Provision of Audience Research Services

The Board of Trustees for the National Galleries of Scotland ("NGS") wish to award a Contract for the Provision of Audience Research Services. The Service Provider is required to conduct Audience Research to provide insight and analysis about our visitors in order to support the Organisation’s 2030 Strategy, Business Plan and Key Performance Indicators (KPIs), special projects and inform organisation-wide strategic planning.

This Contract shall primarily provide Fieldwork Surveys and associated Project Management, Client Data Access, Analysis and Reporting for each of our four gallery sites. Services will be agreed to on an “as required” basis with no commitment to a minimum volume of work.

NGS may, at its absolute discretion, require the Service Provider to provide Audience Research Services at this fifth site, currently under construction, at any time during the Contract term. If permitted by applicable procurement legislation, where additional audience research requirements arise during the Contract term that constitute an extension of the Services, NGS reserves the right to procure such additional services from the Service Provider.

For full details of the Contract Requirements please refer to the associated Tender and Contract Documents. The Service Provider must have a clear understanding of the contract requirements and the organisational needs of NGS.

As part of the tender exercise, the Service Provider must detail a robust and flexible methodology for conducting Audience Research Services that will meet all data capture requirements. There is no commitment to a minimum spend over the duration of the Contract.

Under this Contract, no minimum spend is guaranteed. The agreement will be non-exclusive i.e. NGS reserves the right, in certain, circumstances, to procure out with the Contract Agreement, as and when required.

In the event of unsatisfactory performance by the successful Service Provider and the termination of the contract by either party, NGS reserves the right to negotiate the continuance of the services with the second and third placed Service Providers. The procurement will be conducted through the use of the Open Procedure.

Service Providers must complete and submit both an SPD and Tender response. Economic Operators may be excluded from this competition if they are in any of the situations referred to in Regulation 58 of the Public Contracts (Scotland) Regulations 2015.

Given the nature of the contract, Tenderers must comply with minimum security requirements. The Service Provider must obtain valid Cyber Essentials Basic (or equivalent) certification prior to the Contract Commencement Date and maintain throughout the Contract term including any extension periods.

It is desirable that the Service Provider hold current ISO/IEC 27001 (or equivalent) certification or otherwise Tenderers must demonstrate equivalent information security management arrangements as part of the quality assessment. Full details are set out in the Tender and Contract Documents.

The maximum available budget to deliver the Core Contract Requirements is 60,000 GBP per annum excluding VAT. Tenderers are required to submit pricing that can be delivered within this annual budget for Years 1 – 5 of the Contract, including any optional extension periods.

Any Tender exceeding the maximum available budget, may be deemed unaffordable and may be excluded from further consideration. Tenderers must provide fixed prices for Years 1 – 3 of the Contract, and indicative prices for Years 4 & 5.

The prices submitted for Years 4 and 5 shall represent the maximum prices payable during any extension period unless NGS approves a formal change request due to the Service Provider sufficiently demonstrating exceptional circumstances. Cost Control Mechanisms for Years 4 & 5 are detailed under Schedule 2 of the Contract Agreement.

For this Tender Competition, and for commercial evaluation purposes, NGS reserves the right to assess affordability against a maximum annual budget of 60,000 GBP for each contract year, including any optional extension periods. NGS reserves the right not to award where it considers submitted pricing to exceed available funding.

Information in respect of Optional Contract Requirements, and estimate additional spend, has been provided at section V1.3 ‘Additional ‘Information’. The ‘Estimate Total Contract Value’ provided at II.1.5, includes both estimate spend for Core Contract Requirements and estimate spend for Optional Contract Requirements.

Additional information: The top three highest scoring Tenderers (price & quality combined score) will be invited to a Tender Presentation stage on 4th and/or 5th November 2026 (dates may be subject to change). Full details provided in the Tender Documents.