Official UK procurement notice
Social Care Agency Workers Flexible Framework Agreement
Authority: Scotland Excel
What is being bought3 lots · detail below
Published requirement descriptionThis procurement exercise is to establish a ‘National Flexible Framework Agreement’ in accordance with Regulations 74-76 of the Public Contracts (Scotland) Regulations 2015, “the Regulations” (further referred to as 'the Flexible Framework Agreement (FFA)') for the provision of trained and vetted Social Care Agency Workers in a variety of social care settings.
Once established, subject to the terms of the FFA, there may be opportunities for admission of new suppliers and existing suppliers may vary their service (see the Procurement Documents for full details).
The value provided in II.1.5 is an ESTIMATE only.
TENDER INFORMATION SESSIONS
Scotland Excel is running Tenderer Information Sessions on the following dates
- 22 September 2026 @ 1pm - 2.30pm and
- 23 September 2026 @ 1pm - 2.30pm.
Please contact adultsocialcare@scotland-excel.org.uk if you would like to attend either session.
CPV: Child daycare services · Community health services · Daycare services · Daycare services for disabled children and young people · Domestic services · Meal-cooking services · Meal-preparation services · Placement services of office-support personnel · Rehabilitation services · Services of commercial and industrial workers · Social services · Social work and related services · +9 more
Lots and requirements (3)Procurement structure
3 lots · all with a published valueLot #1Care RolesPublished value£89,000,000
Lot 1 is for the provision of trained and vetted Care Assistants, Support Workers, Housing Assistants and Senior Carers (see the Procurement Documents, Schedule 2 - Description of Core Roles).
The anticipated value is estimated and may be subject to change. There is no guarantee of any business, use, level of use or continuity of business through the FFA.
Award criteria
Quality criterion:
Technical Weighting: 60 / Commercial Weighting: 40 Additional information: Please note, the duration shown at section II.2.7 includes two, up to twelve (12) month extensions.
By virtue of Regulation 76(3) of the Public Contract (Scotland) Regulations 2015, Tenderers in any of the situations listed in Regulation 58 of the Regulations may be excluded.
Lot #2Professional RolesPublished value£8,000,000
Lot 2 is for the provision of trained and vetted Social Workers, Occupational Therapists, Social Work Managers and Social Work Assistants (see the Procurement Documents, Schedule 2 - Description of Core Roles).
The anticipated value is estimated and may be subject to change. There is no guarantee of any business, use, level of use or continuity of business through the FFA.
Award criteria
Quality criterion:
Technical Weighting: 60 / Commercial Weighting: 40 Additional information: Please note, the duration shown at section II.2.7 includes two, up to twelve (12) month extensions.
By virtue of Regulation 76(3) of the Public Contract (Scotland) Regulations 2015, Tenderers in any of the situations listed in Regulation 58 of the Regulations may be excluded.
Lot #3Ancillary RolesPublished value£3,000,000
Lot 3 is for the provision of trained and vetted Domestic Assistants, Cooks, Kitchen Assistants, Handypersons and Bus Escorts. (see the Procurement Documents, Schedule 2 - Description of Core Roles).
The anticipated value is estimated and may be subject to change. There is no guarantee of any business, use, level of use or continuity of business through the FFA.
Award criteria
Quality criterion:
Technical Weighting: 60 / Commercial Weighting: 40 Additional information: Please note, the duration shown at section II.2.7 includes two, up to twelve (12) month extensions.
By virtue of Regulation 76(3) of the Public Contract (Scotland) Regulations 2015, Tenderers in any of the situations listed in Regulation 58 of the Regulations may be excluded.
What it takes to wini
How this buyer will score bids.
The evaluation criteria and weights exactly as published on the notice, grouped by family (price, quality, social value and so on).
Evaluation split and conditions of participation as published; the tender pack may add morei
How this buyer will score bids.
The evaluation criteria and weights exactly as published on the notice, grouped by family (price, quality, social value and so on).
