Framework Agreement - Standards and Frameworks
- Buyer
- Skills Development Scotland Ltd
- Value
- £3,600,000
- Closes
- 27 November 2026
- Where
- Glasgow, Scotland
- Type
- Sets up a framework (suppliers apply to join)
In plain English
Skills Development Scotland is setting up a framework, meaning a pre-approved list of suppliers, to be used across Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland for writing and updating national occupational standards (the agreed descriptions of what a competent worker in each job must be able to do). The work also covers Welsh translation of those standards, reviewing Scottish vocational qualifications, reviewing Northern Ireland apprenticeship frameworks, and specialist technical support. The estimated total value is £3,600,000.
What the buyer wants
• Suppliers must be able to research, write, review and quality-check standards and qualifications for specific job roles and sectors, including scoping work before development begins. • Suppliers must be able to translate standards into Welsh and manage the translation through to publication, including quality assurance. • Suppliers must be able to provide specialist technical input such as labour market analysis, data analysis, behavioural frameworks and technical writing, and bid for one or more of the five lots.
Lots
- National Occupational Standards (NOS) Pre Development Scoping
- National Occupational Standards (NOS), NOS Review and Development for Pan Sector, Multi Sector, Sector-Specific and Job-Specific NOS, NOS Content Update and NOS Cleansing Activity
- Welsh Translation for NOS
- Scottish Qualification Products, Scottish Vocational Qualifications (SVQs) or alternative competency-based qualifications (CBQs)
- Apprenticeship Frameworks in Northern Ireland
- Technical Expertise
Likely requirements
Our reading of the notice. Always check the tender documents.
Most small businesses would be excluded by a lack of demonstrable experience in writing national occupational standards or qualifications, or by being unable to evidence the financial strength and Welsh-language capacity needed to deliver across several lots.
How to bid
This is a framework: the buyer picks a set of suppliers now and awards work to them over several years. If you are not on it when it is awarded, you usually cannot win work from it until it is re-tendered, so this is the window to bid.
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