Planting Services Dynamic Purchasing System (DPS)

Forestry and Land Scotland has established a Dynamic Purchasing System (DPS) for the provision of Planting Services across Scotland’s national forests and land, which commenced 13th October 2025.

A Dynamic Purchasing System (DPS) is an electronic system established by a contracting authority to purchase commonly used goods, works or services in accordance with the Public Contracts (Scotland) Regulations 2015. Admittance to a DPS gives participants the opportunity to subsequently bid for relevant future opportunities which are procured through the DPS.

The purpose of the DPS is to provide a compliant route to market for FLS to replace Planting Services and Maintenance contracts upon their expiration or termination. This is expected to consist of a range of long-term contracts for programmed requirements but will be used for short-term contracts when required. This DPS will not be used as a route to market for any other reason but may be used to procure innovative services related to the subject matter.

The scope of the DPS is primarily for establishment operations including but not limited to:

• Planting.
• Beat up.
• Weeding.
• Top Up Spraying.
• Herbicide application.
• Fertilising.
• Cleaning & Singling.
• Respacing.
• Brush cutter work.
• Chainsaw work.
• General Estate Labouring.

Parties who request to be admitted to the DPS will have their submissions evaluated by FLS within 10 working days of submission (this deadline could be extended to a maximum of 15 working days in individual cases), and if successful, will be admitted to the DPS thereafter.

Where the Bidder relies on the capacities of other entities (i.e. subcontractors and/or consortium members) to meet the selection criteria, they must provide a separate Single Procurement Document (SPD) for each of those entities.

In the event that a Bidder alters its composition during the procurement process (which shall include, but is not limited to, a change in the identity of any entity named in the response whose capacity has been relied upon in responding to the Instructions to Bidders), FLS reserves the right to request that any proposed reconstituted Bidder complete the Qualification Envelope, i.e. Business Probity, Criminal Convictions and Financial Standing for re-evaluation in accordance with the criteria used in relation to the evaluation of the original response.

The buyer is using PCS-Tender to conduct this PQQ exercise. The Project code is 29609. For more information see: http://www.publiccontractsscotland.gov.uk/info/InfoCentre.aspx?ID=2343

The Contracting Authority does not intend to include a sub-contract clause as part of community benefits (as per Section 25 of the Procurement Reform (Scotland) Act 2014) in this contract for the following reason:

Most of the supply base are micro businesses, and the application of the Sub-contract clause may deter contractors from bidding for requirements. Contractors who intend to sub-contract out any portion of the services of a Contract will be required to provide a sub-contractor SPDs for all proposed sub-contractors. The acceptance of any subcontractor(s) will be subject to the approval of FLS.

Community benefits are included in this requirement. For more information see: https://www.gov.scot/policies/public-sector-procurement/community-benefits-in-procurement/

A summary of the expected community benefits has been provided as follows:

As requirements to be tendered through the DPS are unknown at this stage, Community Benefits will be expected to be delivered once a contract is awarded through a Stage 2 Tender. The Community Benefits to be delivered under contracts awarded through the DPS will be proportionate to the total awarded annual contract value of the contractor.

The delivery of community benefits will be based on a points system. This system is outlined in the Appendix E - FLS-138-D - Instructions and Terms for Bidders document on PCS-T.