Scope
Description
The Horniman Museum and Gardens (HMG) is seeking to replace its end-of-life collections management system with a new, digital-first solution that will enhance efficiency, transparency, and best practice across its diverse collections and related activities. This project will span three to four years, focusing initially on data migration, followed by phased development and alignment of functions and procedures.
The Horniman Museum and Gardens' current collections management system is used to catalogue and manage diverse collections including Natural History, Anthropology, Musical Instruments, Living collections (an aquarium, a butterfly house, a small zoo, the gardens), a Handling Collection, an Archive, and items of value and interest that are not part of any formal collection. The system supports the 21 Spectrum procedures, but only partially. A core objective of this project is to develop new digital first procedures, aligned with and supported by the new system, promoting efficiency, transparency and museum best practice.
Total value (estimated)
- £96,000 excluding VAT
- £115,200 including VAT
Below the relevant threshold
Contract dates (estimated)
- 1 April 2026 to 31 March 2030
- 4 years
Options
The right to additional purchases while the contract is valid.
Options are described in the attached Invitation to Tender document.
Main procurement category
Services
CPV classifications
- 48100000 - Industry specific software package
- 48600000 - Database and operating software package
- 92510000 - Library and archive services
- 92521000 - Museum services
Contract locations
- UKC - North East (England)
- UKD - North West (England)
- UKE - Yorkshire and the Humber
- UKF - East Midlands (England)
- UKG - West Midlands (England)
- UKH - East of England
- UKI - London
- UKJ - South East (England)
- UKK - South West (England)
Submission
Enquiry deadline
19 January 2026, 11:59pm
Tender submission deadline
31 January 2026, 11:59pm
Submission address and any special instructions
Submissions should be made to Jonathan Whitson Cloud at jwhitsoncloud@horniman.ac.uk .
Secure SharePoint directories can be made available for the upload of submissions, upon request.
Tenders may be submitted electronically
No
Award criteria
Evaluation will take place in two phases:
1) Evaluation of written submissions
- Written submissions will be evaluated against core requirements on a simple pass/fail basis
-Other elements will be scored and weighted as follows:
Cost 40%
Other submission requirements 60%
2) Evaluation of performance at interview
- Interviews will be lengthy (over one or two days or more) and will involve diverse staff requesting live demonstrations of how the proposed system meets their needs. An indication of the functions to be demonstrated will be provided in advance, but this may not be comprehensive, and some requests may be off-the-cuff.
- All staff participating in these interviews will score against their needs, and against the experience of interacting with supplier representatives.
Procedure
Procedure type
Below threshold - open competition
Documents
Associated tender documents
Invitation to Tender - Horniman Collections Management System 2025-11-05.pdf
Horniman-Museum-and-Gardens-T-CS-Nov-2018.pdf
Technical specifications to be met
https://collectionstrust.org.uk/spectrum/
Spectrum is the UK museum collections management standard
Contracting authority
THE HORNIMAN PUBLIC MUSEUM AND PUBLIC PARK TRUST
- Companies House: 02456393
- Public Procurement Organisation Number: PZRB-3443-MXPW
100 London Road
London
SE23 3PQ
United Kingdom
Region: UKI44 - Lewisham and Southwark
Organisation type: Public authority - central government