The scope of services to be provided under this FFA are within ‘Social and other Specific Services’ in Schedule 3 of the Public Contracts (Scotland) Regulations 2015 and therefor the procurement process shall be subject to the requirements of Section 7 of the Regulations. Please note the variations applied to this exercise together with the specific requirements and evaluation approaches applicable are set out in the Procurement Documents.
- Shortlisting
- The services provided under this FFA are social and other specific services defined in Schedule 3 of the Regulations. As such, ALL WORKERS OFFERED FOR SUPPLY MUST BE vetted, qualified and Registered with the relevant Regulatory Body to perform the required role, all in accordance with Law. Full details are in the Procurement Documents. Tenderers should note that full details of the minimum requirements are listed in the Contract Notice Attachment titled “1125 Contract Notice- Section III.1.4 Objective rules and criteria for participation” contained within the "Buyer Attachments" area of ITT 63739 (project 31740) on the Public Contracts Scotland-Tender (PCS-T) website:https://www.publictendersscotland.publiccontractsscotland.gov.uk 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.
- “Social Care Agency Workers Flexible Framework Agreement” is a framework: the contest is a place on its panel, not a single contract.
Procedure terms & legal framework
From the official record · publisher note attached- Procedure method
- Open procedure
- Legal basis
- CELEX · 32014L0024 Public Contracts Regulations 2015 (Directive 2014/24/EU)
- Procurement category
- Services
- Notice status
- Closed
- Procurement threshold
- Unspecified in notice
- Regulatory regime
- Standard
- Commercial structure
- Framework agreement
- Who may use this agreement
- Not stated in the notice; call-off rights may be limited to the establishing authority
- Competition type
- Competitive procedure
- GPA / WTO covered
- Yes (GPA)
- Recurring procurement
- Unspecified in notice
- First published
- 8 Dec 2025, 17:05 GMT
- Last source update
- 20 Oct 2026, 11:40 BST
- Authority reference
1125- FTS notice number
2026/S 000-098905- Classification (CPV)
- Delivery area
- Official registry OCID
ocds-h6vhtk-05f132Find a Tender
- Electronic trading
- e-invoicing allowed · electronic ordering · electronic payment
- Performance terms
It is a material condition of the FFA that ALL WORKERS SUPPLIED MUST BE vetted, qualified and Registered with the relevant Regulatory Body to perform the required role, all in accordance with Law.
For full details of the contract conditions relevant to the FFA and contracts called off thereunder, please refer to the Procurement Documents which also set out requirements for a tendering group of entities (see I.3 above).
Tenderers require to confirm their acceptance of the contract conditions.
TENDERS MADE SUBJECT TO CONDITIONS MAY NOT BE CONSIDERED AND MAY BE REFUSED ON THE GROUNDS OF SUCH CONDITIONS ALONE.
- Review procedure
An economic operator that suffers, or risks suffering, loss or damage attributable to a breach of duty under the Public Contracts (Scotland) Regulation 2015 (SSI 2015/446) (as amended) may bring proceedings in the Sheriff Court or the Court of Session.
