Tender
Highland tenders 64 million pound maintenance framework across 22 trades
By Staff Writer | 27 August 2026
The Highland Council has invited tenders for the Inner Moray Firth Housing and Property Maintenance Framework 2026, valued at 64,698,055 pounds. The notice, identifier 081461-2026, was published on 26 August 2026 at 3:41pm and tenders close at noon on 28 September 2026. The council is acting both as buyer and as a central purchasing body.
The value divides between two lots. Lot 1, Housing, carries 38,610,130 pounds. Lot 2, Property, carries 26,087,925 pounds. Both lots are recorded with a contract period of 1,080 days, which is the 36 months the notice describes, with the option of multiple extensions of up to 24 months in total.
The council states that it intends to put in place a framework agreement with a number of suitably competent, qualified and experienced contractors to provide housing and property maintenance services for various service users and requirements for the Inner Moray Firth area, on an as and when required basis, and that it gives no guarantee of the volume of work or orders, if any, to be undertaken in relation to the framework.
Twenty two sub lots, each awarded on its own
The framework is divided by trade. Lot 1 covers council houses and carries eleven sub lots: general builder works, specialist cleaning, plumbing, heating and ventilation, joinery, general electrical repairs and minor works, specialist electrical systems and complex works, painting and decorating, roofing and guttering works, ground works and excavation, and principal contractors. Lot 2 covers the council property estate, described as schools, council offices and council owned public buildings, and carries a further eleven: civils and drainage, fencing and gates, general builder works, joinery, painting and decorating, roofing, electrical, heating, plumbing, ventilation and multi trades.
Tenderers may bid for one or more lots and sub lots provided they meet the requirements in the specification for the lot concerned. The award structure follows the same logic: the notice records that each lot and sub lot may be extended independently of the others, and that each is evaluated and awarded independently. Award criteria are quality at 50 per cent and price at 50 per cent on both lots. Variants are not allowed.
The council explains the length
Unusually, the notice sets out why the framework runs as long as it does. The council states that the duration is proportionate due to its large geography, remote locations, limited contractor capacity, and the need for service continuity, and that the extended duration will encourage contractor investment, improve market participation, resilience and support the wider Highland framework programme, delivering better value for money while reducing procurement and operational risks.
The maximum number of participants recorded for the framework agreement is 250. Read against 22 sub lots, that is an average of roughly eleven places per sub lot if the ceiling were reached, though nothing on the notice commits the council to appointing anywhere near it. A framework of that width is built for coverage across a dispersed area rather than for competition within a single trade.
What a contractor is actually pricing
Two features of the notice sit awkwardly together for anyone building a bid. The framework is worth 64,698,055 pounds across three years, and the council guarantees no volume at all. Nothing published states how work will be allocated between contractors appointed to the same sub lot, whether by rota, by further competition, or by geography. That allocation method, and not the headline value, will decide what a place on this framework is worth.
Selection is by economic and technical criteria stated as being set out in the tender documentation, and submissions go through Public Contracts Scotland. The procurement runs under the Scottish procurement rules rather than the Procurement Act 2023, the notice citing the 2014 public procurement directive as its legal basis. The review body named is Inverness Sheriff Court and Justice of the Peace Court. Delivery is recorded against the Inner Moray Firth area, and the main procurement category is services.
The classifications attached to Lot 2 run from repair and maintenance services through drainage works, erection of fencing, gates, building alteration work, repair and maintenance of building installations, joinery, painting, roofs, flashing and guttering, and electrical wiring and fitting work. That is the whole of a property maintenance programme, bought once and drawn down as buildings need it.