Invitation to Tender - Communities of Practice Development

This is a public tender, not a job vacancy. You bid for it through the buyer's own procurement process, submitting a proposal and pricing rather than a CV.

Context

Nature Towns and Cities is a UK-wide mission to bring nature and green space to urban areas for everyone's benefit. It is backed by coalition of public, private and third sector organisations committed to putting accessible nature at the heart of vibrant, healthy, resilient places and communities, focusing on those areas that will benefit the most. Over the next 10 years we're aiming to help 5 million more people enjoy better access to green and blue space close to home, and 1 million more children to be able to play in nature on their doorstep.

This Commission

To support places and communities on their journey we have already provided training, peer mentoring, action learning, case studies and how to guides, conferences and events and informal opportunities to collaborate, though the Nature Towns and Cities Network. We now wish to develop and establish a small number of Communities of Practice to connect people and organisations working to create, improve and care for urban nature across the UK. These spaces will connect local government and wider public sector, national NGOs, VCSE organisations and possibly private sector organisations around shared ambitions for greener, fairer, healthier towns and cities. Communities of Practice is a working concept, intended to start coalescing the large Nature Towns and Cities network around purposeful activity on specific themes. We want to create spaces where network members can work through live challenges, share experience, learn from different perspectives and identify practical next steps. This commission will determine what these spaces look and feel like, and how they are delivered.

Information to be Returned

Tender responses should be sent to the contact named on the notice by the deadline of 12pm (midday) on 18/09/26 and include details of the following:

• Outline of your proposed approach, including outputs
• Description of your relevant experience, including examples of at least two pieces of similar work you have carried out.
• Project timeline or Gantt chart
• Key responsibilities of team members and time allocations
• Proposed budget breakdown

The budget available for this work is £50,000 inc VAT.

Please see the full ITT document attached for further details.

This is a tender for research and development services and related consultancy services published on Contracts Finder by The National Trust. The scope of work is set out in full in the buyer’s notice and its attached documents. Work is expected to start on 1 October 2026.

What the notice states

• Working arrangements are not stated; these are agreed with the buyer.
• Procurement method: Open procedure (below threshold).
• Suitable for SMEs: yes. Suitable for voluntary, community and social enterprises: yes.
• Classified as: Research and development services and related consultancy services (CPV 73000000); Business services: law, marketing, consulting, recruitment, printing and security (CPV 79000000).
• Delivery locations: United Kingdom.
• Contract period: 1 October 2026 to 28 February 2027.

Responses must be submitted through the buyer’s own tender process by 18 September 2026.

Open the Contracts Finder notice for the invitation to tender, the supporting documents and the buyer’s contact details.

Source: UK Contracts Finder. Contains public sector information licensed under the Open Government Licence v3.0.