Publisher note: IMPORTANT NOTE: The specific requirements and evaluation approaches applicable to this process are set out in the Procurement Documents. This process is subject to the Law and Guidance applicable in Scotland to the award of public contracts including (without limitation) the Public Contracts (Scotland) Regulations 2015 as currently in force. As such, this exercise is based upon the Open Procedure to establish a Flexible Framework Agreement with variations as permitted under the Regulations. In particular, once established, subject to the terms of the FFA, there may be opportunities for admission of new suppliers and existing suppliers may vary their service (see the Procurement Documents for full details). Scotland Excel is a central purchasing body and is procuring this framework on behalf of the following contracting authorities (and successor bodies): A) The 32 local authorities in Scotland as listed at https://home.scotland-excel.org.uk/about-us/our-members B) Scotland Excel associate members as listed at https://home.scotland-excel.org.uk/about-us/our-members C) any Integration Authority, or other body, established pursuant to the Public Bodies (Joint Working) (Scotland)Act 2014. D) Scottish Prison Service (SPS) The above is subject to each contracting authority entering into and maintaining a relevant membership agreement or other access agreement with Scotland Excel. Tenderers may be excluded from evaluation (in whole, or in part) if they do not include the information required in accordance with instructions given. Full details of the requirements of this FFA (include permitted variations and contract conditions) are available in the Procurement Documents contained within the relevant project on PCS-T: Project_ itt_63739. For more information see: http://www.publiccontractsscotland.gov.uk/info/InfoCentre SUBCONTRACTING: Tenderers will be required to confirm whether they intend to subcontract and, if so, for what proportion of the contracts to be called-off under the proposed framework agreement. If you intend to subcontract any share of the contract to third parties on whose capacity you do not rely to satisfy the selection criteria, you must secure that each subcontractor completes a separate SPD (Scotland) Response for all Parts of the SPD (Scotland) Qualification Envelope, except Part 4 (Selection criteria). Please note that these subcontractors on whose capacity the tenderer does not rely will be subject to the rules regarding Exclusion as set out in 11.2.14. Community benefits are included in this requirement. For more information see: https://www.gov.scot/policies/public-sector-procurement/community-benefits-in-procurement/ A summary of the expected community benefits has been provided as follows: In accordance with section 25(3) of the Procurement Reform (Scotland) Act 2014 note that, Scotland Excel intends to include community benefit requirements. As part of your response within the Technical Envelope, bidders will be requested to commit to delivery of community benefits in accordance with the methodology outlined in the tender documents. (SC Ref:680805) A sub-contract clause has been included in this contract. For more information see: http://www.publiccontractsscotland.gov.uk/info/InfoCentre.aspx?ID=2363 Community benefits are included in this requirement. For more information see: https://www.gov.scot/policies/public-sector-procurement/community-benefits-in-procurement/ A summary of the expected community benefits has been provided as follows: A summary of the expected community benefits has been provided as follows: In accordance with section 25(3) of the Procurement Reform (Scotland) Act 2014 note that, Scotland Excel intends to include community benefit requirements. As part of your response within the Technical Envelope, bidders will be requested to commit to delivery of community benefits in accordance with the methodology outlined in the tender documents. (SC Ref:841427)
How it was run
Official notice- Appointment period ends
- 21 Oct 2026, 12:00 BST
- Submission channel
- {"electronicSubmission"}
- Accepted languages
- en
Timeline
24 Apr 2026 → 21 Oct 2026 · 3 dates- Next notice expected186 days ago24 Apr 2026, 00:00 BST
- Notice published7 days ago20 Oct 2026, 11:40 BST
- Admission / appointment period ends6 days ago · period end, not a bid countdown21 Oct 2026, 12:00 BST
Notice history
4 events · 3 releases on Find a Tender · since 15 Sept 2026- Status changed to active15 Sept 2026, 14:52 BST
- Procurement method changed15 Sept 2026, 14:52 BST
- Deadline published: 20 Oct 2026, 12:00 BST15 Sept 2026, 14:52 BST
- Deadline moved to 21 Oct 2026, 12:00 BST20 Oct 2026, 11:40 BST+1 days · was 20 Oct 2026, 12:00 BST
Published amendments (1 · 1 deadline change)
| When | What | Before | After | Shift |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| — | DeadlineTime limit · IV.2.2 | 20 Oct 2026 | 21 Oct 2026 | +1 d |
Scotland Excel has been notified of a service disruption to Public Contracts Scotland (PCS) that occurred on Monday 19th October. Although Public Contracts Scotland Tenders (PCS-T) was unaffected by the disruption, the deadline for the Social Care Agency Workers (Ref. 1125) framework has now been extended to enable tenderers additional time to complete and submit their offer. A compliant tender mu…
Contracting authority & participating public bodies
Dispute resolution & review bodies
- Court of SessionReview body
Official documents & specifications
Official links; attachments are not copiedNo document links were published on the notice.