

The Data Lab requires renewal of its Hivebrite software licences and associated subscription services to ensure continuity of service and to avoid the significant disruption, cost, and delivery risk that would arise from procuring and implementing alternative systems to replicate the same range of functionality.

### Lot Information

Lot 1

The Data Lab requires renewal of its Hivebrite software licences and associated subscription services to ensure continuity of service and to avoid the significant disruption, cost, and delivery risk that would arise from procuring and implementing alternative systems to replicate the same range of functionality. The Data Lab has used Hivebrite for the last four-years to provide its Community Platform. Over the 4 years, The Data Lab has built the Community Platform to provide a customised comprehensive offering to our 8,000 Community Platform members. The platform is a customisable SaaS community management platform, which includes: - Webinar hosting and promotion; - Events listings and registration; - A jobs board supporting partner and ecosystem recruitment; - News, resources, and community-generated content; - A structured mentoring platform; and - Topic-based and sector-based groups enabling focused discussion, peer learning, and networking. The Community Platform is a vital part of The Data Lab's business and delivery model for a number of reasons: - The delivery and growth of our Community Platform is a key requirement of The Data Lab's core funding from SFC; - We have a number of third party "Partners" who sponsor the Community Platform in return for the opportunity to have their branding, events and jobs posted on the platform; and - The Community Platform supports The Data Lab's other offerings by enabling us to have a network to market our other services to.

### Procurement Information

This platform, already embedded within the Data Lab's core systems, contains unique technical functionalities including The Data Lab requires renewal of its Hivebrite software licences and associated subscription services to ensure continuity of service and to avoid the significant disruption, cost, and delivery risk that would arise from procuring and implementing alternative systems to replicate the same range of functionality. Alternative suppliers do not offer the full range of functionality required to support The Data Lab Community within a single, integrated platform. In addition to this functional gap, significant effort has gone into developing high-quality content, establishing and moderating groups, recruiting and supporting group champions, and growing active sub-communities, some of which now have thousands of members in their own right. This represents accumulated value that has been built incrementally over several years and is closely tied to the current platform's structure, configuration, and workflows. Replacing the platform would therefore not simply involve changing software providers, but would require extensive effort to source platforms with the necessary core features, rebuild content and group structures that are already present within the Data Lab's instance of the platform, and re-establish engagement and participation with current Hivebrite users. This would involve significant staff time, delivery risk, addiotional costs, and is likely result in a period of reduced functionality and member engagement.

## Key Details

| Field | Value |
| --- | --- |
| Publication source | Public Contracts Scotland |
| Latest notice | https://www.publiccontractsscotland.gov.uk/search/show/search_view.aspx?ID=MAR552290 |
| Notice type | PCS Notice - Website Contract Award Notice |
| Procurement type | Standard |
| Procurement category | Goods |
| Procurement method | Limited |
| Procurement method details | Award procedure without prior publication of a call for competition |
| Tender suitability | Not specified |
| Awardee scale | SME |
| All stages | Award |

## Dates

| Field | Value |
| --- | --- |
| Publication date | 23 Mar 2026 |
| Submission deadline | Not specified |
| Future notice date | Not specified |
| Award date | 23 Mar 2026 |
| Contract period | Not specified |
| Recurrence | Not specified |

## Values

| Field | Value |
| --- | --- |
| Tender value | Not specified |
| Lots value | Not specified |
| Awards value | Not specified |
| Contracts value | £88,635 |

## Status

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

## Buyer

| Field | Value |
| --- | --- |
| Main buyer | UNIVERSITY OF EDINBURGH |
| Locality | EDINBURGH |
| Post town | Edinburgh |
| Postcode | EH1 1HT |
| 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 | City Centre |
| Westminster constituency | Edinburgh East and Musselburgh |
| Delivery location | TLM75 City of Edinburgh |

## Supplier

| Field | Value |
| --- | --- |
| Number of suppliers | 1 |
| Supplier names | HIVEBRITE |

## CPV Codes

### Divisions

- 48 - Software package and information systems

### Codes

- 48900000 - Miscellaneous software package and computer systems

## Release History

- 23 Mar 2026 at 00:00 - Award - PCS Notice - Website Contract Award Notice - https://www.publiccontractsscotland.gov.uk/search/show/search_view.aspx?ID=MAR552290

## Documents

- https://www.publiccontractsscotland.gov.uk/search/show/search_view.aspx?ID=MAR552290
  Data Lab Community Platform Licences - The Data Lab requires renewal of its Hivebrite software licences and associated subscription services to ensure continuity of service and to avoid the significant disruption, cost, and delivery risk that would arise from procuring and implementing alternative systems to replicate the same range of functionality.

## Notice URLs

- http://
- http://www.ed.ac.uk
- https://api.publiccontractsscotland.gov.uk/v1/Notice?id=ocds-r6ebe6-0000826896

## 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-r6ebe6-0000826896. The underlying structured data is available as OCDS JSON at https://d3tenders.com/contract/ocds-r6ebe6-0000826896.json.