Archaeological Tenders and Contracts

An archaeological tender covers excavation, watching briefs, surveys and post-excavation reporting carried out ahead of construction or heritage work. Contracts set out the site conditions, the scheduled monument consents needed and the reporting the buyer requires before work can proceed.

Stotles brings together archaeological tenders and contracts from 100+ portals into one search, so you do not have to check each portal separately, and you can set alerts for new opportunities across the UK and Ireland.

If you want to search the government portals directly, Find a Tender carries higher-value contracts across the UK and Contracts Finder carries lower-value contracts in England. Public Contracts Scotland, Sell2Wales and eTendersNI cover Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland, Ireland's eTenders covers Irish public bodies, and many councils, NHS bodies and housing associations publish on their own e-tendering portals such as ProContract. Heritage bodies and councils often set up call-off contracts and frameworks for programmes of minor archaeological projects, and road schemes buy archaeology through their consultancy frameworks.

Archaeological tenders are scored on the written scheme of investigation, the team's specialist expertise, programme, reporting and archiving, and price. Road and housing schemes often stage the work from evaluation to post-excavation, so delivering the early stages well leads to the later ones.

Buyers usually expect archaeological work to follow the Chartered Institute for Archaeologists standards and guidance, often from a CIfA Registered Organisation, and work on scheduled monuments needs scheduled monument consent. Tenders usually set minimum insurance cover, check financial standing and ask for evidence of similar projects at selection stage. Under the Procurement Act 2023, suppliers can be excluded for certain criminal convictions, insolvency or failure to pay tax.

Planning permission for development on or near a scheduled monument or a site of known archaeological interest can carry a condition requiring investigation first. The contract pays for the excavation, recording and reporting needed to discharge that condition before building work begins.

A supplier is asked to investigate the site, record what is found and produce a report for the buyer and, where relevant, the national monuments authority. Some contracts also cover post-excavation analysis and the long-term storage of any finds.

Local councils, national heritage agencies and government departments buy archaeological services under these contracts. Many are commissioned to meet planning conditions attached to housing, infrastructure or public building projects.

Read local plan allocations, planning applications with archaeological conditions, heritage estate maintenance plans and road scheme programmes, which show work coming due ahead of a notice. On Stotles you can track those signals and the buyers behind them, then follow a notice from pre-tender through to award.

Archaeological notices carry 71351914 (Archaeological services), 45112450 (Excavation work at archaeological sites) and 71351720 (Geophysical surveys of archaeological sites).