CONTRACT NOTICE – NATIONAL

1 Authority Details

1.1

Authority Name and Address

1.2

Address from which documentation may be obtained

As in 1.1

1.3

Completed documents must be returned to:

As in 1.1

2 Contract Details

2.1

Title

Tender for development of Application-based AR experience of historic interiors of Margam Castle

2.2

Description of the goods or services required

Swansea University wish to contract a supplier to design and develop a bilingual (English/Welsh) interactive Mobile App to recreate the historic interiors of selected rooms of Margam Castle as part of the ‘Margam Interiors Project’ project.

This project is funded by a UKSPF (UK Shared Prosperity Fund) grant awarded in January 2024 and led by Neath Port Talbot Borough Council. The App will be available free of cost.

Margam Castle is a 19th Century Tudor Gothic Mansion designed by the architect Thomas Hopper for Christopher Rice Mansel Talbot and built in 1830-40. The Castle is a Grade 1 listed property sited within the Margam Country Park (postcode SA13 2TJ) which is owned and managed by Neath Port Talbot Council. Following a fine art and furniture sale in 1941 and fire damage in 1977, the 19th-century interiors of the Castle now exist only in black and white photographs and archival records. Our aspiration for this App is to engage, encourage and enable visitors to appreciate these ‘lost’ interiors and to create effective digital storytelling that will increase visitation to the Park.

This mobile phone Application will encourage the public (defined as visitors to the Park) to actively engage with the history of the Castle through an Application-based AR experience featuring the recreated interiors of two of the ground floor rooms: the Dining Room and Library. These rooms are currently accessible to the public.

The provision will include a fully costed three-year maintenance and administration plan with the contract completion date of 20 December 2024.

Due to the external grant funding, the maximum budget allocated to deliver this Application including all software options and associated costs (including all travel expenses, translation, updates and maintenance) is GBP31,000 (excluding VAT) which must include all expenses. Since the University’s Welsh Language Programme must be adhered to, all tender pricing must be inclusive for both languages .

NOTE: The authority is using eTenderwales to carry out this procurement process. To obtain further information record your interest on Sell2Wales at https://www.sell2wales.gov.wales/search/search_switch.aspx?ID=142964

2.3

Notice Coding and Classification

2.4

Total quantity or scope of tender

The Application will have an off-site element, which will provide a ‘taster’ for the full on-site experience and encourage users to visit Margam Castle, since the aim of this App is to increase footfall and visitor spend at Margam Park - the Park currently attracts around 100,000 visitors per year.

Using digital mapping, photogrammetry data and digital assets supplied by the University , the App will reconstruct and interpret two ground floor interior rooms of the Castle: the Library and the Dining Room, enabling its users to discover and engage with the history of Margam Castle through both a full on-site experience and a taster off-site experience, with its’ development geared toward a sustained user’s engagement over a three-year period.

The appointed Contractor will be responsible for utilizing these assets to create an engaging AR digital experience that interprets selected historical interiors as they may have looked in the nineteenth century including artworks, furniture, wall and ceiling decoration and fixtures.

Some information will be missing and there will be gaps in what the University can provide. The appointed Contractor will need to use their artistic skills to complete those missing elements of the rooms through AR and any combination of film/graphic design/animation/AI.

3 Conditions for Participation

3.1

Minimum standards and qualification required

This tender is being conducted electronically via etenderwales BravoSolution

https://etenderwales.bravosolution.co.uk/web/login.shtml

therefore all tender documents are available for download from itt 111611 and completed documents must be uploaded before the tender submission deadline.

BravoSolution is the only route to tender - hard copies or emailed bids cannot be considered.

4 Administrative Information

4.1

Type of Procedure

Single stage

4.2

Reference number attributed to the notice by the contracting authority

SU212(24)

4.3

Time Limits

4.5

Language or languages in which tenders or requests to participate can be drawn up

4.6

Tender Submission Postbox

5 Other Information

5.1

Additional Information

Due to the external grant funding, the maximum budget allocated to deliver this Application including all software options and associated costs (including all expenses, translation, updates and maintenance) is GBP31,000 (excluding VAT).

Since the University’s Welsh Language Programme must be adhered to, all tender pricing must be inclusive for both languages and all translation costs.

This project is only funded until 20th December 2024

(WA Ref:142964)

The buyer considers that this contract is suitable for consortia bidding.

5.2

Additional Documentation

5.3

Publication date of this notice