Invitation to Tender | External Assessors

Published: 02 Jun 2023

Creative Scotland is seeking to recruit a pool of independent external Assessors to assess Open Fund applications on an ad hoc basis.

The National Lottery Open Fund is designed to support a range of creative activity and has two strands: one for individuals and another for organisations, based in Scotland.

The Fund doesn’t have any deadlines and applications are submitted and assessed throughout the year with decision making panels happening at least every two weeks.

To support our work on the National Lottery Open Fund, we are seeking to recruit a pool of professional, independent external Assessors who are freelance or self-employed, to assess Open Fund applications on an ad hoc basis.

Assessors working on an ad hoc basis will be paid a fee of £150 per assessment (excluding VAT if applicable).

We are actively planning to diversify the pool of Assessors to support our commitment to Equalities, Diversity and Inclusion (EDI) and are looking for applicants from a diverse range of backgrounds and lived experiences which will better-represent the diversity within the culture and creative sector and Scotland’s population.

Applicants should be familiar with the arts, screen and creative industries sectors in Scotland, with a minimum of 5 years of professional expertise and experience within specific art forms and/or specialism areas.

Please note, applicants should have considerable experienced in carrying out analytical assessment of proposals and providing recommendations, with experience of budgeting and budgetary control.

Assessors will also be expected to hold a breadth of knowledge relating to project development, management and evaluation to undertake assessments and panel work.

Assessors will be expected to hold credible professional knowledge and expertise from within the arts (from across the professional spectrum eg artist, producer, curator, programmer, etc) and creative industries sectors in the following art forms and/or specialism areas:

• Digital (Games and Interactive)
• Digital (Podcast and Audio)
• Design (2D/3D plus craft)
• Design (Digital)
• Youth Arts
• Youth Arts (Education)
• Literature (writing / writer development)
• Literature (publishing / festivals / poetry)
• Dance (Contemporary inc HE / teaching)
• Dance (Disability and socially engaged practice)
• Dance (Afro-Caribbean and South / East Asian dance styles)
• Theatre (classic contemporary)
• Theatre (new writing)
• Theatre (physical performance)
• Theatre (contemporary practice / live art)
• Multi-disciplinary performing arts
• Music (Sound art, experimental)
• Music (Jazz, Blues)
• Music (EDI/ environmental sustainability)
• Music (Youth Music)
• Visual Arts – all areas of contemporary practice
• Gaelic arts, culture and language
• Traditional Arts
• Place-based community engaged / participatory creative practice
• Equalities, Diversity and Inclusion (Knowledge of best practice in a range of artistic and organisational contexts; an understanding of key concepts such as the social model of disability and intersectionality)

Assessors may also have additional knowledge and expertise to support Creative Scotland’s priorities in:

• Equality, Diversity and Inclusion
• Sustainable Development
• Fair Work
• International

Assessors working on an ad hoc basis will be paid a fee of £150 per assessment (excluding VAT if applicable). The time assessments take to complete ranges from 2 to 3 hours to 1 day (where a day is 7 hours), based on the application complexity.

We anticipate a particularly high need for external assessment support during Oct 2023 – Jan 2024 and again through May to July 2024. Within your tender proposal please indicate if you are likely to have availability to undertake a higher load of assessments during these periods. You will not be disadvantaged by not being available but advance notice will assist us in appointing the correct spread of assessors.

The contract will commence upon acceptance of the offer until 30 September 2025.

How to apply

The deadline for applications is 12 noon on Thursday 22 June 2023 through the Scottish Government e-Tendering System, Home - Public Contracts Scotland

To apply for this opportunity, please register with PCS as a supplier if you are not already registered, by following the below link to the website: Supplier Registration - Public Contracts Scotland

Once registered, please then complete your application via the PCS Portal using Reference No. JUN480062 at the following link: View Notice - Public Contracts Scotland

How to register onto PCS and submit a Tender Response via the PCS Postbox.

1. Follow the link Supplier Registration - Public Contracts Scotland and register as a Supplier, just putting your name in the “Organisation Name” field, click Continue (this will take you back to the main page).
2. You will receive an email from PCS which you will need to click into to activate your PCS Membership.
3. Once that’s done, go back into Login - Public Contracts Scotland and log in with your details.
4. At the top of the Home Page, click “Browse Notices” and under the “Filter Results”, insert in the “Reference No” field JUN480062 and click search, (this will bring up the Creative Scotland National Lottery Open Fund Assessor’s Notice Details).
5. Click into the Notice and “Record your interest now” then Save and Continue.
6. Click onto the Notice again where you will find access to the Document Tab and can open up the Tender Brief document.
7. Once you have completed the Tender Brief and the necessary documents, go to Member Notice History Details - Public Contracts Scotland and click on the “Go To Postbox” option on the right hand side and Create a Postbox Response (this is where you will upload and submit your documents) and click Despatch.