Houses of Parliament Restoration and Renewal Programme - Dynamic Purchasing System for Collections Conservation Services

Description

The Palace of Westminster is an internationally recognised symbol of the UK and democracy, and part of a UNESCO World Heritage Site. Extensive, complex work is needed to restore the Palace and as part of planning for restoration, teams are assessing and recording details of thousands of heritage items such as artworks and furniture within the Parliamentary Heritage Collections. The Parliamentary Heritage Collections are the national collection documenting the history, work and people of Parliament and comprise over 26,000 objects. They are made up of the Parliamentary Art Collection, the Historic Furniture and Decorative Art Collections and the Architectural Fabric Collection. Parliament's Heritage Collections teams have overall responsibility for the conservation of these collections, and work closely with the Restoration & Renewal Delivery Authority Ltd (the limited company responsible for delivering the Palace of Westminster restoration and renewal works following necessary decisions from both Houses on the way forward which are expected in 2025). The Delivery Authority and UK Parliament have developed a plan for the establishment of a Dynamic Purchasing System (the DPS) for appointing collections care and conservation specialists to maintain, restore, conserve, and move where necessary Parliament's collections now and during R&R works. Both the Restoration & Renewal Delivery Authority Ltd and the Houses of Parliament will be contracting authorities entitled to use the Collections Conservation Services DPS. The Delivery Authority and Houses of Parliament wish to invite suitably qualified conservators and collection care specialists to register with the Collections Conservation Services DPS to bid for future contract opportunities. This new Collections Conservation Services DPS will be used by the Restoration and Renewal Delivery Authority Ltd to appoint conservators to continue to develop and undertake object assessment activities, to develop object requirements and inform future plans and procedures for either a) removing and storing the collections off site during restoration works, or b) protecting and monitoring them in situ. The Houses of Parliament will use the Collections Conservation Services DPS to procure for the continued core conservation care and maintenance of the collections, where a specialist conservator is required to mobilise and attend the site at short notice. The Collections Conservation Services DPS will be split into twenty Categories of Services. Please refer to Section 2.4 for details. The Delivery Authority and the Houses of Parliament are jointly holding an on-line market information event about their plans for the DPS. Please follow the instructions in Section VI.3 Additional Information to register for the event. Lot 1: The Collections Conservation Services DPS will be split into the following Categories of Services. 1. Collections Care Services: Environmental monitoring systems, consultancy and maintenance. The services within this Category will include provision of environmental monitoring systems, consultancy and maintenance. Examples of services include but are not limited to: particulate matter, lux, UV, relative humidity, temperature, vibration, pH, dosimetry. 2. Collections Care Services: Preventive conservation cleaning. Preventive conservation cleaning services and consultancy. 3. Collections Care Services: Preventive conservation advice for emergency planning, salvage and resilience. Specialist preventive conservation advice for emergency planning, salvage and resilience. 4. Collections Care Services: Hazard consultancy and services. Assessment for hazards within the heritage collection including but not limited to subject matter specialist advice, hazard identification and hazard remediation, and hazard testing from experts in the field. 5. Collections Care Services: Pest Management (Consultancy) Heritage integrated pest management: consultancy from subject matter experts. 6. Collections Care Services: Pest Management (Treatment) Heritage integrated pest management: treatment for infestations which include but are not limited to mobile treatment options, treatment off site, and targeted treatment on site. Service Categories 7 to 18 will be for Heritage Collections Conservation Services. Each Category will include the services listed below for the specific type of material/item as described in the Service Category title: •Condition surveys and treatment recommendations including written and photographic documentation (in situ, in a conservation studio on site, or off site). •Specialist cleaning (in situ, in a conservation studio on site, or off site). •Remedial conservation: surface dusting, dry cleaning, minor and/or localised stabilisation of surfaces or media (in a conservation studio on site, or off site). •Full conservation treatment including more extensive aesthetic or structural work. •Technical examination and research, including pigment, media analysis and technical imaging. 7. Heritage Collections Conservation Services: Leather Conservator Leather conservation services. 8. Heritage Collections Conservation Services: Wood (excluding furniture) Conservator Wood (excluding furniture) conservation services. 9. Heritage Collections Conservation Services: Modern Materials Conservator Modern materials conservation services. 10. Heritage Collections Conservation Services: Horology Conservator Horology conservation services. 11. Heritage Collections Conservation Services: Easel Paintings Conservator Easel paintings conservation services. 12. Heritage Collections Conservation Services: Works on Paper Conservator Works on paper conservation services. 13. Heritage Collections Conservation Services: Ceramic Conservator Ceramics conservation services. 14. Heritage Collections Conservation Services: Stone conservation services Stone conservation services. 15. Heritage Collections Conservation Services: Metal Conservator Metal conservation services. 16. Heritage Collections Conservation Services: Textile Conservator Textile conservation services. 17. Heritage Collections Conservation Services: Wall Paintings Conservator Wall paintings conservation services. 18. Heritage Collections Conservation Services: Frame Conservator Frame conservation services. 19. Furniture Conservation and Craft Services: Furniture Conservator/Restorers Furniture conservation and restoration services, including: •Timber conservation for furniture, such as: seat frame joints in preparation for reupholstery, desks, cabinets and tables. •Transparent furniture finishes, to original appropriate colour, including preserving existing finishes where appropriate and carrying out full finish removal and refinishing. •Woodcarving, including consolidation of splits and loss replacement with appropriate timber and grain orientation. •Metalwork, such as hardware. •Giltwood. •Undertaking condition surveys and treatment recommendations including written and photographic documentation (in situ, in a studio on site, or off site). •Dismantling and reassembling heritage furniture, such as desks, wardrobes etc. (in situ, in a studio on site, or off site). •Custom engraving, embroidery, leather stamping gilding and tooling. 20. Furniture Conservation and Craft Services: Upholsterers Upholstery conservation and restoration services