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PROCUREMENT OPPORTUNITY

PROCAT Digital Service Rebuild

The National Archives · Preliminary market engagement notice on Find a Tender

Tender information last checkedLast checked 30 Sept 2026, 01:49.

Opportunity overview

PROCAT is a bespoke service which was commissioned by The National Archives (TNA) in 1999\2000. It was built to catalogue public records, to provide an end-to-end service for both staff involved in cataloguing records, and for the public searching TNA's online catalogue via our public website. A service (SAR) controlling access based on PRA principles, was added soon afterwards. Although the public catalogue access is now supplied by the Discovery service, PROCAT and SAR are still in use every day for preparing descriptions of newly accessioned paper records and revising descriptions and access to existing TNA paper records. ("Paper" here stands for any records not born-digital). The service is built with components (web pages, search engine, SQL database and batch processes) of that era which have lasted well. However, many elements are now obsolete and are increasingly incompatible with any modern servers used to provide the service. TNA has already commissioned a discovery process to detail the problem areas and outline a route to a transitional architecture which will partly replace those obsolete components. The aim is to provide a stable service prior to complete replacement. This avoids both the risks inherent in a "big bang" complete replacement project and maintains the service while other elements of the successor architecture are defined. TNA now wishes to identify a delivery partner to deliver the transitional architecture. In summary these are: Improve data ingest for large scale data loads ("accessioning") and large-scale access control ("change Open\Closed status") Replace Active X based activation of an XML editing tool for markup Replace an obsolete search engine used for detailed search of the existing catalogue by inhouse ("TNA staff") users

Classification

  • CPV72000000 — IT services: consulting, software development, Internet and support

Lots

  • Lot 1Value not stated

Documents and notices

Published notice details

Additional information from the published procurement release. Fields appear only when supplied by the source; check the original notice and tender documents before acting.

Scope, procedure and submissions

Id
ocds-h6vhtk-051556
Status
planning
Above Threshold
Yes
Main Procurement Category
services

Amendments

Entry 1
Id
025018-2025
Description
Correction to submission email address

Legal basis

Id
2023/54
Scheme
UKPGA

Lots and requirements

Entry 1
Id
1
Status
planning

Suitability

Sme
Yes

Contract period

Ends
31 Aug 2027, 23:59
Starts
1 Sept 2025, 00:00

Items and delivery

Item 1
Id
1
Related Lot
1

Delivery locations

Entry 1
Region
UK
Country
GB
Country Name
United Kingdom
Entry 2
Region
UK
Country
GB
Country Name
United Kingdom
Entry 3
Region
UK
Country
GB
Country Name
United Kingdom

Additional Classifications

Entry 1
Id
72000000
Scheme
CPV
Description
IT services: consulting, software development, Internet and support

Planning and budget

Documents

Entry 1
Id
022042-2025
Format
text/html
Notice Type
UK2
Description
Preliminary market engagement notice on Find a Tender
Document Type
marketEngagementNotice
Published
16 May 2025, 09:56
Entry 2
Id
022459-2025
Format
text/html
Notice Type
UK2
Description
Preliminary market engagement notice on Find a Tender
Document Type
marketEngagementNotice
Published
19 May 2025, 09:51
Entry 3
Id
025018-2025
Format
text/html
Notice Type
UK2
Description
Preliminary market engagement notice on Find a Tender
Document Type
marketEngagementNotice
Published
22 May 2025, 14:43

Milestones

Entry 1
Id
engagement
Type
engagement
Status
scheduled
Due
9 Jun 2025, 23:59
Description
The purpose of this notice is to gauge the level of potential interest in this opportunity from the marketplace, and to have the opportunity to engage with interested parties to a) provide more insight into the requirement, b) identify suppliers that may be able to supply the services required, and c) develop the authority's requirements and approach to the procurement. Any interested parties who submit an expression of interest for the opportunity will be invited to one or more supplier events at date(s) to be determined. To submit your expression of interest, simply email procurement@nationalarchives.gov.uk by 5pm on 09 June 2025 with your contact details.

Buyer, suppliers and contacts

Organisation 1
Id
GB-PPON-PTBZ-4379-JQQX
Name
The National Archives

Roles

buyer

Address

Region
UKI75
Country
GB
Locality
Richmond
Postal Code
TW9 4DU
Country Name
United Kingdom
Street Address
Kew

Details

Classifications

Entry 1
Id
publicAuthorityCentralGovernment
Scheme
UK_CA_TYPE
Description
Public authority - central government

Identifier

Id
PTBZ-4379-JQQX
Scheme
GB-PPON

Contact

Recorded locations

  • Buyer location · Richmond · UKI75 · TW9 4DU · United Kingdom
  • Delivery location · UK · United Kingdom

Notice and amendment history

1 published notice version reviewed by ProcuraAxis.

1 VERSION
  1. ocds-h6vhtk-051556-2025-05-22T14:43:59+01:00Preliminary market engagement notice on Find a Tender ·